Ho Chi Minh City: Imported gasoline, iron and steel greatly affect state budget revenue

	Ho Chi Minh City Customs: Preventing many cases of importing goods that violate intellectual property rights
	HCMC: Domestic revenue rises, revenue from import-export activities begins to increase

Officials of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, supervise imported gasoline. Photo TH

Imported gasoline from ASEAN with 0% tax rate

According to the Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, the State budget revenue from gasoline accounts for about 80% of the Sub-department's revenue. However, this year, imported gasoline only accounts for about 30% of the consumption output of key gasoline trading enterprises.

Accordingly, state-owned gasoline companies, such as: Petroleum Company Region 2 under Vietnam National Petroleum Group and Oil Corporation (PV OIL) under Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group are the two gasoline trading units with the main revenue from gasoline at the Sub-department.

Implementing the Government's policy, these enterprises purchase 70% of gasoline from domestic oil refineries, the imported amount only accounts for about 30%.

In addition to the reduction in output, the tax rate for this item also decreases gradually each year when implementing special preferential tax schedules under free trade agreements (FTAs), so the state budget revenue also decreases accordingly. For example, the special preferential tax rate Form D (ASEAN) for gasoline in 2023 is 5%, and will decrease to 0% in 2024.

In the first 10 months of 2024, enterprises importing gasoline products that complete procedures at the Sub-Department originating from ASEAN countries will be granted C/O form D and enjoy an import tax rate of 0%.

The import turnover of gasoline originating from ASEAN countries in 2024 increased by 53.35% compared to 2023, thus affecting the revenue in 2024.

According to Mr. Le Van Trien, Deputy Head of the Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, imported gasoline is a special commodity. In addition to complying with the provisions of the Customs Law, Decree guiding the law, Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC and Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, it is also necessary to comply with separate regulations such as Circular 69/2016/TT-BTC, Decision 3577/QD-TCHQ.

Accordingly, the location for customs procedures is specified at the customs Sub-department at the import border gate or at the customs Sub-department outside the border gate where the trader has a domestic warehouse system storing gasoline.

Therefore, it is not possible to import gasoline at ports outside of Ho Chi Minh City but to open a declaration at Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3 like other goods to increase revenue for the unit.

Imported goods are stored a lot at the port

In addition to gasoline and oil, imported steel products also have a great impact on the unit's state budget revenue. According to the reporter's records, imported steel products that have not completed customs procedures are currently stored at the port quite a lot.

According to Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, the steel industry is heavily dependent on the real estate market and public investment. While these two sectors are currently underdeveloped, the output of imported steel consumption and domestic production have both decreased.

Large steel exporting enterprises must accept leaving goods at the port for more than 30 days, and only when there is a customer to buy the goods will they complete customs procedures to receive the goods.

According to the analysis of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, for imported steel products, through working with enterprises, only 2 importing enterprises have high import turnover, and the import plan is stable until the end of the year. With an estimated revenue of about VND 280 billion (including VND 190 billion expected to be collected from imported goods into Vung Tau ports).

In addition, the implementation of trade defense measures as prescribed in the Law on Foreign Trade Management, including anti-dumping measures, anti-subsidy measures and self-defense measures decided by the Minister of Industry and Trade to apply to some types of steel imported into Vietnam from some countries such as China, Indonesia, etc. has brought positive results, limiting the import volume to protect production and consumption. However, this is also the reason for the decrease in state budget revenue from imported steel products at the Sub-department.

For imported coal products, on average, there are about 2 to 3 coal ships imported per month, with tax revenue of about VND 1 billion/ship. As of October 31, 2024, the revenue from coal is VND 30 billion, expected to be about VND 34 billion by December 31, 2024.

Based on the above reality, according to the analysis of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3, the estimated revenue in the last 2 months of the year is about 2,742 billion VND. Of which, revenue from petroleum products is 2,262 billion VND, steel products are 280 billion VND, and other products are 200 billion VND.

It is estimated that by December 31, 2024, the total state budget revenue will be 18,948 billion VND, reaching 88.544% of the assigned estimate of 21,400 billion VND.

To achieve the highest state budget revenue, in the last months of 2024, Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 3 will continue to focus on reforming administrative procedures to create favorable conditions for businesses.

In particular, proactively reviewing the list of businesses with large tax payments to support, paying attention to resolving favorable procedures, thereby businesses operating effectively contribute to increasing revenue for the budget.

Continue to support import-export businesses with imported goods into other ports , not in Ho Chi Minh City but register declarations at the Sub-department, including arranging a registration desk, priority goods inspection and handling procedures outside of working hours to increase state budget revenue, etc.