Tan Thanh Customs offciers inspect imported machinery. Photo: H.Nu

Taking advantage of advantages

Earlier, the registered goods to carry out import and export procedures across Tan Thanh border gate were mainly agricultural products and about 95% of the items with tax rate of 0%. According to the commitment of the upgraded ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), some products with the tax rate of 5% are entitled to a preferential tax rate of 0%, which has also had a significant impact.

Meanwhile, some goods have high tax rates such as electronic components, machinery and equipment, but are transshipped goods. Especially during the period affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, although import and export activities were still maintained, customs clearance of goods reduced. China implemented a flexible policy of regulating border trade activities, so the annual revenue of Tan Thanh Customs Branch only reached about VND50 - 55 billion/year.

On July 27, 2023, at the 9th “two countries and four parties” conference held in Quang Ninh province, and a dialogue conference between Lang Son Customs Department (Vietnam) and Customs Nanning (China) on July 28, 2023, Lang Son Customs proposed China Customs not to apply the policy of regulating the quantity of goods with import tax rates across border gates of Lang Son province. The department also asked China Customs to review and supplement the list of goods eligible for import and export across border gates and resume customs clearance activities at some other secondary border gates...

Motivated by great efforts to discuss and negotiate between the two Customs administrations and actively take many measures, from October 2023, the volume of goods imported and exported across Tan Thanh Border Gate has surged, achieving the highest capacity.

Notably, from May 27, 2024, the Tan Thanh - Po Chai customs clearance route (marker area 1090-1091) has officially belonged to the Huu Nghi - Huu Nghi Quan International Border Gate pair, which has created momentum for major breakthrough in revenue collection by Tan Thanh Customs Branch (Lang Son Customs Department).

According to Vu Van Binh-Manager of Tan Thanh Customs Branch, when the Tan Thanh - Po Chai customs clearance route belongs to the Huu Nghi - Huu Nghi Quan International Border Gate pair, high-tax rate goods are allowed to carry out customs clarance procedures at Tan Thanh customs clearance route. Taking advantage of the advantages of the customs clearance route, the Branch encouraged 35 enterprises engaged in importing and exporting high-taxe rate goods such as: trucks, machinery and equipment, electric motorbike components to carry out customs procedures at the branch, thereby increasing the State revenue.

Tan Thanh Customs Branch has proactively coordinated with units at the border gate to discuss and negotiate with enforcement forces at Po Chai Border Gate (Bang Tuong, Guangxi, China) to agree on implementation of solutions to improve customs clearance capacity. At the same time, the branch has worked with yard operators at Tan Thanh border gate to reduce by 5% of vehicle storage costs at Bao Nguyen parking lot. This has helped save costs for importers and exporters.

The promoting advantages has helped Tan Thanh Customs' revenue improve. As of August 4, 2024, Tan Thanh Customs has collected over VND303 billion, meeting 505% of the assigned revenue target, an increase of over 4,000% compared to the same period in 2023.

As of August 4, Tan Thanh Customs Branch has received and processed procedures for 51,207 declarations of about 500 registered businesses with a total turnover of US$706.2 million, an increase of 26.2% in turnover year-on-year.

The branch coordinated in processing customs clearance documents for 80,015 vehicles; and collected VND63.9 billion of vehicle fee under the province's decision.

Making great efforts to achieve better results

Manager Vu Van Binh said that to achieve better results in the coming time, Tan Thanh Customs Branch will take customs cleartance measures and cooperate with other forces to facilitate for fastest customs clearance, preventing goods congestion at the border gate area; actively support businesses to declare and connect data information on the electronic customs system and digital border gate platform.

Tan Thanh Customs Branch will continue to maintain the specilized team to support enterprises; review enterprises taxable importing and exporting goods that are allowed to go through border gate procedures such as consumer goods, household goods, food (beer, soy sauce), seafood, etc. to meet and encourage them to implement procedures across the border gate. At the same time, closely follow the activities of enterprises to promptly handle arising issues during the customs clearance process.

Tan Thanh Customs will focus on measures to prevent revenue loss such as implementing measures to recover import-export tax debt; strictly control enterprises' declaration, especially declaration of product codes and prices; strengthen post-clearance audit to promptly detect and handle enterprises invloving in customs offence, thereby collecting tax arrears; and prevent enterprises invlolving in smuggling and trade fraud...

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Long - representative of Thuy Linh Agricultural Product Import-Export Company, said that the company has been supported by Tan Thanh Customs Branch, especially Tan Thanh Customs officers have directly instructed declaration and updated data on the electronic system and removed problems for businesses at the border gate. The support of Tan Thanh Customs Branch has helped businesses minimize movement time and save costs when goods are not stored at the border gate. This has helped the company implement contracts for customers on time, improve competitiveness, stabilize business, save costs and human resources.