Mai Son, deputy director general of the MoF's Tax Department

At an MoF press conference on April 3, Mai Son, deputy director general of the Tax Department, said the payment would be made providing Samsung submits the necessary documents by April 10.

He said nearly 80 per cent of annual tax refund dossiers are processed in the post-audit mechanism, (refund first, double check later). Only a few enterprises are subject to a pre-audit mechanism (double check first, refund later), which includes enterprises doing tax refunds for the first time or with high-risk factors.

During this process, policy problems or high-risk cases account for a small proportion of the total number of annual tax refund dossiers.

"This reflects the efforts of not only the tax authority but also the business community and related units in implementing tax refunds," Son said, adding that tax authorities are ready to listen to and accept comments from businesses.

"We are reforming processes, and promoting the application of IT and databases to improve tax management efficiency," he said.

When the Law on Tax Administration is amended, the tax authority plans to apply a priority mechanism for taxpayers with high compliance levels. Thereby, businesses that follow tax policies well will receive to refund taxes faster.

Son also suggested that businesses should comment on the amendments to the Law on Tax Administration. Listening to feedback from the business community has contributed to building appropriate and effective tax policies.

Regarding the delay in the tax refund for Samsung Electronics Vietnam, the deputy director general said that the tax and customs authorities had already provided specific instructions.

Tax and customs authorities have been working with the company to clarify some points. At their most recent meeting on March 28, Samsung committed to providing full dossiers as requested before the deadline on April 10.

"If Samsung submits dossiers on time on April 10, the amount will be refunded on April 15," Son said.