Questions answered on procedures for goods in e-commerce transactions

	Foreign providers can make tax payments from anywhere
	Experts define legal risks for local exporters in e-commerce transactions
	Improving customs procedures for goods in e-commerce transactions

E-commerce is a very active development trend in Vietnam. Photo: ST

At the Dialogue Conference between the General Department of Customs and European businesses in Vietnam (April 8, 2022), the Transport and Logistics Subcommittee, the EuroCham in Vietnam proposed to remove restrictions on the frequency of importing low-value e-commerce shipments to facilitate trade and apply regulations consistent with the practice of countries in the region.

At the same time, the customs declarant is allowed to use the customs declaration system for e-commerce goods. They can declare the normal import and export form for e-commerce goods and are not required to declare through the e-commerce clearance system.

The customs declaration criteria for e-commerce goods are simplified and HS code declaration is not required for low-value goods. The proposal allows customs declarants to provide order information before the customs declaration.

The Customs Supervision and Management Department said to prevent organizations and individuals from taking advantage of the tax exemption policy to divide goods for tax evasion, the draft Decree on e-commerce stipulates the number of times to enjoy tax-free quotas.

Specifically, each organization or individual is only entitled to tax exemption standards for imported goods with no more than one order/day and no more than four orders/month.

For goods transacted via e-commerce on e-commerce trading floors, the seller must make a declaration on the customs electronic data processing system for exported and imported goods in e-commerce transactions. In addition, an HS code declaration is required for all goods. The draft Decree on e-commerce simplifies the declaration criteria for low-value goods.

In addition, it is necessary for Customs to update information on orders and freight information for exported and imported goods before completing customs procedures. Because, the advanced update of information is the basis for Customs to identify import and export goods transacted via e-commerce.

Moreover, the customs authority has soon received information to assess and analyze risks for this particular trading activity to apply appropriate inspection, supervision and control measures to prevent fraud and smuggling; to bind the responsibility of the owner of the e-commerce trading floor, the e-commerce website and the transportation companies.

Also according to the Transport and Logistics Subcommittee, the General Department of Customs has issued Official Letter 3923/TCHQ-GSQL dated August 6, 2021 on the requirement of the identity card number of the consignee for low-value imported goods (group 2), causing difficulties for importers, customs declarants, increasing costs, delaying the customs clearance process, especially for express shipments.

The time for declaration is extended because the customs declarant has to contact the owner of the goods to get information and make a manual declaration on the VNACCS/VCIS. The Customs authority is proposed not to apply this regulation and should consult with the business community on appropriate policies to solve management problems effectively but not increase costs as well as customs procedures for related parties (import-export enterprises, customs agencies, customs declaration agents or express delivery enterprises).

The Customs Supervision and Management Department said, according to the regulations in ordinal number 5, Part A, Section II, Appendix II, List II of Circular 56/2019/TT-BTC dated August 23, 2019 of the Ministry of Finance, the information criteria for user code import/export regulations: “If the importer is an individual, the courier must enter the identity card number or citizen identification card number; Enter the passport number in case the individual is a foreigner.”

Thus, the regulation on entering the people's identity card number or citizen identification number has been prescribed in Circular 56/2019/TT-BTC, the content of this regulation is not new.

At the same time, the Ministry of Public Security has kept national data on population, including data related to personal identification numbers. In order to ensure fairness in enjoying the import tax exemption policies of the State, Customs in charge of monitoring and managing individuals who import goods.

Negotiating to open more official-quota import and export with China

Regarding the request to combine many shipments belonging to the same consignee, the Ministry of Finance has recently discovered signs of abusing the policy to commit fraud. Individuals and organizations divide high-value goods into many low-value shipments to enjoy tax incentives and exemption from specialized inspection by the State. In order to ensure preferential policies of the State and to avoid taking advantage of splitting shipments to enjoy the preferential policies, the Ministry of Finance has issued specific instructions about customs valuation for imported goods sent via express delivery, these instructions are in accordance with the provisions of law.