In an interview with Customs News, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Xuan Truong, Dean of Tax and Customs Department, Academy of Finance, said besides the efforts of management authority in revenue management, revenue collection of this year depended a lot on the ability to control the pandemic, the ability to effectively support the development of production and business in the pandemic of the Government and localities.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Xuan Truong

Although total revenue collection in the first eight months increased by 14.3% over the same period in 2021, revenue collection in August fell compared to July. Notably, this is also the tendency of revenue collection from May to present, after the fourth outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic since April 2021, causing great impact on socio-economic activities and State budget revenue and expenditure. What do you think about this tendency?

The fourth outbreak of the pandemic, which began on April 27, 2021, had caused many difficulties for businesses, business households and all classes of the population. The number of firms withdrawing from the market in the first eight months of 2021 was 85.5 thousand businesses, an increase of 24.2% over the same period in 2020. Economic growth is the basis for State budget revenue so when the economy grew slowly, no matter how hard the revenue management agency tried, the revenue would still be difficult to reach the estimate. The Government showed its determination to control the pandemic and proposed many solutions to recover and develop production and business, as well as ensure social security. However, from now until the end of the year, economic growth would be tough to achieve as expected from the beginning of the year. This would certainly put great pressure on the implementation of socio-economic development goals in general and State revenue collection in particular.

From now to the end of the year, what challenges will the revenue collection, especially domestic revenue and revenues from import-export activities, continue to face?

The biggest challenge lay in the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides the efforts of management agencies, this year's State revenue collection depended a lot on the ability of pandemic control, and the ability to support the development of production and business in the pandemic of the Government and local governments. If the extreme emphasis is placed on pandemic control by unreasonable measures, it would hinder the development of production and business. This was the challenge of our management system's ability to cope with the complex developments in socio-economic conditions.

What is the solution for the administration of the financial sector in the future?

To fulfill the task of revenue collection at the highest level, in line with pandemic conditions, we must seriously implement the solutions directed by the Government in Resolution 105/NQ-CP. It is necessary to continue to promote digital transformation and administrative reform in the management of State revenue collection. In the immediate future, to improve the convenience and efficiency in handling tax and customs procedures to contribute to facilitate to production and business development. The Ministry of Finance should study and advise and propose additional solutions to support taxes, fees and charges for enterprises and business households following Resolution 105/NQ-CP. In addition, tax and customs authorities at all levels would continue to implement solutions to combat revenue loss with the power of the whole system, in which, it is necessary to promote and innovate methods to prevent the loss of revenue via tax inspection and examination; post-clearance audit; customs supervision; anti-smuggling and combating trade fraud; In addition, tax authorities at all levels should focus on exploiting areas of such as e-commerce, cross-border digital services, and sharing economy.

Director General of Taxation Cao Anh Tuan:

In the future, the General Department of Taxation will direct tax authorities at all levels to continue closely monitoring the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in each locality and corresponding budget collection progress, thereby promptly assessing and analysing the situation, propose to the authorities effective collection solutions, in line with reality in the localities.

In addition, the General Department of Taxation would carefully analyse the nature of each debt in the localities to propose handling measures to effectively recover tax arrears. Continue to accelerate the processing of tax arrears, late payment debts that are no longer able to pay the State budget following Resolution 94/2019/QH14. At the same time, reviewing and analysing the units with slow progress of debt settlement for timely resolution.

Assoc. Prof.Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh, Senior Lecturer at Academy of Finance:

Difficulties were inevitable when the pandemic situation was still complex. The Government had done everything possible to support businesses from taxes, fees, electricity bills, etc. For businesses, the important thing right now is the effort to rise up. The most important goal businesses need to aim at right now is not to make a profit, but to maintain the market, customers, and employees. Profit is only short-term, but if you lose an order, it would be difficult for a partner to recover in the long-term. It is time that businesses in these industries must have links and support for raw materials to complete orders, avoiding paying contracts.

Nguyen Hai Minh, Vice President of European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham):

The business community in general and European businesses in Vietnam in particular are currently going through extremely difficult times due to the fourth outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. For enterprises and individuals doing business, the big financial difficulty is mainly in maintaining cash flow and loan interest. Therefore, the tax exemption and reduction support package of the Government and the Ministry of Finance may not be the decisive factor to help businesses survive through the pandemic, but it plays a big role in encouraging businesses to overcome the pandemic and encourage businesses, help to increase consumption in society, especially in the context of limited State budget.

The European business community has always appreciated the drastic reforms of the Ministry of Finance, especially in the field of tax and customs. In this difficult time, besides tax exemption and reduction, minimising business inspection even for tax refund cases also showed companionship and support for businesses.

Thuy Linh (record)