The Tax System Reform Strategy for 2016-2020 is to make a modern, professional, effective and efficient Vietnamese tax agency on electronic platforms.

Tax sector aims to operate professionally and efficiently on an electronic platform.
Photo: Thuy Linh.

Perfecting the Law on Tax Administration

According to the General Department of Taxation, the globaleconomy in the 2021-2030 period will switch to a new growth cycle, but many unpredictable factors still appear, affecting the implementation of the Tax System Reform Strategy.

Specifically, economic competition is increasingly complex; the development of science and technology has taken place strongly, having an increasing impact on the socio-economic status of the world.Many new economic forms are developing, accompanied by payment methods, new consumer trends such as the network economy and the sharing economy.

In that context, the Taxation sector determined that the tax administration reform for the 2016-2030 period should aim at building a modern, professionaland efficient Vietnamese tax agency on an electronic platform, which is a reliable partner of all organizations and individuals in the implementation of tax laws and to maintain Vietnam's position as one of the top ranked countries in Southeast Asia.

According to the General Department of Taxation, the administration of taxes, fees and charges is towards a unified, transparent, specialized and professional sector based on three basic foundations: a complete, comprehensive, modern and integrated tax administration institution; professional human resources, integrity and innovation; modern and integrated information technology that meets the requirements of tax administration in the digital context.

Therefore, the focus of tax administration in the 2021-2030 period will continue to improve the Law on Tax Administration and its guiding documents; strengthening and simplifying administrative procedures in tax law compliance and enforcement in accordance with e-government requirements, ensuring that the Tax Authority has sufficient capacity to manage domestic and international taxes on the basis of applying risk management.

In order to achieve that goal, the taxation sector will study and perfect tax institutions to ensure consistency, publicity, transparency, stability and fairness in accordance with practical requirements to effectively manage new revenues generated by the digital economy and promote voluntary compliance according to the compliance level of each group of taxpayers.

Along with that, adding investigation functions for tax offices to the Law on Tax Administration and strengthening its powers to prosecute and investigate tax agencies based onthe Criminal Law, the Law on Criminal Procedure, the Law on Organization of Criminal Investigation Bodies; complete legal corridors for the right to apply different debt collection methods which aresuitable to the characteristics of tax debts and regulations on the application of shortening procedures, to automatically write off and recover small debts; study and complete legal provisions on tax agents, fight against price shifting, standardize tax administration processes in accordance with international practices and Vietnamese law on the basis of applying information technology to ensure consistency, linkage, integration and high automation.

Put businesses and taxpayers as the center of reform

According to the General Department of Taxation, along with the reform and modernization of the tax system, the taxation sector will always ensure the full dissemination of tax-related information. Along with that is the level of high-quality support services for taxpayers in accordance with the law.

Electronic support services are focused on developing in order to enhance voluntary compliance with good quality and affordable rates for each group of taxpayers, meeting international standards, encouraging and supporting the development of tax service business organizations.

The tax sector will continue to reform tax registration, tax accounting, tax refund, tax exemption and reduction in the direction of simplicity, clarity, transparency, ease of implementation and shortening the processing time for taxpayers.

The Tax Department will also maintain and expand electronic transactions in receiving and processing tax administrative procedures from level 3 or higher for businesses and organizations.

Another task is to focus on supporting individual taxpayers to use appropriate electronic transactions to further facilitate and reduce taxpayers' compliance costs; uniformly implement the tax statistics in the entire sector on the principle of promptly and accurately reflecting tax information of taxpayers to serve the tax administration and to publish tax statistics yearbooks.

In particular, the General Department of Taxation said that it would develop an integrated, centralized information system, puttingpeople and businesses as the center, which is transparent and efficient, speeding up processing and reducing operating costs, as well as ensuring the consistency and efficiency of state management.

The tax sector’s goal is to provide electronic services and electronic data to facilitate taxpayers, contributing to improving Vietnam's ranking on simplicity and convenience in taxation.

Build integrated platforms and big data platforms to provide complete information for the direction and administration, connecting and exchanging information among state management agencies, supporting tax administration, tax risk management and policy making. Develop information technology technical infrastructure, advanced, modern and synchronous equipment, ensuring continuous, efficient, safe operation and data security.