Vietnam’s outstanding tax payments had reached 88.25 trillion VND (3.8 billion USD) as of September, up 8.2 percent from the end of 2018, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung addresses the parliament's meeting on October 22 

The figure included nearly 43 trillion VND worth of uncollectable tax, or 48.7 percent of the total, he told the 14th National Assembly’s eighth meeting on October 22.

Uncollectable tax liability is caused by people – who either die, are declared missing or lose their civil act capacity – and businesses that are dissolved, go bankrupt or suffer from unexpected disasters.

More than 771,400 taxpayers registered with the tax agency owed more than 24 trillion VND to the State. Of the figure, late taxes and penalties were worth 10 trillion VND.

Taxpayers that had gone out of business or had their licences revoked owed nearly 9.47 trillion VND. Of the figure, late payment and penalties amounted to 4.17 trillion VND.

According to the minister, tax agencies had done well to collect late tax payments and penalties. The ratio of tax liability over domestic production fell to 6.9 percent in late August from 12.2 percent in 2014.

The Ministry of Finance has regulated how to deal with late tax payments and penalties to help local authorities.

However, some agencies have missed out on late taxes because there are no detailed policies to support them.

Dung also proposed a draft resolution to write-off taxes and remove penalties for individuals and businesses unable to pay their taxes.

Under the resolution, the value of tax write-offs would hit 16.36 trillion VND.

Nguyen Duc Hai, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Finance and Budget, said the committee had agreed with the finance minister’s proposal.

Hai said that late tax payers were fined at a rate of 0.03 percent per day, which had increased the value of uncollectable taxes and put pressure on tax agencies.

A number of individuals had been declared dead or missing while a number of businesses had been dissolved or gone bankrupt without making public announcements. That's why tax agencies had been unable to track those records and erase taxes for them, he said.

Hai warned Government agencies to prevent taxpayers from taking advantage of the policy.