E-payment has provided a quick alternative for taxpayers, Nguyen Thu Tra, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Technology, told the Tin Tuc (News) newspaper.

Q: What is the current status of the e-tax payment facility in our country?

A: We started e-tax payment on a pilot project in Hanoi and the provinces of Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc on February 9, 2014. By April 8, 143 taxpayers, both individuals and enterprises, have registered to use the e-tax payment service.

Sixty of them have used the service to pay a total of about 42.6 billion VND, or over 2 million USD, to the State coffers.

I have to concede that only a limited number of taxpayers know about this facility in the three provinces.

So I think we should launch a campaign to raise the taxpayers' awareness about the service and its benefits.

Anyway, the e-tax payment service has received positive response from the taxpayer community and the society. In the last two months, we have noted that the enterprises still hesitate to use the service as they don't have absolute confidence in the safety of the service.

However, the taxpayer community has shown its proactive attitude towards our service.

To make it more convenient to them, the Tax Department will expand the e-payment system to more commercial banks, instead of only one bank, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, currently.

We are committed to doing our best to protect the taxpayers' benefits.

At present, the organisations or agents which are providing the value-added tax services (T-VAN) do not offer the e-tax payment.

This is one of the reasons limiting the number of enterprises using the T-VAN service from using the e-payment service.

We hope that in the near future, my department will discuss with the T-VAN organisations so that they join our e-payment service.

Q: What are the benefits that the taxpayers will enjoy from the e-tax payment?

A: E-tax payment is a public service run by the General Department of Taxation.

By using the service, the taxpayers can pay direct taxes online via the Taxation Department's portal.

Their payment will be immediately notified whether the transaction is a success or not.

Using the e–payment facility, the transaction can be completed anytime during the day or night, all the year round.

To avail of this facility, the taxpayer is required to have a net-banking account with any of the authorised banks.

Q: Does your department plan to expand the e-payment facility to other provinces and cities?

A: In 2014, we plan to expand the service to 15 more provinces and cities. Many more commercial banks will be involved so that the taxpayers having net-banking accounts with authorised banks can do the transaction easily.

We also expect that in 2014, T-VAN units will join us in offering the service.

From the perspective of the Ministry of Finance, we will improve the infrastructure and high-tech so that the system operates fast and efficiently to cater to the increasing number of users.

However, we also need the support of the taxpayers to make our service more useful and efficient.

VNA