Many solutions to tax administrative procedure reform

Due to the implementation of Resolution 19 of Government on speeding up reform of administrative procedures, direction of Ministry of Finance, and General Department of Taxation, provincial Taxation Department has been concretized, reduced the time of administrative procedure settlement to support taxpayers.

Maximum support for taxpayers

Incorporating information technology in tax administration is one of the tasks that the tax sector has been developing for many years. This is not only a requirement in Government Resolution 19 of 2017, but is also required by Resolution 36a on accelerating the implementation of e-government.

A conference of direct dialogues with enterprises helped the tax branch to learn about obstacles, difficulties and reduce tax administrative procedures.

According to Huynh Dinh Tri, Deputy Director of Provincial Taxation Department, in Binh Duong, to shorten the process of settlement, modernize and apply information technology into state management, reduce the time to carry out procedures, ensure publicity, transparency and accountability of State administrative organs, Provincial Taxation Department has coordinated with customs departments, state treasury and commercial banks in the province to adopt the form of tax collection through banks. This has created favorable conditions for enterprises to pay taxes via electronic channels, helped tax agencies to expand their collection network, alternate records, and timely update information on revenue collection.

On the business side, Ms. Dang Thi Thanh Lan, Head of Finance and Accounting Department under MHI Engine System Vietnam Company (VSIP 1, Thuan An Township) said that the payment of taxes and fees through banks saved her company much costs, time for filing and tax declaration. Previously, she had to wait for the declaration, data comparison, which took more than an hour and must go through many channels, such as customs, tax. But now she just needs to carry out banking transaction procedures to pay import and export taxes right away. The advanced information technology application of state management agencies has directly supported enterprises, created favorable conditions for enterprises to well carry out tax administrative procedures, facilitate production and business activities.

To refund and pay electronic tax

On the other hand, Provincial Taxation Department has implemented electronic tax declaration and tax payment to save time and expenses of enterprises, and limit direct contacts between tax officials and enterprises during tax declaration and payment. Regarding electronic tax payment, tax sector completed the connection with 41 commercial banks for electronic tax payment; to perform online tax declaration, 24,060 units have used online tax declaration service, reaching 100% taxpayers.

Besides, in addition to online tax declaration and tax payment, Provincial Taxation Department has offered electronic applications and other electronic tax refund support services to enterprises eligible for export tax refund, and investment projects having tax amount eligible for tax refund and requesting for value added tax refund according to Law on Value Added Tax; set up information connection between tax authorities and natural resources and environment agencies in defining financial obligations on land...

Starting from 1^st Aug 2017, Provincial Taxation Department will implement tax refund for all provincial enterprises and investment projects eligible for export tax refund under Law on Value Added Tax, marking a new step in the modernization and reform of administrative procedures in tax sector. According to Mr. Tri, on basis of pilot results of the implementation of electronic tax refund services, Provincial Taxation Department is preparing for the application of registration fee management for vehicles, and in 2018 will declare and pay registration fee for vehicles by electronic means.

Leaders of Provincial Taxation Department said that while the economy is facing slow growth, potential difficulties in production, business and services from the previous years have impacted to businesses and taxpayers. This urged tax administration to go deep, stick closely to the reality of business operations, create favorable conditions, promptly guide and quickly solve administrative procedures for taxpayers. At the same time, the publicity of hotline for receiving information, feedbacks on negative behaviors of tax officers, along with the introduction of information technology applications into tax inspection, is the next step in modernization of tax procedures in the coming period as well as meeting requirements of the Government's Resolution No. 19 on further reducing the tax payment time by 110 hours/year. This is one of the tasks contributing to the effectiveness of the State's tax support package so that businesses and the State could work together to overcome difficulties.

Reported by Thanh Hong – Translated by Ngoc Huynh

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