At the online seminar
On the afternoon of September 29, the Government Portal held an online seminar on the topic ‘Tax management for e-commerce activities’.
To manage business activities on digital platforms, the National Assembly and the Government have issued many legal documents. Tax authorities at all levels and relevant sectors soon took the initiative to step up preventative measures against tax revenue loss from this business.
However, in comparison with the huge income and revenue that online traders have collected, the State has just collected a small amount of tax for the state budget. Moreover, this is causing inequality among businesspersons.
At the seminar, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Director of the Tax Administration Department of small and medium enterprises and individual and business households (the General Department of Taxation), said that because of the characteristics of the digital economy and e-commerce, the tax industry in Vietnam and in the world face many difficulties.
Specifically, difficulties exist in fully managing revenue sources and taxpayers who can be organizations or individuals, and difficulties in tax calculation. Along with that, it is difficult to distinguish different types of income because e-commerce has many types such as service fees, and royalties. It is necessary to clarify to distinguish the calculation as a tax base. Furthermore, the tax object may be an organization or an individual, an individual who can open many stores on social networking sites can also sell goods on many different e-commerce platforms.
Last but not least, cash flow management is another difficulty. This problem is not simple because cash transactions are still popular in Vietnam, said Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Head of Electronic Information Department, Department of Broadcasting and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Department is responsible for managing cross-border digital services.
Since 2016, the Ministry of Information and Communications has established a coordination mechanism with cross-border platforms such as Facebook, Google and later Tik Tok to request compliance with Vietnamese law according to the Decree 72/ 2013 on the management, provision, and use of internet services as well as the provisions of the Law on Cybersecurity.
Member of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly cum Vice President of National Economics University Professor Hoang Van Cuong said that the tax industry is the leading industry in Vietnam's digital transformation.
Vietnam is one of the four leading countries in Southeast Asia in terms of cross-border tax management through the fact that network operators have to declare tax on the Portal; even the tax sector has had legal tools to collect tax with services such as Uber, Grab through digital platforms although they are not goods.
