Orientation for financial inspection in 2023

	Strengthen financial inspection to tackle pretty corruption
	Ministry to intensify financial inspections
	Financial inspection: Correction for violations in using budget

The Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines and orientations to develop a plan for financial inspection in 2023.

Accordingly, the Minister of Finance requests heads of the ministry’s units in charge of inspection to develop plans for financial inspection closely following direction and orientation; and effectively arrange inspection teams.

The ministry asks the units to strictly control the value-added tax refund, prevent the abusing of preferential policies causing revenue loss; inspect the VAT refund for enterprises with a large amount of tax refund, enterprises with suspicious signs of illegally using invoices; use information technology and AI applications to inspect and manage the use of invoices; handle outstanding tax debts, ensuring full collection of taxes, fees and other revenues to the State budget.

In addition, the ministry directs the units to inspect enterprises of sectors with considerable revenue and high risks such oil, petroleum, electricity, telecommunication, bank, insurance, stock, financial leasing, medicine, real estate, infrastructure, industrial area, lottery company, port operator, construction, production and trading of construction materials, enterprises exploiting and trading riverbed sand and gravel, gold exploitation companies, enterprises manufacturing and trading consumer goods, retail business, fertilizer production and trading, manufacturing and trading plastic products, agriculture, forestry and fishery, advertising media, eCommerce, domestic production and assembly of automobiles and motorbikes, corporations, companies with large revenue, large-scale enterprises have not been inspected for many years, enterprises transferring capital, trademarks, and projects enterprises with related party transactions, transfer pricing, and loss-making enterprises, businesses with high risks related invoice, tax refund, and enterprises entitled to tax exemption and reduction incentives under tax laws and agreements.

The ministry assigns the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) to develop plans for inspection of compliance with customs and tax laws by importers and exporters and focus on inspecting imported products that show high tax rates and turnover, and high risks on code, customs values, origin fraud, goods management policies and affect human health.

The GDVC is requested to supervise enterprises importing goods subject to tax exemption under the regime of investment incentives, processing enterprises importing machinery and equipment, enterprises exporting minerals and products derived from minerals that showed suspicious signs of fraud in codes, value and management policy, and exporters with a large amount in tax refunds.

For the planned post-clearance audit, the ministry requires the GDVC to focus on inspecting customs and tax dossiers beyond the time limit for post-clearance audit; monitor cases that were inspected at customs declarants’ premise but showing new information or other violations; implement planned audits for the origin of goods exported to the US and India; inspect used machinery, medicine, trailer tires, auto glass, items with two tax rates; conduct post clearance audit for declarations under the green channel; and inspect high-risk enterprises.

The Ministry of Finance asks the State Treasury to control the State budget expenditures via the State Treasury; check the disbursement of foreign capital that was allocated from 2019 or earlier but has not yet been accounted into the state budget at ministries and localities;

Inspect management of finance, assets, and internal construction investment management and use of funds of the State Treasury, which focuses on the estimation and allocation, provision, management and use of additional revenue and spending savings, procurement, repair and asset management, and internal construction investment.

Inspect the responsibility of the Head of the units in complying with regulations on citizen reception, settlement of complaints and denunciations, in implementing the provisions of the law on thrift practice, anti-waste, and anti-corruption.

The specialized inspection focuses on capital construction projects funded by the State budget, government bond capital, ODA capital, national target program capital, and recurrent expenses.

The ministry requests the General Department of State Reserve to manage national reserve goods; enterprises that are hired to preserve national reserve goods; provinces that receive, distribute and use national reserve goods; the management and use of funds for import, export, and preservation of national reserve goods at the unit assigned to manage a large volume of national reserve goods; management, receipt, distribution, preservation and use of national reserve goods after being allocated.

The ministry assigns the State Securities Commission to strengthen inspection for organizations and individuals showing signs of fraud, creating false information, providing insufficient information, colluding to create artificial supply and demand, manipulating securities prices, issuing bonds in large quantities, using capital for wrong purposes…, affecting the offering, issuing, listing, trading, investing in securities and the stock market.

Also, according to the content stated in Official Letter No. 10039/BTC-TTr of the Ministry of Finance, the Securities sector needs to strengthen supervision and inspection of subjects that have not been inspected for three years in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

The Department of Insurance Management and Supervision is also directed to inspect the implementation of legal provisions on insurance business activities.

The Minister of Finance requested the heads of units to develop plans on orientation for financial inspection in 2023, instruct their subordinate units to make plans and approve plans closely following the direction, and coordinate with inspection units in the Finance sector relevant agencies.