Customs sector increases revenue collection by 21.13% in the first quarter thanks to imported automobiles and crude oil

Director of Import – Export Duty Department Luu Manh Tuong made a speech at the Conference. Photo: Quang Hùng

According to analysis by Tuong at the seminar on work in the first quarter by the General Department of Vietnam Customs, import and export turnover (including tax) in the first 3 months of 2019 reached US$26.81 billion, an increase of 14.03% compared to the same period last year. In particular, export turnover reached US$1.51 billion, dropping 1.2% compared to the same period last year, while import turnover reached US$25.29 billion, increasing 15.1% over the same period last year.

This has helped the total state revenue collected from import and export activities in the first quarter of 2019 of the entire Customs sector reach 83,250 billion VND, equaling 27.7% of the current appropriation, equal to 26.39% of the target. This is an increase of 21.13% (equivalent to 14,540 billion VND) compared to the same period of 2018 and higher than previous years.

Analyzing the revenue in the first quarter of 2019, Mr. Luu Manh Tuong said it was mainly due to a sudden increase in revenue collection from imported completed automobiles and crude oil.

Specifically, in the first quarter of 2019, the number of imported complete cars reached 38,900 units, worth US$848.59 million, increasing by 864.1% in volume and 646.7% in value compared to the same period last year. The tax amount collected was 11,588 billion VND, an increase of 10,414 billion VND, or 886.77%, compared to the same period last year.

Imported crude oil in the first quarter of 2019 reached 2.09 million tons, worth US$901.9 million, an increase of 2,347% in volume and 2,057% in value over the same period last year The amount of tax to be collected from this item reached 2,077 billion VND, an increase of 1,982 billion VND, equivalent to 2,091% over the same period last year. Revenues collected from these 2 items in the first 3 months reached 13,665 billion VND, an increase of 12,396 billion VND (equivalent to 977.68%) over the same period last year.

This helped the first quarter of 2019 see an increase of 21.1% compared to the same period in 2018, however, according to the leader of the Import-Export Duty Department, the increase in revenue mainly comes from imported automobiles, which was an unstable source due to issues with Decree 116/2017/ND-CP. When the problems have been solved, enterprises have massively imported from September 2018, leading to a sharp increase in revenue.

In the future, it is forecasted that the total number of imported complete automobiles will gradually decrease due to stable demand. On the other hand, according to the law in recent years, the growth rate of State revenue in the second quarter was lower than the average annual growth rate (in the second quarter of 2017, it increased by 1.47% and by 6.4% in 2018), thus the forecast of second quarter of 2019 is no exception. Therefore, the whole industry needs to make more efforts in managing state revenue collection and facilitating businesses, the Director of the Import and Export Duty Department said.

Furthermore, a series of solutions were also presented by the Director of the Import-Export Duty Department, such as strengthening customs management to detect acts of smuggling and trade fraud causing losses to state revenue. In particular, focusing on prices and reviewing the list of risk management about price in order to identify suspicious signs, conducting consultations and post-clearance audit effectively; issues of classification, applying tax rate should also be paid attention in order to avoid unified classification.

Reviewing and checking tax exemption, tax refund, especially cases of tax exemption for incentive investment projects; Focusing on analyzing risk assessment, conducting post-clearance audit or specialized inspections promptly warning customs clearance stage, avoiding repeated errors; To organize the recovery of recoverable debts, not to generate debts, especially with debts after inspection and post-clearance inspection; handling debts arising in examination and inspection.

Emphasizing the important solutions that directly impact the task of revenue collection of local customs units, Mr. Tuong said that the provincial Customs Department should monitor and grasp the actual situation; especially revenue sources, causes of increase, decrease, collection basis, providing a group of solutions appropriately to the characteristics of the area, and report to the General Department for timely removal. In particular, it is necessary to facilitate trade, implement forms of supporting businesses operating import and export activities.