Be fair to taxpayers

After VietNamNet published the article “Automatic tax refund reduces hassle for both people and tax officials: Why not?”, many readers shared more information about the shortcomings in personal income tax (PIT) refund procedures and expressed their hope that the Tax sector would soon implement the automatic tax refund feature.

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Many people hope to receive automatic tax refunds soon. Photo: Nam Khanh

Reader Chien Bui said: “I experienced a tax refund in early 2023, fumbling around online, downloading additional apps at the same time, then running to the tax office to ask to reopen it when it was locked or to cancel the declaration... Too tired, so I finally asked for a service, connecting the service staff with the officer handling the application. After a while, they calculated and announced "only this much". Too tired because the time was extended to 6, 7 months, I accepted that tax refund amount to finish it."

Reader Hung Nguyen Van also had a bad experience when doing tax refund procedures: “In 2023, when finalizing personal income tax on the system, the tax refund I received was over 5 million VND, but I did it over and over again but still could not complete the declaration and update to the system. I kept seeing indicators 11 or 12 requiring information, while I had already entered all the information. Overall, the software is not good, it needs to be improved to reduce procedures for people.”

Reader Nguyen Cuong is upset: When settling personal income tax, if the amount to be paid is still lacking, the tax authority will bring up any income from anywhere. Meanwhile, if you want to get a tax refund, you must meet the requirements such as citizen identification (while you already have a tax code), labor contract (while you already have a receipt certifying income), decision to quit your job (if you are no longer working), and commitment to not have income from anywhere else. The tax authority can know all the sources of income for a certain tax code. However, tax officials keep saying one thing is missing today, another thing is missing tomorrow, making those who want a tax refund frustrated.

Luckier than many others, reader Thanh Long Bui successfully submitted his application online, the system recorded it but it was not processed for more than 3 months. When it was time to process it, they said the documents were not reasonable, so he continued to submit additional documents and wait.

Similarly, Can Tho readers also submitted complete documents but the tax authorities still said they were missing and have not yet returned the tax refund for months.

Not as convenient as some people, since April 2024, reader Thanh submitted tax refund documents for 2023, until now there is only one status of receiving, not knowing what is right or wrong.

Sharing the same question "Is it fair that people who pay taxes late will be fined, but tax refunds are unlimited", reader Dao Tuyet reflected: "I have fully declared according to the notice on the tax system, but after 1 month, the tax authority announced a rejection because the data on the system was different without specifying which data, requiring me to go to the tax authority...".

The complicated tax refund mechanism has caused many taxpayers to "give up". Reader TM Hung Huy is an example: "I also have a few million in tax refunds from a few years ago, but seeing the complicated procedures, I am bored and don't want to do the tax refund. I leave the remaining tax there, but I still have to pay the full tax this year."

Reader Cong calculated that for several years he did not get a tax refund because of complicated procedures, the total amount was nearly 10 million VND. “So where is that money now? The number of people who have not received their tax refunds - PV) must be a lot, not a little,” reader Cong asked.

“People who pay taxes late will be charged interest and fined. Why is it that tax authorities are not affected by delaying tax refunds (suspending tax refunds) to people? When tax authorities also have to pay interest and the staff in charge are responsible for the delay, then maybe the refund process for people will be accelerated,” reader Immica asked.

Automatic tax refunds will reduce bureaucracy, corruption

According to reader Van Long Nguyen , many people certainly expect an automatic tax refund: After paying taxes, if there is any remaining balance, it will be refunded, or offset against the tax owed for the year, as simple as transferring money.

Reader Ha Thu also hopes to implement automatic tax refunds, which will save time for people, businesses and tax authorities (because there is a lot of paperwork...)

Reader Nguyendungphuoctq hopes that the Tax Department will soon implement automatic tax refunds. If the tax payment and refund system is simple and convenient, no one will be so ignorant that they owe taxes and then be fined.

A reader with the nickname Inbox shared: “Taxes, social insurance, health insurance, temporary residence declaration, property ownership registration… should be reformed in a simple and transparent way, which can save billions of people’s hours. If those billions of hours of labor are saved, Vietnam’s labor productivity will increase significantly. We should focus on reforming those things.”

Reader Do Quan expressed his opinion: "Now that technology is modern, software is available to connect data, and people can pay taxes online, we also hope that the General Department of Taxation will create an automatic tax refund feature."

Reader Thinh affirmed that technology can solve everything, it's just a matter of whether the tax authority wants to do it or not.

Reader Thoa Nguyen noted that not automatically refunding taxes will create conditions for "brokers" to operate, causing inconvenience and wasting time for taxpayers.

“I hope the General Department of Taxation will be receptive and listen to the legitimate needs of the people,... the purpose is just to make the common work better. If all operations can be done online, the tax department staff will have less work,” reader Luong Xuan Nghia expressed.