Tax reforms to target better business climate

The General Department of Taxation said during an online meeting on April 6 that it will step up tax reforms to improve the business environment.
The General Department of Taxation said during an online meeting onApril 6 that it will step up tax reforms to improve the businessenvironment.

The department plans to cut at least 10 percent oftax administrative procedures and simplify at least 20 percent of thecurrent procedures to reduce tax filing hours to 121.5 hours per year asper a Government Resolution or to 171 hours per year (included socialinsurance filing hours).

As of January 2015, tax filing hourswere reduced by 370 hours per year and must be cut by another 45.5 hoursto reach the average level of ASEAN-6.

Minister of Finance DinhTien Dung said at a meeting detailing measures that a determinationfrom the tax agencies is needed to achieve the target.

TheGeneral Department of Taxation said the application of information andtechnology will be hastened during tax filings going forward, addingthat IT applications will be implemented before June 30.

Specifically,60 percent of tax refund filings and tax reimbursement will beconducted online by the end of September and the rate is expected to beraised to 95 percent a year after that.

The tax department saidthe number of businesses using online tax payments remains modest, only41,800 enterprises out of a total 488,000 enterprises nationwide, or 8.5percent. The General Department of Taxation plans to boost thepercentage of businesses using online tax payments to at least 90percent by the end of September.

Deputy Minister of Finance, DoHoang Anh Tuan, also pointed out that the application of IT in taxpayment for business households, which numbered up to 1.6 million isalso limited, recommending that tax payment can be conducted via mobiledevices, such as smartphones.

The 2014 Doing Business report bythe World Bank showed that Vietnam is among countries that have thehighest tax filing hours of up to 537 hours, ranked 149 out of 189countries, based on this indicator of business environment.-VNA

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