Scene of the Tax - Customs Forum 2021

That is the information given at the Tax - Customs Forum 2021 with the theme "Tax and customs policy accompanies with businesses", held by the Vietnam Financial Times on December 15.

Tax - Customs sector always accompanies with businesses

According to Deputy General Director of General Department of Taxation, Vu Xuan Bach, in 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic occurred complicatedly, greatly affecting the socio-economic situation of Vietnam. However, the Government and its sectors have always closely cooperated with businesses, performing the "dual task" of pandemic prevention while promoting production.

Following the direction of the National Assembly and the Government, the General Department of Taxation has advised and submitted solutions to the Ministry of Finance, synchronously deploying both tax policy and tax management to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, the Tax sector advised the Ministry of Finance to submit to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 52/2021/ND-CP, on extending the deadline for payment of value-added tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax and land rent in 2021 for businesses, organizations, business households and business individuals negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As a result, by the end of November 23, 2021, the Tax sector has received and resolved to extend the tax payment deadline for nearly 140,000 taxpayers. The total amount of tax and land rent extended under Decree No. 52/2021/ND-CP was over VND 92,000 billion.

Regarding tax exemption and reduction, the Tax sector has advised and submitted to competent authorities to issue a number of policies, such as Resolution No. 1148/2020/UBTVQH14 dated December 21, 2020 on reducing environmental protection tax for aviation fuel.

They also submitted to the Prime Minister for promulgation Decision No. 27/2021/QD-TTg, on the reduction of land rent in 2021 for subjects affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Of which, reductions of 30% on payable tax amounts of land rent in 2021 for leaseholders who are directly leasing land from the State under a decision or contract of a competent state agency in the form of annual land rental payment are included.

The General Department of Taxation has advised the Ministry of Finance to issue Circular No. 47/2021/TT-BTC, dated June 24, 2021, on reducing the collection of more than 30 fees and charges to support and remove difficulties for business. This ensures social security in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with the tax sector, the Customs sector has always accompanied and supported businesses to overcome difficulties and challenges caused by Covid-19. According to Deputy General Director of Vietnam Customs, Mai Xuan Thanh, the General Department of Vietnam Customs always identifies administrative reform as a key political task, which should be carried out regularly with synchronous solutions, taking the satisfaction of people and businesses as a service target.

In the years 2020, and 2021, administrative reform has been further accelerated. Up to now, basically, all steps of customs procedures have been done electronically. Some documents that previously had to be submitted by enterprises in paper form (according to regulations of ministries and sectors) had also been submitted electronically with digital signatures, creating favorable conditions for businesses.

For example, the Customs sector has submitted to the Government to promulgate Decree No. 67/2020/ND-CP, dated June 15, 2020, which stipulates to cut six business conditions, simplify 13 out of a total of 29 and cut 22 components out of a total of 52 of the procedures for recognition of duty-free shops, warehouses, yards and locations, specified in Decree No. 68/2016/ND-CP of the Government.

In particular, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has directed Customs units throughout the country to quickly clear shipment of aid, donation, and donation for pandemic prevention and control, following the mechanism of clearing goods serving urgent requirements, facilitating quick clearance of shipments of medical supplies, equipment, modern drugs, vaccines, and biological products that are aided by foreign organizations and individuals to Vietnam and vice versa.

Modernizing tax and customs administrative procedures

Speaking at the Forum, Mr. Vu Tien Loc, Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly and Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform of the Prime Minister said, “recently, the Customs and Tax sector always stand with businesses. In Vietnam, only the Ministry of Finance had recorded business satisfaction evaluations. Moreover, there was no single unit that has the frequency of organizing dialogue with businesses as dense as the Ministry of Finance. This has been highly appreciated by the business community over the years.”

However, according to Mr. Phan Duc Hieu, Member of the 15th National Assembly and Standing Member of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly, in the past two years, businesses have faced many difficulties due to the impact of Covid-19. Therefore, businesses believe that the tax sector needs to have more specific solutions, such as, faster value-added tax refunds to create cash flow for businesses, allowing them to maintain production.

"It was necessary to have special policies for both saved businesses and promoted fiscal policy development. Along with capital flows from banks, it was also necessary to diversify capital mobilization channels, among others. Therefore, the role of finance and securities is very important, to ensure the implementation of policies in transparent standards and regulations for people and businesses to access," Mr. Phan Duc Hieu said.

Sharing with businesses, Deputy General Director of Taxation, Vu Xuan Bach, said “in the future, the General Department of Taxation will continue to closely monitor developments and actual conditions, summarize and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented policies to advise and report to competent authorities for appropriate support solutions.

The Tax sector will also continue reform in all aspects, perfecting institutions, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the apparatus, reforming administrative procedures towards a more comprehensive and effective direction and continuing to accelerate tax administration modernization, in order to facilitate and reduce costs for people and businesses.

Deputy General Director of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Mai Xuan Thanh, shared at the Forum that the Covid-19 pandemic would continue to occur complicatedly, which would affect the import and export activities of Vietnam. The Customs sector would implement an integrated border management model to reduce the requirement for direct involvement of customs officers.

Along with that was the simple implementation of administrative procedures, waiting time at the border, the classification of goods, passengers and vehicles, and authorizing inspections at the border gate. Administrative procedures of relevant ministries and sectors such as licensing, specialized inspection, documents in customs dossiers would be standardized, data digitized and implemented entirely in the electronic environment and paperless.

Deputy Director General, Mai Xuan Thanh, also said,” the digital service environment would be friendly, easy to access, capable of meeting the needs of using services anytime, anywhere and on any devices. From there, it is possible to respond to changes in regulations and policies, ensuring coherence in commercial operation.”