Customs officers of Saigon Port Area 1 guide procedures to businesses. Photo: T.H

Facilitating trade and attracting goods

The Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, is assigned the task of state management of customs at Cat Lai Port - one of the key ports of Ho Chi Minh City port system with the largest import and export volume among customs Sub-department nationwide.

According to the assessment of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, in 2024, the economy is gradually recovering positively, and functional agencies, including the Customs agency, are creating favorable conditions for businesses in import and export activities. Therefore, the import and export turnover through customs clearance procedures through Cat Lai Port has increased significantly. Some items with increased turnover compared to the same period last year include: machinery, equipment, other spare parts, plastic raw materials, animal feed and raw materials, etc. In the first 8 months of 2024, the unit completed customs clearance procedures for goods worth nearly 28 billion USD, an increase of more than 3 billion USD compared to the same period in 2023.

Of which, exported goods had the highest increase. Mr. Duong Quoc Hung, Head of the Export Goods Procedures Team - Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, said that exported goods in 2024 tend to increase, especially in the second half of the year. For example, the value of exported goods in August 2024 reached nearly 1.9 billion USD, an increase of more than 14% compared to July 2024. In 8 months, the team has processed export procedures for more than 14 billion USD, an increase of nearly 2 billion USD compared to the same period in 2023. It is forecasted that in the following months, the amount of export goods cleared through Cat Lai port will continue to increase.

With many effective management and trade facilitation solutions, the state budget collection results of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1 have been positive. As of August 20, 2024, the state budget collection of the Sub-department reached over VND 30,789 billion, reaching 67.97% of the assigned target.

Speaking to reporters, some enterprises importing and exporting goods through Cat Lai port said that after a period of struggling exports in late 2023 and early 2024, enterprises have now recovered and are accelerating exports. It is expected that in the second half of the year, the export goods of enterprises will continue to increase.

Mr. Nguyen Van Luan, representative of Transport and Maritime Services Joint Stock Company (TRASAS), said that the enterprise is a customs clearance agent for many enterprises, on average the company handles import and export procedures for about 50 containers of goods per day, with favorable customs procedures, so the company's customs clearance of goods is carried out quickly, without difficulty, etc. It is expected that in the last months of the year, the volume of import and export goods of enterprises will increase even more.

Focus on preventing state budget revenue loss

Although the initial revenue results are positive, Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, believes that the economy still faces many risks and challenges from the general world economy. In addition, the implementation of the tariff reduction roadmap committed in the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) also causes tax cuts on imported goods with high tax rates; the VAT reduction policy under Resolution No. 142/2024/QH15 dated June 29, 2024 from 10% to 8% for some imported goods also directly affects the state budget collection work at the unit.

To ensure state budget revenue, in addition to trade facilitation, Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, pays special attention to preventing state budget revenue loss. According to Deputy Head of the Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, Tong Le Dan, during the process of checking documents and checking actual goods, the unit strictly implemented the regulations, and at the same time reviewed and strictly handled violations by enterprises. Strengthening the work of checking documents, management policies, checking commodity codes, consulting prices, checking customs values ​​during customs clearance, and post-clearance inspection. Focusing on items with large value, high tax rates, suspicious imported goods from key markets; goods declared at reduced prices; declared levels lower than the database; goods declared at special preferential tax rates; goods subject to anti-dumping tax, etc. In nearly 8 months of 2024, the unit increased revenue for the state budget by nearly 37 billion VND through price consultation for import and export goods; detected and handled nearly 600 violations, worth over 940 billion VND.

In addition, the collection of tax arrears has also been focused on by Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, achieving high efficiency. As of August 15, 2024, the unit has collected over VND 8.7 billion in tax arrears, reaching 97.81% of the assigned target.

According to the leader of Saigon Port Customs Sub-department, Region 1, determining that the unit's task of collecting the state budget from now until the end of the year is still very heavy, the unit is implementing many synchronous solutions, focusing on implementing plans for administrative reform and customs modernization to innovate working methods, shorten customs clearance time to create favorable conditions for people and businesses, and improve state management of customs. Focus on collecting the right, full, and timely state budget; Effectively combat revenue loss, limit newly arising tax debts, and determine to excellently complete the 2024 state budget revenue target of 45,300 billion VND.