It has been observed that there are currently many obstacles in the process of personal income tax refunds. In Ho Chi Minh City alone, in the first six months of the year, over 52,000 applications were not refunded and nearly 68,000 applications are still being processed. Although caution is exercised in the processing, the city tax should soon resolve the matter to guarantee people’s rights.
Specifically, in the first six months of the year, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department received 174,478 personal income tax refund requests, an increase of 38 percent compared to the same period last year.
The number of decisions issued was 54,495, a decrease of 20 percent compared to the same period last year. The total amount refunded was VND375 billion, a decrease of 28 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of unprocessed applications was 52,049, an increase of 71 percent compared to the same period last year. Currently, nearly 68,000 applications are being processed, accounting for 38.9 percent of the total received applications.
The slow processing and backlog of personal income tax refund applications have caused significant frustration among taxpayers. In some cases, after dozens of unsuccessful attempts to contact the tax authority, taxpayers have directly appealed to the Ministry of Finance's online portal, only to be reprimanded by local tax officials.
Moreover, around late June and early July, many taxpayers who submitted refund applications were informed that their applications were rejected due to the non-existent bank account in the tax registration despite using the same account for previous transactions with the tax authority. It was later discovered that this was due to a system error.
When explaining why over 52,000 applications for personal income tax refund were not processed, a leader from a tax bureau in Ho Chi Minh City cited several reasons. During the processing, it was discovered that individuals had omitted income, declared incorrect information, or had duplicate information for dependents. These cases primarily involved individuals with multiple income sources who had personally filed their tax returns. In some exceptional cases, upon reviewing the documents, it was found that employees had their income falsely reported.
For example, a resident Ho Chi Minh City discovered upon submitting her personal income tax refund application that she was paid salary by a company in Dong Nai Province the previous year but she didn’t know. Following the guidelines, she reported the incident to the tax authority, and the company was subsequently fined and required to pay additional taxes as per regulations. The company had been illegally using her personal information, such as her name, ID number, and tax code, to declare wages and salaries, thereby manipulating their payroll expenses and committing tax fraud.
According to tax officials, before the introduction of eTax Mobile, a mobile tax application, taxpayers often had difficulty discovering if their income had been falsely reported. However, with this system in place, taxpayers can now check the details of their income, promptly detect any discrepancies, and report them to the tax authorities, thus protecting their legitimate rights.
Deputy General Director of the General Department of Taxation Dang Ngoc Minh stated that approximately 1 million people are currently using this application to manage their tax-related information. Those who earn two or more income sources are especially encouraged to install the app to stay informed and proactively manage their tax returns.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has announced plans to spped up the processing of applications for personal income tax refund and implement measures to mitigate refund-related risks. In the coming period, the department will prioritize the timely processing of 2023 personal income tax returns, conduct thorough verifications of tax deduction documents provided by taxpayers, and prevent fraudulent tax refund claims.
Additionally, the department is exploring data extraction methods to identify potential income-related risks during the refund process. Furthermore, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department will issue guidelines for organizations regarding the submission of supplementary documents, data retrieval, and tax offsetting before processing applications for personal income tax refund.
