An official explains procedures to taxpayers in Quang Tri Province (Source: VNA) The survey, which received nearly3,500 responses, found 75 percent of the firms were satisfied with tax reformsin 2016, four percentage points higher than 2014, but only eight percentevaluated the tax procedures to be simple.
Releasing the survey results yesterday,VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said: “There is significant room to hasten taxreforms.”
He said tax authorities must makegreater efforts to create favourable conditions for business development andrealizing the Government’s goal of doubling the number of “efficient firms” toone million by 2020.
Dau Anh Tuan, head of the VCCI’sLegal Department, said the survey showed that 41 percent of the firms stillfelt burdened by administrative procedures. They found the forms being changedtoo often, that the procedures continued to be time-consuming and cumbersome,demanding too much paperwork, and instructions were inadequate.
He expressed concern that 34 percentof the firms reported paying “informal charges,” two percent higher than in2014. Furthermore, 30 percent said “yes” when asked whether they feltdiscriminated against if they did not pay the informal charges.
The survey also revealed that largefirms tended to be inspected for tax compliance more regularly than smallerones, Tuan said.
Among firms with annual revenues ofmore than 100 billion VND, 74 percent received inspector teams frequently in thepast year. This fell to 32 percent for firms with less revenues.
Tuan said this might discouragefirms from expanding their operations.
He also said that tax policies werebeing changed too many times within a year, causing difficulties forbusinesses.
Tax authorities must hasten thesimplification of tax procedures and promote the application of informationtechnology in tax filing, payment and management, Tuan said. Solutions mustalso be found to prevent informal charges, he added.
“Greater efforts are required,”Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said at the conference recently.
“The tax procedures must be furthersimplified, application of e-tax system hastened and risk management deployedin inspections to avoid troubling firms,” Dung said.
According to Loc, tax reforms areheading in the right direction but businesses expect them to move faster.
The survey found 81 percent of firmssaying further simplification in tax procedures was needed, 60 percent sayingthere must be greater transparency and 43 percent saying the attitude of taxofficials should improve.
Statistics compiled by the FinanceMinistry show that the time taken to complete all procedures and pay taxes hasbeen cut by 420 hours in 2013 to the current 117 hours.
Almost all businesses, 99 percent,are making their tax declarations online and 96 percent have registered to makee-tax payments, according to the Ministry.
The country’s tax administration hasundergone many reforms but getting refunds remains a challenge for businesses,a senior HCM City leader has admitted.
Speaking at a recent meeting on ‘Taxadministrative reform and enterprise support’, Nguyen Thi QuyetTam, chairwoman of the city People’s Council, said, “Tax refunds need to betimely and fair to enterprises.”
Chu Tien Dung, chairman of the HCMCity Enterprise Association, said the recent reforms in tax administration,especially the automatic tax registration and payment, save companies a lot ofexpenses and time.
“However, tax policies changefrequently and enterprises cannot keep track and often make mistakes, and arefined,” Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourers) newspaper quoted him as saying.
He said tax authorities should knowwhich businesses deliberately file incorrect returns and which ones are merelyignorant.
“Tax agencies pay tax refunds verylate and it affects businesses.
“Enterprises are fined if they paytax late but tax offices face no penalty if they make tax refunds late.”
The law stipulates that the refundsshould be made in six to 60 days.
Truong Lam Danh, head of the cityPeople’s Council’s legal department, said: “But in fact enterprises never gettax refunds within this time.”
Vuong Chi Cuong, director of TuongPhat Garment and Textile, said his company exports goods to Cambodia. The taxauthorities demand proof from customs at border gates that his company’s goodshave crossed over into Cambodia, and this delays its tax refunds, he said.
Other companies complained thatduring exports sometimes goods get damaged and buyers pay lower prices. Theythen have to file amended tax returns, but tax officials refuse to accept them,and refunds are delayed.
“Enterprises try to take advantageof all the financial resources they have and tax refunds are an important onefor them,” Nguyen Dang Hien, director of Tan Quang Minh Trade and ProductionCompany, said.
Tran Ngoc Tam, head of the city taxdepartment, said: “Tax refunds are delayed because many enterprises want taxofficials to verify their accounts.
“Since early March the taxdepartment has been making electronic tax refunds and hope to reduce the time.”
Tam instructed the department to“speed up work to release tax refunds to enterprises.”
Tran Vinh Tuyen, deputy chairman ofthe city People’s Committee, said the city Party Committee has a programme tooversee tax administration to stop corruption, he revealed.
“The police are investigating a taxfraud involving 8 trillion VND (355 million USD) abetted by tax officials.Therefore, it is essential to keep an eye on tax officials.” — VNA
VNA
