Many positive results in the administrative reform of the Ministry of Finance

Professional activities at Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Sub-Department, Lao Cai Customs Department. Photo: T.Binh

Comprehensive and effective reform

Since the beginning of the year, implementing the administrative reform plan for 2021, the Ministry of Finance has directed its units to synchronously implement the administrative reform in all financial fields.

In which, according to the plan, the Ministry of Finance has set out 117 of 182 tasks to be implemented in the third quarter of 2021. As of September 15, 2021, the Ministry of Finance has implemented all 117 tasks.

One of the key tasks in the administrative reform of the Ministry of Finance is to review, reduce and simplify administrative procedures. To implement administrative procedure reform with the aim of creating unity, synchronization, simplicity, publicity and transparency; creating favourable conditions for individuals, organizations and enterprises in the process of accessing and implementing administrative procedures; improving the effectiveness and efficiency of State management, strictly complying with the Government's regulations, the Ministry of Finance has drastically implemented administrative reform, focusing on administrative procedure reform and modernization in a uniform and comprehensive manner in all financial sectors.

In the third quarter of 2021, the Ministry of Finance continues to strictly control administrative procedures under its management with the aim of comprehensively and effectively reforming administrative procedures, creating favourable conditions for people and enterprises to improve the business environment and national competitiveness.

The Ministry of Finance regularly reviews and evaluates administrative procedures to propose to abolish those that are no longer suitable or amend them in a specific, clear and simple way, increasing feasibility for individuals and organizations to implement. In the third quarter, the Ministry of Finance issued Decision No. 1087/QD-BTC announcing the amendment and replacement of two administrative procedures in the field of tax administration, and the Ministry at the same time, has made public and fully and timely updated on the National Public Service Portal, the Ministry's Web Portal and the headquarters of the agency receiving and implementing administrative procedures in accordance with regulations. Regarding administrative procedure reform, recently, a special working group of the Ministry of Finance was established.

According to Mr. Dang Quyet Tien, Standing Vice Chairman of the Working Group, the working group was responsible for recording the reflections, recommendations, problems and difficulties of enterprises and people, and at the same time had the responsibility to urge and remind units under the Ministry of Finance in reducing administrative procedures to quickly handle and solve problems for enterprises, ensuring flexibility, initiative and timely adaptation to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance has continued to operate a stable and efficient model of receiving and returning administrative settlement results under the one-stop-shop mechanism at the ministry's headquarters.

In the first nine months of 2021, the One-Stop-Shop Department of the Ministry of Finance has received 713 administrative procedure dossiers in five fields (insurance, accounting-auditing, informatics, pricing, finance and banking) and returned 520 records, ensuring 100% on time; the number of dossiers being processed within the deadline was 193. Along with that, the implementation of tasks on reducing and simplifying regulations related to business activities in the 2020-2025 period was also being actively implemented by the Ministry of Finance.

The Customs sector has made great contribution

Building and developing e-Government of the Ministry of Finance has also achieved many positive results in recent years with many outstanding results in modernizing the tax, customs and treasury sectors.

In the tax sector, in terms of electronic tax declaration, the electronic tax declaration system has been implemented in 63 provinces and cities and 100% of tax departments under their control; on electronic tax payment, the Tax office has coordinated with 55 commercial banks and 63 tax departments to deploy electronic tax payment services. Regarding electronic tax refund, electronic tax refund has been implemented in 63 provinces and cities from January 1, 2021 to September 14, 2021, there were 7,811 enterprises out of a total of 8,009 enterprises participating in an electronic tax refund, reaching a rate of 97.53%.

In the field of Customs, according to the Ministry of Finance, together with administrative reform, customs modernization is identified by the Customs sector as one of the most important tasks. The whole sector has strengthened the implementation of the National Single Window, the ASEAN Single Window and facilitated trade, and has coordinated with ministries and branches to complete the implementation of administrative procedures on the National Single Window.

As of September 14, 2021, there were 226 administrative procedures of 13 ministries and branches officially implemented on the National Single Window with approximately 4.1 million records from 49,300 participating enterprises.

At the same time, continue to manage, supervise and ensure the operation of the VNACCS/VCIS automatic clearance system and the centralized information technology systems of the Customs sector 24/7, ensuring security and safety, smooth communication to serve the customs clearance of import and export goods.

The Customs sector has also built and successfully implemented an Automated Customs Management System at ports, warehouses and yards (VASSCM) at 33 of 35 Customs Departments of provinces and cities, creating favourable conditions for port, warehouses and yard enterprises, reducing time and costs for import-export enterprises, enhancing the effectiveness of customs supervision.

According to the Ministry of Finance, thanks to the effective implementation of reforms, the General Department of Customs had been the leading unit in the General Departments for many years in terms of indicators for monitoring and evaluating the results of PAR of units under the Ministry of Finance.

Thereby, helping the Ministry of Finance rank first among 17 ministries and ministerial-level agencies for seven consecutive years in the PAR index. The customs sector's efforts in administrative reform to create a fair, open and transparent business environment and reduce costs for enterprises were also highly appreciated by the business community.