Opportunity for Taxation Department to improve image

Since 2005, Taxation sector has applied devices to support taxpayer (TP) in order to foster activities of publicizing departmental information, which enables enterprises to look up legal documents, new taxation policies; reduce manpower for Taxation offices in directly assisting taxpayers; create polite and modern working environment etc. One of the most efficient applications is to operate system using two-dimensional bar code taxation form of taxpayers, which helps enterprises more conveniently calculate, enumerate and pay tax by themselves. Using this application software has assisted enterprises to enumerate correctly, timely update changes in policies, reduce arithmetic mistakes, provide adequate and detail data for report, save time for enterprises etc, thereby has brought enterprises as well as tax officers certain benefits. Specifically, application of two-dimensional bar code on taxation form of taxpayers has reduced taxation department’s manpower in directly assisting taxpayers and created polite and modern working environment, ensuring transaction’s quality and contributing in Taxation Department modernization. As facts in some monthly taxation form receiving offices, if previously, in division of receiving forms there needed 4 people/team and processed about 200 files per day, with the application, there needs only one person who can be able to receive and import into computer about 250 files per day.

 

Following successful application of two-dimensional bar code, taxation department implemented and applied almost software devices in management. Therefore, the volume of work done increases, punctuality and accurate data are ensured, functions of examining and supervising work among departments are well and fast performed. Especially, project of trial application of online taxation form submission in 2009 was regarded as a new step in reforming and modernizing department. This application reduced burden for Taxation offices when directly receiving taxation forms, especially at time of monthly and quarterly enumeration, making taxation offices and taxpayers closer to each other. The core is enterprises save their time and opportunity cost when having to directly come to taxation offices for queuing and waiting for their turn to submit taxation forms. Moreover, with this application, taxpayers can fulfill their duty of enumeration to the Government during the day and even on Saturday and Sunday to meet the enumeration deadline. Specially, projects also enables fulfillment in the case that absent enterprises’ legal representative to sign and submit the form with electronic signature to trusted person to perform those.

 

As statistics from General Department of Taxation, so far there have been 1,496 enterprises in five provinces (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Da Nang) which used electronic taxation enumeration with nearly 30,000 electronic taxation forms and nearly 1,600 enterprises which were issued public electronic deed. Application of online tax enumeration file helped enterprises to reduce printing costs since all data were processed on the Internet. Besides, a variety of other devices supporting activities of taxation management continued to be upgraded and applied to meet the demand of taxation management such as Assist taxpayers (device QHS), register taxation (device TIN), manage and analyse tax debt (device QLN), manage taxation bills (device QLAC) etc.

 

Said Ms Le Hong Hai – Vice Director of General Department of Taxation, so far, all functions and profession in the department are with information technology, in other words, it means information technology is applied in all stages. Media infrastructure and connected Internet during the day enable Taxation Department to continuously work with online transactions. Especially, the department has made progress in electronic application to serve people and enterprises. To help taxpayers to look up information about tax enumeration, payment, collection, files processing and taxation offices’ decisions, Taxation Department has provided information kiosks in the headquarter of Taxation Office. These kiosks helped taxpayers quickly compare collection and payment data with Taxation Office. In addition, Taxation Department is implementing for trial system of assisting taxpayers through telephone – contact center system and at the moment this is in the stage of building up professions and functions. Applying this device brings taxpayers one more communication channel with taxation offices in fulfilling their taxation rights and duties with Government.

 

Besides objectives of reformation and modernization, 2009 is regarded as a turning point of Taxation Department when Law on Personal Income Tax (LPIT) took effect since September 1st 2009 with about 15 million individuals having to enumerate and pay tax. For the demand of data processing, information record and taxpayer management, since the late 2008, taxation department has quickly implemented system of registering LPIT on the Internet, meeting the need of LPIT management. At the moment, there have been more than seven million Persional income taxation codes provided officials who registered taxation through Income payment organization in 2009, which increases total number of codes provided to all taxpayers up to more than 12 million codes etc.

 

Also according to Ms Hai, in taxation procedure reformation , IT application assisted in faster receiving and turing back taxation files in “One gate” division. All the procedures of receiving – assign processing – procession and turn back the results to taxpayers are automatically managed on computer network, which helps Department of Taxation’s Management Board keep control of files in punctually and late being processed to remind. After applying IT, Taxation Department can control tax to pay, be paid and in debt daily instead of finalizing at the end of the month as before, which saves much time and manpower to work (currently, there reduced 80 percent of manpower in entering data of taxation forms/deeds). At the same time, IT has supported in making information, policies, regulations, taxation management procedures on electronic information page of Taxation Department transparent and provide basic information, current status of enterprises on the Internet etc.