Localities Share Hardships with Central Budget

According to the Department of State Budget under the Ministry of Finance, the state budget revenue reached VND324.5 trillion in the first four months of 2016, equal to 32 per cent of the estimate and up 3.6 per cent over the same period of 2015. Of the sum, domestic revenue was VND269.9 trillion, equal to 34.4 per cent of the estimate and up 11.7 per cent year on year. If land use fees were excluded, the growth was 10.1 per cent, lower than that in the latest two years.

 

Slowing economic growth was attributed to low budget revenue growth. Some collection items failed to meet expectations. For instance, fees and charges fulfilled 25.6 per cent of the estimate, land-use tax reached 19.7 per cent of the forecast, and revenue from State-owned enterprises (SOEs) completed just 18.3 per cent of the estimate and equalled 60.5 per cent of the value in the same period of 2015. Tax from crude oil achieved just 22.9 per cent of the estimate and fell 49.7 per cent from a year earlier. In this situation, the Ministry of Finance hosted an online meeting with 13 provinces and cities with big State budget revenue in mid-May 2016 to seek sharing with the central budget.

 

Mr Bui Van Nam, General Director of the General Department of Taxation, said the General Department of Taxation assigned tax collection tasks to every locality since the start of 2016, including 13 tax departments (e.g. Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang), issued many directive documents to guide tax departments to inspect and collect overdue taxes, and provided supports and guidance on tax declaration for taxpayers. Thus, in the year to date, the tax sector has performed 14,028 inspections and collected VND3,446 billion of taxes in arrears and examined 10,979 companies to collect VND2,376 billion of overdue taxes, up 26 per cent over the same period of 2015.

 

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung highly appreciated the effort of 13 provinces and cities for overcoming difficulties to increase collections for the State Budget, particularly the central budget segment. As the task of collecting central budget is still very heavy, to achieve better than expected collections for the State Budget and the Central Budget in 2016, he required tax and customs agencies to effectively perform assigned tasks and solutions, notably the contents of the Resolution 19 of the Government. Financial agencies need to continue completing institutions and build directive documents for the implementation of new tax laws, speed up administrative procedure reform, build database of taxpayers, electronic billing, payment and reimbursement to further facilitate taxpayers to fulfil their obligations.

 

Besides, local tax and customs agencies need to seek supports of local governments to carry out financial and budgetary solutions approved by the National Assembly and the Government based on local actual situations and strive to complete tax collection duties. In addition, relevant agencies need to prevent losses, fight against smuggling, trade fraudulence and tax evasion; review and control income sources of the State Budget to collect enough. The Ministry of Finance directed the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Vietnam Customs to assign specific taxes to relevant units to intensify inspections, collect overdue taxes, list big tax debtors to perform coercive measures, manage VAT refunds, and facilitate taxpayers.