Customs officers inspect fruits imported from China at the Tan Thanh border gate in the northern province of Lang Son (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – A number
of enterprises have taken advantage of technology used for tax collection to
avoid paying taxes.
The Law on Value Added Tax (VAT) regulates that unprocessed, or
preliminarily processed, agricultural, forestry and aquatic products imported
from foreign countries are not subject to VAT. However, if these imported
products are sold to individuals and small business vendors in the country,
they are subject to a VAT rate of 5 percent.
In recent years, customs agencies have applied technology in tax
collection, which allows enterprises to use email and digital signatures for
customs and tax declarations online, as well as allowing them to write, print
invoices and pay taxes by themselves without requiring submission of lists of
goods purchased and sold during each tax period.
A number of enterprises have taken advantage of these methods,
importing unprocessed agricultural, forestry and aquatic products from China
and selling them to local business vendors and individuals without paying taxes
to local tax agencies, the Hai quan (Customs) newspaper
reported.
The process of founding fake companies to import goods and evade
taxes is no longer trivial but practised on a wide scale, according to the
report.
Thirty-four out of 93 enterprises that imported goods through the
Tan Thanh border gate last year were found to not have declared 1.15 trillion
VND (50.7 million USD) worth of imported goods that were sold to locals,
according to the customs agency of the northern province of Lang Son.
Tax payment fraud worth 53 billion VND (2.3 million USD) was
discovered in eight enterprises. Twenty-nine other enterprises listed an amount
of goods – which was sold to locals, hence subject to 5 percent VAT – as having
the same or higher value than the amount of goods they imported.
In particular, the Lang Son Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery
Import-Export Co. Ltd., was found to have avoided paying 23 billion VND (1
million USD) in tax. The company’s director, whose name was included in the
invoices, was found to not be involved in directing the company.
The Truong Son Trading Co. Ltd., registered in the coastal Quang
Ninh province’s Hong Thai Dong commune, was found to have avoided paying 12.4
billion VND (545,600 USD) in tax. The commune’s authorities said such a company
never existed.-VNA