Editor's note:

The story of Mr. Luong Hoai Nam, General Director of Bamboo Airways, being temporarily suspended from leaving the country because the company owed taxes has opened up a debate about the role of temporary suspension of departure in tax debt collection.

For businesses that deliberately delay and refuse to pay taxes, strong measures are necessary. However, many businesses are upset when their leaders are delayed from leaving the country when they only owe 1-10 million VND in taxes.

The series of articles "Behind the temporary suspension of businessmen's exit to collect tax debts" by VietnamNet provides multi-dimensional perspectives from businesses and authorities to find appropriate solutions to this problem.

Tax debt of several million dong also delayed exit

On September 20, the Song Lam 1 Regional Tax Branch (Nghe An Tax Department) sent a notice to the Immigration Department (Ministry of Public Security) regarding the temporary suspension of exit for Mr. Phan Ba ​​Quan, Director of Phuc Thinh Digital Company Limited.

According to the announcement, as of August 31, the company owed 2.8 million VND in taxes . The company was forced to execute an administrative decision on tax management because it had not fulfilled its tax obligations. The temporary suspension of exit from the country is from September 20 until the taxpayer fulfills his tax obligations.

Sharing with PV. VietNamNet, Mr. Phan Ba ​​Quan said that he was quite surprised because it was the first time he received this notice. Recently, due to changing the business location, the accountant resigned, leading to the company being late in paying taxes.

“I just received the notice of temporary suspension of exit a few days ago, through an acquaintance at the bank where the company opened an account.

"A large amount of money is scary, but this debt is not that big, but because I'm too busy, I haven't had time to finish it. I'm rehiring an accountant, I'll try to pay it off this month," Mr. Quan said.

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The measure of temporarily suspending exit for businesses with tax debts and unable to pay is being increasingly applied by the tax sector. Illustrative photo

Although he was "named" and temporarily suspended from leaving the country due to tax debt, Mr. Quan said that this was a reasonable and effective measure, and that only by making it so tense would more people pay taxes.

Cases like Mr. Quan are not rare. Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong, Director of Xuan Huong Company Limited (Thanh Chuong, Nghe An), has also had her exit from the country suspended since September 12 because the company owes 8.6 million VND .

In particular, there are businesses that have stopped operating but the business owners are also on the list of businesses temporarily suspended from leaving the country.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, Director of International Space Construction Investment and Consulting JSC located in Vinh City (Nghe An), has just been issued a notice by Nghe An Tax Department to temporarily suspend his exit from the country, on the grounds that the enterprise is being forced to execute an administrative decision on tax management and has not yet fulfilled its tax payment obligations.

However, speaking to reporters, Mr. Cuong appeared very surprised by this information. "I have not received any notice, why is it that I owe money and have my exit postponed?", Mr. Cuong wondered.

Mr. Cuong added that he established the business in March 2021, operating in the real estate sector. However, immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the company could not do business and operate.

“I remember that after the company was established about 3-4 months ago, I hired an accountant to do the procedures to stop operations. Since then, the business has not operated, and I have not received any notice from the tax authorities,” Mr. Cuong said, adding that he would go to the tax authorities to verify the above information.

Feelings after being temporarily suspended from leaving the country

Previously, Bamboo Airways General Director Luong Hoai Nam was temporarily suspended from leaving the country because he was the legal representative. The airline's announcement emphasized: This announcement stems from an administrative issue that the airline is working closely with the authorities to resolve, and is not related to Mr. Luong Hoai Nam's personal issues.

On his part, Mr. Luong Hoai Nam shared: “Faced with tax obligations that Bamboo Airways has not been able to fulfill, the airline's board of directors and I have been actively coordinating with the authorities, making efforts to find solutions to resolve this problem in the context that Bamboo Airways is still facing many financial difficulties.”

Mr. Luong Hoai Nam's story has opened up a controversial debate about the role of temporary exit suspension in tax debt collection.

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Tax debt collection is one of the solutions to help ensure revenue for the state budget. Photo: Nguyen Tuan

Recently, Mr. NVA’s company received a decision from the tax department to temporarily suspend the exit of its legal representative. The reason was that the tax debt had not been paid after being urged many times. Immediately after that, this information was covered in the newspapers.

Speaking to PV. VietNamNet, the business representative was still upset. The tax debt of the business is correct, but behind that are other stories.

“They announced that my company owes taxes, which is correct. But that amount is the land use fee for the project we are implementing. We are appealing the government’s decision to set land prices, because if we follow that decision, we will have to pay a much higher amount. But when the newspapers publish the article, no one mentions this story, but assumes that we are doing poorly and therefore owe taxes,” said Mr. NVA.

From the perspective of business representatives, tax or insurance debt is something that no one wants. People invest their entire career, no one wants to get involved with the law. In normal health conditions, no one wants to owe taxes to the point of being temporarily suspended from leaving the country. Enforcing invoices is already a torture for businesses.

"In this context, there should be a more harmonious solution. Those who deliberately delay and do not pay taxes should have their departure temporarily suspended," the company representative suggested.

The representative of another company was equally upset when receiving the decision to temporarily suspend their departure. It is worth mentioning that this company owes taxes, while the company's tax refund is still "frozen" and has not been resolved by the tax authority.

"In fact, we still have tax money that the budget owes us. We requested to deduct this amount from the tax debt but it was still not accepted," he said.

The story of Mr. H., the general director of a company, is also of no less interest. Mr. H. is the legal representative of a company. Due to a dispute with shareholders, he has only recently completed the procedures to take control of the company. He has to shoulder tens of billions of dong in tax debts. According to regulations, he is also in the category that may soon be temporarily suspended from leaving the country by the tax authorities.

“If the tax department temporarily suspends my departure, it would be too unfair, because I am the one who took over later and am trying my best to have money to pay the tax debt. According to the law, they are right to temporarily suspend my departure. However, humans are different from machines in that they know how to clearly distinguish each case. It must be clear why there is a tax debt, who caused it, and who is trying to have money to pay the debt caused by the previous owner,” Mr. H. frankly said.