Successful year for State budget revenues

	Restructure state budget revenues to take advantage of the industrial revolution 4.0
	Digitization, Electronization of the State Treasury - Optimal Choice in the Technology Age 4.0
	Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue: Expenditures will be cut based on insufficient revenues

The online conference on closing state budget books held by the Ministry of Finance’s headquarters on December 12. Photo: T.L

Domestic revenue and import-export revenue surpassed the estimate

Regarding domestic revenue, Director General of the General Department of Taxation Cao Anh Tuan said as of December 30, State revenue collected by the tax sector hit VND 1,263,027 billion, equivalent to 108.1 percent of the estimate. By the end of the last day of 2019, the tax sector expects to collect 1,268,000 billion, surpassing 8.6 percent of the estimate (equivalent to VND 99.9 trillion).

According to Tuan, this is the first year the tax sector comprehensively accomplished targets such as revenue from crude oil exceeded 26.2 percent of the estimate and domestic revenue exceeded 7.9 percent of the estimate. Notably, 2019 was the first year that 63 of 63 localities completed and exceeded revenue estimates.

The central budget revenue surpassed 1.4 percent of the estimate (equivalent to VND 7,800 billion). The local budget revenue surpassed 15.3 percent of the estimate (equivalent to VND 92,100 billion).

“In the first half of the year the tax sector collected more than VND 603.6 trillion, in the second half of the year it collected VND 664.4 trillion. It collected VND 299 trillion in the third quarter and VND 365.4 trillion in the fourth quarter (up 22.2 percent compared to the third quarter). This result was achieved thanks to the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the drastic implementation of solutions on revenue management and anti-revenue losses. The tax sector has conducted specific solutions, combated revenue losses and collected outstanding debts in each unit,”Tuan said.

Also at the conference, Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can said the Customs sector has taken measures to accomplish State budget revenue targets assigned by the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance.

As of December 30, total State budget revenue of the Customs sector reached VND 348,071 billion, equivalent to 115.8 percent of the desired target, increasing by 11.0 percent compared to 2018. As of December 31, additional revenue was VND 800 billion, bringing the total State budget revenue to nearly 349,000 billion.

According to Can, Vietnam’s import and export turnover in 2019 reached US$518.03 billion, up 7.8 percent compared to 2018. Revenue from imports of crude oil and CBU cars sharply increased, and many solar power projects that have been deployed contributed to the increase in the State budget revenue.

To achieve this result, from the beginning of the year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs issued Directive No.723/CT-TCHQ dated January 30 implementing State budget revenue collection in 2019 and assigning targets for desired State budget revenue and debt collection to each municipal and provincial customs department, and issued guiding documents on value, classification, origin and tax debt management.

“Customs has strengthened the control for import and export price, the custom clearance for low price and unreasonable consignments without price ruling or post clearance audits have not incurred; closely inspected the name, code and tax rate of goods at customs clearance and post clearance audit to detect cases of falsely declared code or name of goods to enjoy low tax rate,” Can said.

To facilitate taxpayers, the General Department of Vietnam Customs signed agreements to coordinate in tax collection with 42 commercial banks, implemented e-tax payment 24/7, and deployed the pre-authorised tax payment programme. Thereby, revenue from import and export enterprises conducted via e-tax payments through banks in 2019 reached 96 percent of total revenue of the Customs.

Total State budget revenue surpasses 9.1 percent

Regarding the State budget revenue and expenditure and capital mobilisation, General Director of the State Treasury Ta Anh Tuan said that over the past time, authorities of tax, Customs, State Treasuries and commercial banks have coordinated in comparing data. At the end of the year, customs units have compared each hour for the most accurate data.

At 12 am of December 31, total State budget revenue reached VND 1,539.4 trillion, surpassing 9.1 percent (VND 128.1 trillion) compared to the estimate. In addition, the State Treasury controlled recurrent expenditure to reach 86.9 percent compared to 2019. Notably, as of December 30, disbursement of public investment capital in 2019 reached 62 percent of the plan assigned by the National Assembly and 66 percent assigned by the Prime Minister. The disbursement rate of public investment capital is expected to reach 80.9 percent by January 31, 2020.

Notably, according to Ta Anh Tuan, in capital mobilisation, the Ministry of Finance has closely controlled the State's expenditures and revenues and market movements to ensure sufficient capital mobilisation for the State budget balance and maintain the stable development of the Government bond market.

“In 2019, the Ministry of Finance reduced the plan of issuing government bonds and using temporarily idle funds for the central budget. This has saved interest expense of about 2,200 billion/year. The State Treasury also closely linked the budget management and debt management,” Tuan said.

Also at the conference, some localities reported achievements in State budget revenue in 2019 such as Hanoi, HCM City and Quang Ninh. These localities overcame difficulties to complete revenue collection in 2019.