Hanoi collects VND110 billion in tax from five groups of e-commerce businesses

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Hanoi Tax Department has proactively controlled and managed taxpayers engaging in e-commerce business activities. Photo: Internet.

In 2021, Hanoi Tax Department proposed strengthening inspections at taxpayers’ offices based on their tax returns, focusing on risky areas such as capital transfer, affiliate transactions, transfer pricing, real estate transfer, housing and land, e-commerce and tax refund.

As reported by Hanoi Tax Department, in 2021, the unit conducted 16,217 inspections, exceeding 30% of the General Department of Taxation's plan with total arrears, refunds and fines of VND2,470 billion, up 55% over the same period last year; deductible value-added tax reduction of VND358 billion; and reduced loss of VND7,190 billion.

Hanoi Tax Department has focused on grasping new production and business methods to cover revenues (especially from e-commerce and digital-based business activities), effectively combating revenue loss and tax refund fraud, thereby expanding revenues and preventing tax base erosion.

Notably, Hanoi tax authorities have actively controlled and managed taxpayers engaging in have e-commerce business activities in order to expand the tax collection base. In 2021, the Department collected VND110 billion of tax from five groups of e-commerce business activities, including:

Group 1: individuals who have collected from foreign organizations such as Google, Facebook, Apple); Group 2: individuals who are involved in online sales activities; Group 3: landlords who rent houses through online applications; Group 4: payment units for electronic services of foreign contractors; Group 5: enterprises organizing and operating e-commerce trading floors (Sendo, Lazada, Shoppe).

For the fight against tax refund fraud, Hanoi Tax Department has established a team to strengthen the inspection against fraud in value-added tax refunds and actively collected information and built a database of businesses subject to tax refund in the area.

Accordingly, the tax department has controlled the value-added tax refund, classified risks by commodity, import country, type of enterprise (manufacturing, trading), coordinated with tax offices at all levels and relevant agencies such as banks, Customs and Police to inspect, verify and check goods purchased and sold, and verify outputs abroad in order to limit value-added tax refund fraud.

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According to statistics, in 2021, Hanoi tax authorities paid value-added tax refund for 1,358 dossiers with a refunded amount of VND8,520 billion, implemented 270 inspection decisions before and after VAT refund. Thereby, the refundable tax amount reduced VND189 billion; the tax arrears and fines through inspections were VND41.3 billion.