Finance ministry okays more tax, customs red tape cuts

The Ministry of Finance has issued decisions approving the removal or simplification of various administrative procedures in taxation and customs.
The Ministry of Finance has issued decisions approving the removal orsimplification of various administrative procedures in taxation andcustoms.

Accordingly, six of the 46 procedures will be removed –one in tax and five in customs – while the remaining 40 administrativeformalities will be simplified, with seven in tax and 33 in customs.

Thedecision comes in response to the government's Decision No.19/NQ-CP,dated March 12, 2015, on major tasks and solutions for improving thebusiness environment and national competitiveness.

Under thedecision, the tax payment time will be shortened to less than 121.5hours per year, while the time to complete premium payments for socialinsurance will be less than 49.5 hours per year.

The percentageof local enterprises conducting electronic tax declarations will be over95 percent, and the rate of electronic filings for corporate taxpayment will be at least 90 percent.

The additional reductionsand simplification are expected to create more favourable conditions forpeople and enterprises completing tax and customs administrativeprocedures.

They will also contribute to facilitating theeffective implementation of the ministry's envisaged solutions to reducethe processing time for tax and customs procedures to the average levelof the ASEAN-6 countries by the end of 2015.

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said that fulfilling the government's instruction would require preparation from all sectors.

Hesaid the finance sector was implementing solutions related to the ASEANEconomic Community (AEC) integration and pledged to meet integrationrequirements when Vietnam takes part in the AEC in late 2015.

Accordingto the business community, tax and customs were among the first sectorsto achieve significant reforms of administrative procedures last year.Under the ministry's reforms, the tax payment time last year wasshortened from 537 hours per year to 247 hours (exclusive premiumpayment time). The tax payment time is currently 167 hours, as per theamended Law on Taxes, which came into effect on January 1, 2015.

Thepercentage of local enterprises conducting electronic tax declarationslast year also increased from 65 percent to 95 percent.-VNA

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