The tax authority is hastening reforms to create favourable conditions for business (Photo: vanhoadoanhnhan.com)Hanoi (VNA) – The GeneralDepartment of Taxation is hastening the implementation of online tax refunds ona national scale, a part of the tax reform effort, to create favourableconditions for businesses.
This is a critical issue as tax reimbursementprocedures remained burdensome to firms while the country was striving toimprove the business climate following the Government’s Resolution 19.
A pilot implementation of online tax refunds wasunderway in 13 provinces and cities, which was expected to be expandednationwide within the first quarter of 2017.
The tax authorities targeted that at least 90percent of filings for tax refunds would be conducted online.
Firms would not have to travel back and forwardbetween tax departments, Le Thi Duyen Hai, deputy director of the Departmentfor Tax Declaration and Accounting, said, adding that it would help save timeand effort as well as reducing difficulties in tax reimbursement.
Tax watchdogs, however, said that the taxreimbursements must be put under tight management because the refunds weretaken from the State budget.
Dinh Cong Khuong, chairman of Khuong Mai SteelService Trading Co., Ltd, said that tax refund procedures remained complicated andtime-consuming, adding that slow reimbursements affected business operations.
The General Department of Taxation is alsopushing online tax filing and payment.
Statistics showed that as of November, 96.7percent of around 550,000 businesses nationwide registered to pay tax onlineand 93.7 percent of them registered to conduct online tax payments with banks.
The tax revenues collected online totaled morethan 404.6 trillion VND (18 billion USD) with 2 million transactions conductedthrough 43 banks.
The Government’s Resolution 19 about improvingthe business climate and enhancing national competitiveness set a goal that atleast 95 percent of firms would pay tax online by the end of 2016 by threecriteria including the number of firms registering to pay tax online, thenumber of online tax payment receipts and the value of tax collection.
As of November, eight provincial departmentsfulfilled the goal.-VNA
VNA
