Overview of the dialogue conference. Photo: T.D

The notable issue is that enterprises faces difficulties in VAT refunds due to its partners’ closing

Mr. To Vinh Hung, Deputy General Director of Southern Steel Company Limited (VNSTEEL) headquartered in Ba Ria - Vung Tau, reported that the company has had problems with VAT refund of nearly VND 200 billion at the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Tax Department since August 2022. The main reason is that the company's input materials are scrap, which is a risky item and should be inspected before tax refund.

At the time the company started buying and selling scrap, all of the company's documents and procedures were in accordance with tax refund regulations, the arising activities were explained, and the company checked the input invoices of the suppliers who were all operating. However, when the tax refund was made, the local tax department inspected and found that the input units had stopped operating and were waiting for bankruptcy and dissolution procedures. This leads to doubts about the legality of the invoice.

In addition, VNSTEEL is also facing another problem that causes nearly VND100 billion of capital to be stuck due to the failure in tax refund. This case is related to input invoices from commercial activities, in which the company buys steel from manufacturers with invoice revenue of over VND150 billion per month.

Although the partners are still operating normally and invoices are generated according to the correct procedures. However, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department determined that the invoices of the partners from which the Southern Steel Company purchased goods were related to illegal invoice trading and are transferring the case to the investigation agency. This caused the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Tax Department to suspend the tax refund for this enterprise.

In response to the above problem of the enterprise, Mr. Mai Son, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation, said that the situation of illegal invoice trading is complicated, many enterprises are established just to profit from this behavior. The tax agency has built a database for inspection and coordination with relevant authorities.

However, in cases of suspected violations, the Tax Authority only has the authority to verify and must wait for conclusions from investigative agencies such as the Police. The fact that the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Tax Department temporarily suspends tax refunds pending verification is in accordance with regulations.

Mr. Mai Son said that according to regulations, input VAT for exported goods and services is allocated based on the ratio of export revenue to total sales revenue. If the part under investigation is excluded and the remaining input VAT (after allocation) exceeds VND 300 million, the enterprise is still eligible for a VAT refund. Therefore, it is recommended that the Ba Ria - Vung Tau Provincial Tax Department work with VNSTEEL to resolve the problem and ensure the rights of the enterprise.

Regarding tax refunds, the General Department of Taxation said that in the first 11 months of 2024, the tax authority issued 17,300 VAT refund decisions with a total refund amount of nearly VND 132,000 billion, equal to 77% of the VAT refund estimate for 2024, an increase of 5% over the same period in 2023.

In December, the tax agency will continue to review and closely monitor the tax refund settlement work in localities and promptly advise on measures to enhance the effectiveness of VAT refund management, coordinate with units to remove difficulties and speed up the VAT refund settlement progress in the last month of the year.

Focus on accelerating the implementation of inspection and examination plans, closely following the implementation of inspection and examination topics to prevent revenue loss for each topic.

Implementing the 2025 inspection and examination plan of the Tax Departments and the whole sector. Fully applying measures to urge the collection of tax and land rent amounts extended in 2024 according to support policies due for payment to the budget, avoiding debt and late payment.