According to the provisions of the law on tax administration, if a business individual has a revenue of over 100 million VND/year, he/she is subject to value added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT). The amount of tax payable is determined as a percentage of revenue. The percentage (tax rate) applies to individuals doing business in the fields and professions specified in the tax table issued with Circular No. 40/2021/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance. Individuals selling goods online pay PIT at a rate of 0.5%, VAT at a rate of 1%. Individuals with income from advertising on digital information content products, services, and other services pay PIT at a rate of 2%, VAT at a rate of 5%.
Statistics from the tax industry show that there are currently 412 e-commerce platforms providing information, thereby recording more than 191,000 sellers with a transaction value of nearly 72,000 billion VND. Along with that, hundreds of thousands of people sell online through social networks Zalo, Facebook... However, tax evasion in the e-commerce sector is still sophisticated and complicated.
In 2024, the Hanoi tax authority alone transferred files to the police agency to request coordination in verifying and investigating nearly 1,900 taxpayers; at the same time, it received nearly 800 requests from the police agency to provide files related to more than 2,000 taxpayers with signs of violations.
At the end of 2024, the Investigation Police Agency, Hanoi City Police initiated a case and prosecuted Do Manh Cuong, 38 years old, residing in Long Bien District, Hanoi, for tax evasion. Cuong registered and used many accounts on e-commerce platforms Shopee, Tiki, Lazada... to sell phones and accessories. The investigation agency determined that from 2019 until being discovered, the sales revenue was more than 160 billion VND, but Cuong concealed the revenue to evade about 2.5 billion VND in taxes.
By the end of 2024, the General Department of Taxation had reviewed tax obligations of 76,428 people; of which, violations were detected and handled for about 30,000 people with a total amount of arrears and fines of more than VND 1,200 billion.
Tax authorities face many difficulties, especially with those who deliberately commit acts of fraud and tax evasion in the field of e-commerce.
From December 19, 2024, the tax sector has operated the Electronic Information Portal for households and individuals doing business to register, declare, and pay taxes from e-commerce and digital-based business, to provide an additional convenient channel for tax obligations for households and individuals doing business in e-commerce.
At the same time, the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law, the Accounting Law, the Independent Audit Law, the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Tax Administration Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the National Archives Law, and the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations has stipulated the responsibilities of managers of e-commerce trading floors and digital platforms (including domestic and foreign organizations) in deducting, paying taxes on behalf of, and declaring deducted tax amounts on behalf of business households and individuals, and regulating direct tax declaration for business households and individuals with e-commerce business activities.
With this regulation, instead of hundreds of thousands of individuals directly declaring taxes to the tax authority, there is only one contact point, which is the e-commerce trading floor, to deduct, pay taxes on their behalf, and declare the deducted tax amount; thereby contributing to reducing costs for the whole society, promoting the development of e-commerce activities. This regulation takes effect from April 1, 2025.
Along with the above measures, in the coming time, the tax sector will continue to promote digital transformation in propaganda work, support taxpayers, and publicize major cases of fraud and tax evasion. The tax sector will also continue to perfect the legal framework, including developing detailed regulations on tax management in e-commerce activities, including requirements for registration, declaration and tax payment for businesses and individuals, regulations on the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms; coordinate with competent authorities to review and inspect accounts with large revenues, promptly detect tax evasion.
Source
Comment (0)