People carry out tax procedures at Thu Duc City Tax Branch. Photo: T.D

Take risks if you do not understand regulations

Speaking about new tax policies in 2023 and notifying businesses of some points at a recent meeting, Ms. Nguyen Thi Cuc, President of the Vietnam Tax Consultants Association, said in Vietnam, tax revenue accounts for more than 80% of total budget revenue. Tax policies have been reformed, revised and supplemented to meet reality, contributing to boosting production and business and solving difficulties for enterprises.

However, some businesses do not understand clearly tax policies, leading to many risks. Especially in the context that the guiding documents are not issued in a timely and clear fashion, state agencies even have different understandings, and the risk to businesses is increasing.

Regarding new tax policies in 2023, experts noted that the deadline for paying corporate income tax in the fourth quarter of 2022 is January 30, 2023. By January 30, 2023, enterprises must temporarily pay 80% of the payable tax according to the annual finalization. In particular, from January 1, 2023, the regulation on value-added tax reduction to goods and services eligible for tax reduction according to Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP dated January 28, 2022 of the Government is ineffective.

This time is the peak month of the tax sector to support taxpayers to review dossiers, declare, and complete procedures for finalization of corporate income tax and personal income tax. To help taxpayers make tax finalization smoothly, provincial tax departments have made plans to strengthen the support for businesses and taxpayers and promptly grasp problems of taxpayers.

2023 is forecast as a year of difficulties and challenges, the General Department of Taxation said that the Government is currently studying and submitting to the National Assembly some solutions to remove difficulties for businesses, curb inflation, and stabilize the macro-economy, creating a good environment for businesses to develop and raising revenue.

The Ministry of Finance proposed to the National Assembly Standing Committee on promulgating Resolution No. 30/2022/UBTVQH dated December 30, 2022 on the reduction of environmental protection tax for petroleum and grease products.

Basically, all items are reduced by 50% compared to the normal tax rate, only kerosene products are reduced by about 40%. This means that the environmental protection tax rate for petroleum products ranges from VND1,000 - 2,000, the highest rate is gasoline at 2,000 VND/liter, most items are subject to the tax rate of VND1,000 VND, especially kerosene is subject to a tax rate of VND600/kg.

Create an open and transparent mechanism

Facing difficulties to fulfill the revenue target and business support in 2023, Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department said HCM City Tax Department has implemented orientations in accordance with the development of the economic situation. In particular, the department has paid special attention to administrative reform and the application of information technology in the tax field.

Accordingly, the department will actively carry out digital transformation and continue to implement the Etax Mobile service which has saved time and human resources for taxpayers and tax authorities. In 2023, HCM City Tax Department orients 100% of individual transactions for tax payment and tax refund through the Etax Mobile application system.

Simultaneously, the tax agency will complete the program of the e-invoice generated from the cash register with nine groups of retail industries such as trade centers, supermarkets, catering, restaurants, and jewelry trading.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, the electronic invoices generated from cash registers will bring more benefits than normal e-invoices. This will shorten the time and increase the initiative for businesses since taxpayers will not have to send information to the portal to get a code, but they will be given an existing code line.

In addition, the electronic invoices from the cash register will not require a digital signature. A point of sale may have many cash registers to quickly create e-invoices to meet the needs of customers and increase transparency in transactions. Thereby, businesses and consumers will be more proactive in correcting errors.

According to statistics from HCM City Tax Department, by mid-March 2023, the city has implemented the creation of e-invoices from cash registers for more than 1,000 businesses and 200 business households.

However, Deputy Director of the Department Nguyen Tien Dung admitted that the application of normal e-invoices for some groups of industries is not really appropriate. In fact, consumers have not yet directly received invoices, causing a lack of transparency in transactions.

Accordingly, under the direction of the tax sector, from December 2022, HCM City Tax Department has implemented electronic invoices generated from cash registers with nine business lines specified in Decree 123/2020/ND-CP and Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC. This plan will still be implemented and is expected to be completed in 2023.