The General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) has requested all customs units to strictly comply with the GDVC’s Directive 215, focusing on implementing three solution groups on trade facilitation, anti-revenue loss and removing obstacles for businesses in the three remaining months of 2021.

Officers of Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Branch inspect imports. Photo: Q.H

Revenues are expected to plunge

According to the GDVC, enterprises’ operation have not yet been restored due to the fourth wave of Covid 19 from the second quarter of 2021 in almost all major provinces and cities, causing difficulties for revenue collection. Reports from local customs departments have shown that businesses have imported a large quantity of raw materials for production due to concerns of the disease outbreaks in other countries, so the imports in the remaining months of the year will drop.

The revenues are expected to decrease by 30-35%, especially in southern provinces where the revenues account for 51.6% of total Customs revenues.

In HCM City, after October 1, enterprises must meet nine criteria to be allowed to resume operation, while those that meet these criteria are very few. In addition, the effects of the public health crisis, the decrease in demand, the increase in costs, the difficulties of goods flow, the lack of labor and expert forces, and supply chain disruption have impacted HCM City Customs Department’s revenues, the Department said.

Ha Tinh Customs Department is one of the departments achieving high annual revenues.

However, the department’s revenues in the third quarter also sharply dropped compared with the second and third quarter. It is forecast that the department will face difficulties due to the lack of orders.

In Binh Duong province, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit neighboring provinces, affecting the provincial business production. Some enterprises have suspended operation, so trade will see the sharp decrease, affecting revenue collection in 2021.

According to Quang Ninh Customs Department, the department will face problems in the fourth quarter such as the suspension of business production and transport, the and plunge in consumption of petroleum products. Along with that, Vietnam National Petroleum Group has reduced the amount of imports to consume finished products of domestic refineries and petrochemical plants under the Government's management.

The quantity of coal inventory is high, while the demand for coal for electricity production falls, leading to a sharp decrease in coal imports in 2021 compared with 2020.

The revenue dropped by 32.2% to VND950-1,100 billion on average per day since 19 southern provinces and cities implemented social distancing according to the Prime Minister’s Directive 16, the representative of the Import and Export Duty Department said.

According to Prime Minister’s Decision 39/2018 on the preferential purchase price of wind power for projects before October 31, 2021, projects have completed the import of components, leading to an increase in the revenue of some customs departments in the first nine months of the year such as: Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Quang Tri.

Implementing three solution groups

Although the revenue collection has suffered difficulties, the Customs sector has provided solutions to achieve the target.

As of September 30, the tax revenues surged 25.83% to VND285,624 billion year-on-year. This figure was equal to 90.6% of the target.

Despite the sharp increase in revenue between January and September, the revenue collection still faces difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Customs must take many measures to achieve the target of VND335,000 billion.

At an online conference meeting on the performance in the third quarter and the tasks in the fourth quarter on September 29, Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can requested all customs units to implement solutions for trade facilitation associated with anti-revenue loss measures to achieve the target of VND335,000 billion.

The GDVC asked all units to comply with Directive 215. Units must implement three solution groups for trade facilitation, enhancement of management efficiency; prevent revenue loss by controlling price, code, origin, quantity of goods. Besides units need to quickly remove problems for businesses.

Local customs departments are required to review and grasp the tax debts and classify debt groups to collect and handle tax debts, fulfilling the target.

This is also one of the criteria for assessing the completion of the revenue collection task for the units.

The local customs departments must regularly assess the state revenue collection and payment, and closely follow the reality of tax administration, work with the Ministry of Finance in supplementing and amending tax laws related to imports and exports.