Customs sector's revenue collection in first month of 2021 hits VND 30,398 billion

In January, the total value of import and export goods of Vietnam was estimated at $54.1 billion, down 2.6% from the month before. Total export value was estimated at $27.7 billion, up by 0.2% and total import value was estimated at $26.4 billion, down by 5.4%.

Compared to the same period in 2020, the country's export value increased by 41% and import value rose by 45.7%. With the above developments, the trade balance of Vietnam in January 2021 was estimated to have a surplus of $100 million. These are considered positive signals during an outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Talking with representatives of the Import-Export Duty Department, to strive to achieve the goals in 2021, in the Directive 215/CT-TCHQ, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has directed units to follow up and implement Resolution 01/NQ-CP (January 1, 2021) of the Government on key tasks and solutions to implement the socio-economic development plan and State budget estimate in 2021 with the motto of the Government's motivation is "solidarity, discipline, innovation, creativity, development aspirations".

Professional activities at Hai Phong Customs Department. Photo: H.Nụ

Besides that, the units focused on building and implementing drastically and synchronously an action plan for the reform of administrative procedures, customs modernisation, improving the business environment and improving national competitiveness in 2021 as required by the Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP (January 1, 2021) and Resolution 01-NQ/BCSĐ (January 4, 2021) of the Party's Civil Affairs Committee of Ministry of Finance on the leadership and successful direction of the financial and budget tasks in 2021.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs directs its affiliated units to drastically implement solutions to facilitate trade activities and remove difficulties for businesses in accordance with Circular 109/2020/TT-BTC (dated December 25, 2020) of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the implementation of State revenue estimates for 2021, right from the start of the year.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs also assigns tasks to each unit of the General Department and Customs Departments of provinces and cities, to strive to increase revenue by 5% compared to the current appropriation assigned by the National Assembly in 2021 (VND 315,000 billion).

For customs departments of provinces and cities, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has requested to increase reviews and grasp revenue sources; research, propose and implement solutions to increase revenue, combat revenue loss and proactively assess the impact of international integration commitments on State revenues. The customs departments of the provinces and cities need to deploy assigned estimates and targets to strive for collecting revenue in 2021 to each customs branch.

Besides that, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has directed units to strengthen the fight against revenue loss through supervision and inspection of implementation of customs procedures, post-clearance audit, specialised inspection, fighting against smuggling and fraud; focus on inspecting to against fraud in quantity, value, codes, origin, trademarks strictly control, promptly detect and prevent illegal transportation and smuggling into the domestic market.

Focus on controlling, detecting and strictly handling acts of importing counterfeit trademark goods, infringing intellectual property rights; importing goods that are incorrect comparing to customs declaration in terms of type, quantity and value, (imported consumer goods, groceries, cosmetics, children's toys, bicycle parts, motorbikes, ...), goods banned from import; intentionally consume goods subject to customs supervision (goods in transit, temporary import and re-export).

In cases of smuggling, fraud, tax evasion, illegal transport across border in the management area and detected by competent forces, the head of the customs unit in charge of the management area, depending on the severity of their violations, customs officials in charge of execution shall be considered and handled in accordance with regulations.