On the sidelines of the 54th Annual Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR) Conference held in Brisbane, Australia, Deputy Director General Mai Son held bilateral meetings with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and the Australian Taxation Office.

Deputy Director General Mai Son addresses the SGATAR conference

At the meeting with the Singapore side, the two authorities discussed and clarified issues related to the tax treatment of government-owned entities in order to determine their residency status for the application of the Double Taxation Agreement. They also addressed ongoing Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) cases between the two countries.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Director General Mai Son said that both sides agreed to strengthen coordination and exchange to clarify the residency status of government-owned entities for treaty application; and to soon exchange memoranda of understanding on positions as well as enter negotiations to reach a common solution on pending MAP cases.

At the bilateral meeting with the Australian Taxation Office, Deputy Director General Mai Son expressed appreciation for the support that Vietnam’s Tax Authority had received from the Australian side, including the reception of Vietnamese delegations for study visits on tax administration in Australia and the organization of training courses in Vietnam on tax management knowledge and skills - most recently the courses on tax crime investigation held in Hanoi under the Mekong-Australia Partnership program.

“The Vietnam Tax Authority highly values the advanced tax administration practices of the Australian Taxation Office, especially its application of information technology in tax management, and wishes to continue learning and exchanging experiences with the Australian side on areas such as: applying Big Data in risk analysis and tax fraud detection; using AI and Machine Learning to predict compliance behavior and provide real-time risk alerts; and tax management methods for freelancers and individuals with multiple sources of income,” Mai Son emphasized.

Jeremy Hirschhorn, Deputy Commissioner General of the Australian Taxation Office, expressed his honor in welcoming Deputy Director General Mai Son and the Vietnamese delegation to Brisbane, Australia, and affirmed his readiness to cooperate and support Vietnam’s Tax Authority in the proposed areas.

According to Hirschhorn, in the time ahead, the Australian Taxation Office will continue strengthening cooperation and experience-sharing in modern tax administration. He also presented a number of solutions that the Australian Taxation Office has been implementing in practice, which can be shared with the Vietnam Tax Authority.

Some of the experiences shared by the Australian Taxation Office include the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, where the Australian Taxation Office has implemented various models in tax administration focusing on reviewing personal income tax returns of individuals with multiple income sources, cross-checking tax return data with relevant third-party sources, and calculating and providing forecasted tax liabilities before taxpayers fulfill their obligations. Another area is the application of Big Data, with Hirschhorn noting that the Australian Taxation Office uses data analytics models to detect unreasonable personal income tax deduction claims, cross-check declared figures against reliable third-party information for pre-assessment reviews, and proactively send warning notifications to taxpayers when inaccurate deduction claims are identified.

In addition to the above, Hirschhorn affirmed that there remain many potential areas for strengthened cooperation. The Australian Taxation Office stands ready to share its experience and coordinate with the Vietnam Tax Authority in areas such as developing compliance risk management systems and training tax officials to better utilize and apply new technologies.

Deputy Director General Mai Son affirmed that the topics discussed at the meeting are highly significant for the tax cooperation relationship between the Vietnam Tax Authority and the Australian Taxation Office.