Should we increase the exit delay to collect tax arrears?

Many individuals were temporarily suspended from leaving the country.

On May 25, the Lang Son Provincial Tax Department issued Notice No. 1093 on the cancellation of the temporary exit suspension for Mr. Le Duc Hai, legal representative of HLC Import-Export Joint Stock Company (Lang Son), based on the taxpayer's tax payment obligations. Previously, on June 21, 2023, the Lang Son Provincial Tax Department issued a notice of temporary exit suspension for Mr. Hai because the enterprise (DN) that he legally represents owes overdue taxes.

Pay taxes at the Tax Department in Ho Chi Minh City

Similarly, on May 24, the Dinh Vu Port Customs Branch (Hai Phong City Customs Department) also issued Notice 2561 canceling the temporary suspension of exit for Mr. Nguyen Tuan Anh, legal representative of Lach Huyen Port Trading and Service Joint Stock Company (Hai Phong) because as of May 24, this enterprise no longer owed compulsory tax at this customs unit...

If we look at the above cases, we can see that the measure of forced exit suspension is also effective.

In the first 5 months of the year, many directors and legal representatives of enterprises were notified by the customs authorities of Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa; Quang Ninh, Quang Binh, Quang Ngai, Vinh Phuc... to the Ministry of Public Security to request temporary suspension of exit from the country. It is worth mentioning that there are tax debts that are nearly 15 years old, the enterprise has stopped operating but the enterprise leaders are still subject to temporary suspension of exit from the country. Or there are cases where the overdue tax debt is less than 1 million VND of Gia Thang Chemical Trading Company Limited, causing the Chairman of the Board of Directors of this company, the legal representative, to be notified of temporary suspension of exit from the country since May 18. The decision to enforce the decision of "not yet fulfilling tax obligations" of this enterprise was from... 10 years ago, May 2014.

Recently, the Ministry of Finance issued Official Dispatch 5258 on coordination and direction in tax management. In particular, it requires tax authorities and relevant agencies, in addition to publicizing information on taxpayers who are slow to pay tax debts on mass media, to step up the implementation of temporary exit suspension measures for individuals and legal representatives of taxpayers who are enterprises that are subject to forced enforcement of administrative decisions on tax management and have not fulfilled their tax payment obligations.

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The tax sector’s increased delay in exiting the country to collect tax debts has many people worried. Responding to Thanh Nien, Ms. PHC, who used to be the manager of an import-export company, said that the company owed nearly 2 million VND in import tax, and when she stopped working as a manager there, she did not know about this debt. The company has also stopped operating since 2 years after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recently, in response to information about the company's boss being delayed from leaving the country, she tried to look up information about the new company or the aforementioned debt. Up to now, the tax department has never contacted her, but the probability that she could be delayed from leaving the country at any time is very high. "The problem is that up to now, I don't know which agency to contact to carry out procedures regarding this company's tax debt," Ms. PHC confided.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao, Head of the Department of Business Environment and Competitiveness Research (Central Institute for Economic Management - CIEM), said that the law must be enforced on the basis of creating more favorable conditions for people and businesses, not being rigid, causing losses to them. The ultimate goal of sanctions is to collect the debt for the state budget. However, in implementation, it is necessary to raise the issue of whether the state agency has fulfilled its responsibilities, notified and implemented previous enforcement measures against taxpayers. It is very difficult to convince when a company owes less than 1 million VND in taxes and the company's leader is delayed from leaving the country.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao commented that normally, businesses and people are always afraid of taxes because they have legal regulations as tools to apply. If a business is doing well, no one would be foolish enough to owe taxes for a long time to be named and shamed, and have their leaders delayed from leaving the country. Therefore, when it comes to taxes, no matter how they are applied, businesses are always at a disadvantage. Now, increasing the power of tax agencies with the aim of increasing the collection of outstanding tax debts is not very satisfactory.

"In particular, in cases where a debt of several hundred thousand dong is also enforced by not being allowed to leave the country, it is true that the tax authorities are pushing the individual representing the enterprise into an opposing position, no longer accompanying it," Mr. Thao said frankly, citing the principle of the management agencies to accompany the enterprise according to the philosophy of mutual benefit.

"In addition, the lack of notice, many cases reflect that they only arrived at the airport or were delayed from leaving the country, no matter what, the civil servants in the management sector have not really fulfilled their duties. Why? If the notice is sent to that individual, there must be confirmation whether they have received it in person or not. It is wrong to issue a notice to delay leaving the country without knowing whether they have received it or not. That is not to mention the huge losses that the delayed individual has to endure. Who will bear these losses?", Mr. Thao raised the question.

From there, Dr. Nguyen Minh Thao suggested: Announcing the postponement of exit is the last resort, not one of the solutions proposed with the aim of quickly recovering overdue taxes.

Second, after notification, the contact person must be assigned so that the individual can contact, discuss, and resolve the issue... There are many cases where businesses were forced to pay taxes 10 years ago, and now the related individuals are notified to postpone their exit. It is necessary to review the responsibility of tax officials. Why let businesses owe up to 10 years and then issue a forced order not to let them leave the country?

Third, it is unreasonable that tax debts of several hundred thousand dong, or even several million dong, that have been allowed to drag on for 10 years, should be "penalized" just like the hundreds of billions of dong in tax debts in the past few years, which is to delay exit from the country.

Normally, each individual should proactively look up information online to know their tax obligations. But how many people do this if they have not received the notice "you owe taxes". Individuals who do not represent a business can also have their tax identification numbers stolen to declare taxes, so they may fall into the case of owing personal income tax. Therefore, looking up also helps individuals know whether they owe taxes or are banned from leaving the country.

Lawyer Tran Xoa (Director of Minh Dang Quang Law Firm)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-nen-tang-hoan-xuat-canh-de-thu-hoi-no-dong-thue-185240529224255439.htm