Banks switch to online tax payment

Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Finance has instructed commercial banks to completely stop over-the-counter tax payments and work with tax agencies to implement online tax payments by the beginning of December.

Accordingly, it can be made via the general department's e-portal and other online banking services such as Internet banking, ATM, HomeBanking and SMS. Over-the-counter payments will only be applicable in case of internet system failure.

A document sent by the ministry to the banks said that while 90 percent of businesses nationwide had registered for e-tax payment, the submission of tax documents and payment was low.

Tran Ngoc Tam, Deputy Head of HCM City Taxation Department, said that up to 98 percent of businesses in the city had registered for e-tax payment, but only 14 trillion VND (622.2 million USD) had been received, which was relatively smaller than the total of 100 trillion VND (4.45 billion USD).

The reason was a hesitation on the part of enterprises to use the system. They had paid only small tax amounts as they were afraid of internet errors.

He said that several directors were also afraid to part with their digital signatures as they were worried about chief accountants misusing the system.

The department recommended that businesses should register two digital signatures. One would be used for payment and another for money transfer.

He also suggested that businesses should not worry about internet issues for e-tax payments as all businesses would be paying e-tax at the same time. In addition, the data of tax notifications are small which would not slow down the internet.

Statistics from the department showed that the city has around 170,000 companies. Normally, about 30 percent of the total would pay value-added tax while another 30 percent would pay corporate income tax.

The finance ministry also asked the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to support businesses in implementing the e-tax payment system.-VNA