Tax authorities use technology to accelerate delivery of refunds

Workers assemble a wooden chair in a factory in Tuyen Quang province (Photo: VNA)

Tax authorities will employ digital technology to process tax returns, accelerating the delivery of refunds in the fourth quarter of 2023.

That remark was made by Mai Son, Deputy Director-General of the General Department of Taxation, at a press conference by the Ministry of Finance on October 5.

Son said the delivery of tax refunds was sluggish over the past few years because tax papers had been processed manually. But everything would change in the fourth quarter as the department was working on a scheme to use cutting-edge technology to improve efficiency.

Regarding Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex, which claimed a tax refund of over 500 billion VND (24 million USD) back to the days it hadn't transitioned to an export-processing enterprise, he said the claim was under review and would be approved once the step is completed.

Regarding its other claim for a tax refund of over 400 billion VND (20 million USD), arising between June 2021 and December 2022, he said his department had sent the case to the General Department of Customs for review because the case falls within the agency's competence.

Hoang Van Thu, Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, said it had never been an easy task to develop a legal framework for cryptocurrency in Vietnam because such a form of money is new and largely in the crosshairs of cybercriminals.

He called for the formation of a working group to learn from other countries' legislations and lay the legal groundwork for the "currency" in the country.

"We need to form an inter-ministry working group to study cryptocurrency and weigh up the possibility of developing a legal framework for it," said Thu.

Legally, it is invalid to trade cryptocurrency in Vietnam because the "currency" has not been recognised as an "asset" in the country.

Tran Thi Hue, Deputy Director of the Vietnam State Treasury, said her agency was working on a scheme to upgrade its portal of public services in 2024 and connect it to the portals of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other State agencies.

Once the connection takes shape, it would allow the sharing of digitalised dossiers between ministries and discourage the use of paper-based dossiers, thereby accelerating the delivery of public investment.

Truong Ba Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of the Tax Policies, Fees and Charges Supervisory Authority, said the new environmental fees on emissions were not overlapping with other environmental fees because each serves a different purpose.

According to the Ministry of Finance, fiscal revenues grossed 1.22 quadrillion VND (50.2 billion USD) in the first nine months of 2023, against fiscal expenditures of 1.24 quadrillion VND (50.8 billion USD).

Imports and exports totalled 461.1 billion USD by mid-September, down 11.9% year-on-year. The falling import of dutiable goods has caused a loss of 34 trillion VND (1.4 billion USD) to the State budget.

About 243.4 trillion VND (10 billion USD) of public bonds were issued by September 26 with an average term of 12.44 years and an annual coupon rate of 3.38%. In the private sector, 51 enterprises issued 123 trillion VND (5 billion USD) of corporate bonds by mid-September.

About 152.5 trillion VND (6.3 billion USD) has been allocated by late September for fiscal efforts to support the economy, of which 49.6 trillion VND goes to tax cuts and fee reductions and 102.9 trillion VND to tax and fee deadline extensions./.