Ms. Nguyen Thu Thao (in Duy Xuyen, Quang Nam ) has two sources of income. The agency paying the second source of income announced that it had deducted tax, she only needed to settle the income source at the first paying agency. After completing the tax settlement, she received 114,000 VND in tax refund.

Recently, when she installed the eTax Mobile app, she suddenly saw a notification that she owed 114,000 VND. Ms. Thao guessed that the tax authority might have added up the income from both places and included the refunded amount in the tax debt.

Ms. Thao was extremely confused because she searched all the chapters/sections in the eTax Mobile app but there were no specific instructions or notices on how to return this tax refund. She only saw a notice that she owed tax.

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Many people are surprised to learn that they "suddenly owe taxes". Photo: Pham Hai

“If I didn’t install the app, I wouldn’t have known that I owed taxes because I had already settled my taxes last year. I’d rather pay less, and the tax authority is returning it, and now I don’t know what to do. I contacted the Quang Nam Tax Department, and the tax officials there said they didn’t know what to do either.

I thought it would be better to just go to the bank and pay randomly in my account so that when the tax authorities check later, they will see that it has been paid. But I don't know if that is possible," Ms. Thao told VietNamNet reporter.

Ms. Hong Nhung, a lecturer at a law university in Hanoi , shared another "suddenly tax-debt" situation: Because she was not familiar with the eTax Mobile app, someone paid taxes at the bank, but two months later still received a notice that their tax obligations had not been fulfilled.

Taxpayers send emails reporting that they have paid taxes, attaching bank invoices and documents proving that they have gone to the tax authority to report that they have paid, but then continue to receive tax enforcement notices.

The above cases all have the mentality of wanting to resolve the matter as soon as possible because according to current regulations, tax debts of more than 90 days will be subject to "tax enforcement", risking being unable to leave the country, not to mention fines.

"Because I didn't know how to look up tax debt information on the eTax system, last year I suddenly became a "long-term tax debtor" and was charged more than ten million VND.

“I had not received any notice or warning that I owed taxes. If I had known, I would have paid. Not only did I have to pay the debt, but I was also charged daily interest on the late payment penalty, so I had to find a way to pay it all,” said Ms. Hong Khanh (in Hanoi).

According to Clause 1, Article 42 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP, organizations and individuals who are late in paying administrative fines for tax and invoice violations will be charged a late payment fine at the rate of 0.05%/day calculated on the amount of late payment fine.

In addition to spending a lot of time and effort completing procedures to avoid tax enforcement, the above cases of "suddenly owing taxes" all share the same feeling of resentment and hurt.

Looking at more information on recent mass media, we see that "suddenly owing taxes" after completing the final settlement is not an isolated story but is a concern of many taxpayers after looking up information from eTax Mobile.

Early last week, VietNamNet reporters contacted the leaders of the General Department of Taxation, providing specific information about Ms. Thao's case to help her quickly get rid of the confusion caused by "tax debt", and at the same time provide timely support for similar cases that may occur in reality, avoiding negative information about eTax Mobile, helping tax officials reduce the time and effort required to handle each case.

Following the guidance of the General Department of Taxation leader, VietNamNet reporter immediately provided Ms. Thao's tax code and phone number so that tax officials could look up information, find the cause and provide a solution.

The General Department of Taxation requires contact with the Communications department for provision.

Earlier this week, the officer in charge of the Communications department said that the information had been reviewed and would be sent to VietNamNet Newspaper soon.

We will continue to update information after receiving specific feedback from the General Department of Taxation.

According to lawyer Ngo Quang Thang, CEO of DVL Lawfirm, currently, the eTax Mobile application helps taxpayers quickly and easily look up tax declaration records, tax liability information and pay taxes electronically anytime, anywhere on a smartphone with an Internet connection.

However, there are still cases where the eTax Mobile system or the tax authority system has technical problems, leading to delays in updating information. Sometimes, the transaction processing from the bank to the tax authority can take time, especially during peak periods.

To avoid trouble, taxpayers should carefully check receipts or confirmation from the bank to ensure that the tax payment transaction has been successfully completed; Always keep receipts, emails and any documents related to tax payment, ready to provide evidence when necessary.

When encountering problems, please call, email, use online support services or go directly to the tax office where you live to report the problem and provide relevant documents.

For tax authorities, lawyer Thang recommends that it is necessary to continue improving the eTax Mobile system, ensuring the stability and consistency of displayed data; Providing detailed instructions and online support for people to easily use; Ensuring data connectivity between tax authorities, banks and related units to update tax payment information promptly and accurately.

The Tax sector needs to research and apply new technologies such as using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and handle system errors, predict and prevent potential problems, as well as provide automated support to taxpayers; develop an automated alert system to notify taxpayers of tax debts, tax payment deadlines and related changes.

The difficulty of applying for a personal income tax refund: If you give up, you lose money, but if you continue, it's too tiring.

The difficulty of applying for a personal income tax refund: If you give up, you lose money, but if you continue, it's too tiring.

Many people feel discouraged when spending too much time and effort on procedures to receive personal income tax refunds. But it is a pity to give up, because this is the money that they sweat and work hard to earn.
The frustrating reason why many people suddenly owe taxes

The frustrating reason why many people suddenly owe taxes

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