The deadline for personal income tax (PIT) finalization for paying and declaring entities has expired, and taxpayers who directly conduct tax finalization with tax departments still have a month until the deadline. For the moment, the tax finalization in 2020 is performed in an open, quick manner and has been positively supported.

Tax finalization 2020 is performed in an open, quick manner and has been
positively supported. Photo: Thuy Linh

Income paying organizations easily submit personal income tax finalization

In previous years, March was the peak month of tax finalization, tax departments were often crowded with taxpayers gathering to complete procedures, especially in the last days of the month, sometimes causing congestion for tax officers as well as being time consuming for taxpayers. However, this year - the last month of tax finalization passed by very effortlessly for both the tax departments as well as taxpayers.

Such a significant change is caused by the full application of the online tax declaration and payment of the tax sector. Now entities can send personal income tax finalization for employees quickly from their office to the tax authority, they do not have to go to the tax office.

For example, the quick report of the Hanoi Tax Department showed that, over 115,000 PIT finalization dossiers declared by the income paying entities via the eTax system, reaching over 95% of the expected number by the end of March 31.

The results were quite high. During the peak month of tax finalization, the “single-window” unit of the Hanoi Tax Department as well as most of the tax branches in the area were not congested and crowded. It is even difficult to recognize that the tax sector is in the peak season of annual tax finalization if the Tax authority does not issue an announcement about the tax finalization.

Ms. Mai Kieu Anh, Director of the Living Skills Training Joint Stock Company (Hanoi), said this year's tax finalization was much more auspicious, because at the beginning of the year, the tax authority had given detailed instructions to businesses. We could also easily update new policies via the website of the General Department of Taxation, Hanoi Tax Department.

Individual taxpayers can also submit dossiers online

In contrast to the PIT finalization of the income paying entities, this year there is a complete change to individuals who directly conduct tax finalization with the tax authority that the deadline for finalization is the last day of April (according to the Law on Tax Administration No. 38). Therefore, individual taxpayer don’t have to worry because there is still time for tax finalization submission.

According to statistics of Hanoi Tax Department, by the end of March 31 (over half of the time period), there were nearly 1,800 dossiers from direct tax finalization individuals (excluding the tax finalization dossier of the individuals with proposed tax refund). This figure only reached 3.4% of the expected number, 82% lower than the same period last year. Not only Hanoi Tax Department, during March, many tax departments across the country mainly received tax finalization dossiers from income paying organizations, there are very few records of taxpayers directly conducting tax finalization.

The Tax authority recommends that individuals should plan to proactively submit their dossiers early, avoiding filing on the last days before the deadline, leading to congestion. At the same time, the income paying organization should issue personal income tax deduction receipts so that individuals can take the initiative in fulfilling their tax obligations.

Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hoa (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) runs a social network business with revenue in 2020 subject to personal income tax payment, but by the end of March, she has not yet submitted the tax finalization dossier to Thanh Xuan District Tax Branch.

"From the beginning of February, I received emails and zalo messages from the Hanoi Tax Department with information about the PIT finalization of the year 2020. They also included very specific instructions on the deadline for tax finalization. This year, the deadline for finalization is the end of April, so I plan to do it in the first week of the month. Furthermore, an officer of Thanh Xuan District Tax Branch also advised me to open an electronic transaction account to submit an online dossier. Some friends and I are planning to follow this method to save time," Hoa said.

Although the number of dossiers for direct tax finalization is still high, it is no longer a pressure on tax officers and creating worries of taxpayers. Because in order to adapt to the industrial revolution 4.0 as well as complicated progression of the pandemic, the tax finalization for these individual tax payers has also been "upgraded".

Currently, each tax payer can register an electronic transaction account for online tax finalization with the tax office instead of paying directly. Individuals who come directly to submit tax finalization are also instructed to register an electronic tax transaction account by officers of the “single-window” unit to facilitate transactions with tax authorities in the future.