Lang Son Customs: Positive signal for budget revenue from imported cars

Huu Nghi Customs officers are inspecting the imported specialized truck. Photo by Hong Nu.

Particularly, the revenue collected through the customs office of Huu Nghi border gate was 1,700 billion VND. In order to obtain this positive revenue, since March 28th, 2017, the Prime Minister extended the time for application of the EURO 4 emission standard, and the Registrar has issued the registration number, enterprises have started to import cars back.

Sharing with the Customs Newspaper, Mr. Tran Bang Toan, Director of Customs Department of Huu Nghi border gate (Customs Department of Lang Son province), said that in the previous years, the proportion of tax revenue from the group of imported trucks in complete unit accounts for 50-60% of the total revenue. However, in the first quarter of 2017, this group of products did not carry out import procedures according to Decision 49/QD-TTg, new imported cars must meet Euro 4 emissions standards. During this period, vehicles imported standards EURO 2, 3 are not registered registry number, the goods imported from the beginning of the year is not issued test results. This leads to the company does not import cars of all kinds.

Recognizing the difficulties of the business, the Prime Minister has decided to extend the implementation of the roadmap to apply emission standards in accordance with Decision 49/QD-TTg, the application of EURO 4 emission standards from 31st of December, 2017, so the automobile imports increase in quantity.

According to Customs Department of Lang Son, up to now, the whole customs clearance for 1,919 enterprises with total turnover reached 2,637.3 million USD, up 29.8% over the same period; check baggage monitoring for 113,424 passengers. Only in July, the unit has cleared procedures for goods with total import-export turnover reached 584.3 million USD, up 14.2%, state budget revenue reached 361 billion VND, up 1.06% over the same period of June.

According to Mr. Hoang Khanh Hoa, Director of Lang Son Customs Department, the structure of import goods across geographical areas has shifted towards the proportion of commodities with high tax rates, large import turnover has fallen markedly, especially for trucks, components and car parts. Statistics show that in 2015 and 2016 the group of automobile parts, components and spare parts account for 60% of the total revenue of the Department, equivalent from 2,500 to 3,000 billion VND, however, in the first 7 months of this year, this group decreased more than 30%.

According to Mr. Tran Bang Toan, after the Prime Minister extended the roadmap to apply emission standards in accordance with the Decision 49/QD-TTg, enterprises have continued to import cars in complete unit but the companies just imported the small amount of goods and listen for signal from market as well as policies from the Government. In addition, the number of unsold imported cars and car parts from 2016 are still quite a lot made enterprises run out of capital. At the same time, due to the saturation market and the policy of applying exhaust emission standards, the companies are forced to import cars in compliance with EURO 4 emissions standards.

At present, some companies do procedures for importing automobiles in complete units with small quantity and forecast that this activity will only last until early October and will stop to consume all imported goods, Mr. Tran Bang Toan added.

In order to strive to fulfill the task of collecting state budget at the highest level, Mr. Tran Bang Toan said that with the target assigned in 2017, Huu Nghi Customs must pay the state budget of 3,518 billion VND, accordingly, on average per month, their revenue has to reach 324.98 billion VND. The unit continues to implement solutions to create maximum conditions for enterprises to participate in import-export activities, promptly solve problems arising under their competence related to customs procedures; continuing to conduct price surveys to serve the inspection and valuation in line with market reality, preventing enterprises from taking advantage of policies to facilitate the export and import activities of the State to commit trade fraudulent acts and smuggling.

Director General Hoang Khanh Hoa also said, forecast export tax revenue in the second half of the year tends to increase again. However, to be even more drastic, Lang Son Customs Department will focus on exploiting revenue effectively, speeding up the inspection, consultation and valuation; analysis, encoding, imposition of duty, post-clearance inspection on imported goods. In particular, sticking closely to the situation of budget collection and remittance, promptly removing and handling problems related to tax policy and affecting the management of budget remittance.

Along with that, "accelerate the administrative reform, customs modernization, continue to accompany, share, promptly remove difficulties, shorten clearance time, reduce costs for enterprises, strengthen popularizing law, attracting enterprises to do export procedures through the area, especially for businesses with high turnover and revenue”, Mr. Hoang Khanh Hoa emphasized.