Officials and experts have suggested the development of a shared database, on which tax and customer agencies and banks work together to collect taxes from online sellers (Photo: thehekhoinghiep.com) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - There should be ashared database of online sellers to make sure tax collection in e-commerceactivities is sufficient, officials have said.
A shared database was necessary because there isno specific measure to calculate revenues, sales and expenses of organisationsand individuals selling goods and services online, according to Lai Viet Anh, DeputyDirector of the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency under theMinistry of Industry and Trade.
The main difficulty with collecting tax frome-commerce activities for government agencies was they were unable to addressthe revenues of online sellers, not to mention calculating tax rates for them,she said.
The shared database should be used regularly bytax agencies, customs offices, banks and the industry and trade ministry, Anhadded.
Among the mentioned subjects, banks will play animportant role as their customer database is expected to help governmentagencies track e-commerce transactions.
The involvement of banks operating in Vietnam isregulated in the draft amendment of the Law on Tax Management, which is beingdiscussed at the 14th National Assembly’s seventh meeting from May 20 to June13.
The draft law required banks to provide taxagencies information of the customers when they open accounts, but not thedetails of their transactions, according to Le Xuan Truong, Dean of the Tax andCustoms Faculty at the Academy of Finance.
But banks must assure the confidentiality of theclients and their accounts, so banks should be asked to provide the details oftransactions which are suspicious to tax agencies, he said.
According to National Assembly deputy Mai Thi AnhTuyet from An Giang province, Vietnam is facing a lower-than-expected taxcollection as billions of dollars in tax from e-commerce activities are notpaid to tax agencies.
“The tax levy on e-commerce activity hasremained vague in the draft amendment of the Law on Tax Management,” she toldreporters on the sidelines of the 14th NA’s ongoing seventh session.
The problems are how to watch over onlinesellers’ revenues, create good conditions for them to do business, andstrengthen the co-operation among government agencies and banks to tracksellers’ incomes, according to Tuyet.
In the draft law, there are some itemsencouraging online sellers to willingly declare their revenues. But the role ofbanks and the connection of tax and customs agencies have remained uncertainbecause they are not bound to this law.
Solutions have been proposed by the Hanoi TaxDepartment. The department has made some measures to help online sellers paytaxes more easily and prevent tax losses in the e-commerce sector.
Since 2017, there are more than 13,400 Facebookusers selling goods and services on social networks and e-commerce platforms.Of the total, 2,000 individuals have registered with the tax department andreceived their tax codes.
The tax department has also helped onlinesellers with tax registration and payment through papers and text messages.
The city’s tax department is working to collectmore information about individuals selling products on social networks. It hasalso asked the Vietnam Telecommunications Agency under the Ministry ofInformation and Telecommunications and telecom services providers to co-operateand provide personal information of individuals that have set up their personale-commerce pages. At the same time, the tax department is also working onpossible measures to filter online sellers accurately.
The tax department has also worked with banks totrack cash flow in and out of individuals’ bank accounts that are supplyingapplications and products on other channels like Google Play, Apple Store andYouTube so that their revenues are calculated and tax rates are defined.
The department is also working with the Ministryof Industry and Trade to make a list of e-commerce businesses that have registeredwith the ministry.-VNS/VNA
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