At the regular Government press conference in July on the afternoon of August 5, the press raised questions about the slow refund of value-added tax (VAT), where one of the reasons businesses reported was the difficulty in proving the origin of goods.
"How much tax has the business not yet received and which agency is responsible for the delayed tax refund?" the press asked.
In response, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that in VAT refunds, there are currently methods of checking first, refunding later and refunding first, checking later. In both cases, there are regulations on the completion date, calculated from the time the enterprise submits a complete dossier according to the provisions of law.
“For refund first, check later, the tax refund period is after 6 days, for check first, refund later it is 40 days. This is the regulation of the law, to complete the tax,” said Mr. Chi.
According to the Deputy Minister of Finance, in 2022, tax authorities refunded over VND 150,000 billion with over 20,774 tax refund decisions. In the first 7 months of 2023, tax authorities nationwide refunded over VND 70,356 billion with 9,800 tax refund decisions.
In tax refund cases, according to classification, nearly 80% belong to the group of refund first, check later, the remaining 20% belong to the group of check first, refund later.
“Who is responsible for the delay in tax refunds? Determining the responsibility for the delay on the part of the tax authority, or the people and businesses, must consider the specific case and records, from which the cause can be determined. But from the management agency’s perspective, it must be reviewed, monitored and improved so that no one can say it is delayed anymore,” said Mr. Chi.
Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi answered at the press conference.
According to Mr. Chi, first of all, it is necessary to review legal regulations, implementation procedures, and see if there is anything that can be improved or shortened, while ensuring the requirements of speed, accuracy, risk prevention, and anti-fraud.
Regarding specific solutions, the tax industry will prioritize the application of AI in tax management, is building big data on businesses, and proactively screens risky businesses first, meaning businesses must check first and refund later.
“There are businesses that only sell bird’s nests, but issue invoices with revenue of over VND30,000 billion. We have to check because we have analysis and data. If it is clearly legal and reasonable, they will get a tax refund very quickly,” Mr. Chi gave an example.
The leaders of the Ministry of Finance also affirmed that they will enhance discipline, strictly handle cases that cause difficulties for businesses, and also resolutely handle tax refund fraud.
In information released a few days ago, the Ministry of Finance said it has strongly directed tax authorities at all levels to resolve VAT refunds.
In particular, the Directors of the Provincial and Municipal Tax Departments are required to take full responsibility for the management of VAT refunds in their localities, not to let them linger for a long time, causing frustration for people and businesses. For the tax amounts that have been inspected and verified, tax refunds for taxpayers must be promptly resolved.
In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the inspection and post-refund examination of tax refund decisions subject to pre-refund and post-refund examination to promptly detect the use of illegal invoices or illegal use of invoices, profiteering in tax refunds to appropriate the State budget, and strictly handle them according to the provisions of law.
On the business side, the Ministry of Finance requires raising awareness of strictly complying with legal policies on taxes and invoices, and fully fulfilling obligations to the State budget. Say no to acts of illegally using invoices or using illegal invoices in requesting VAT refunds.
Enterprises need to be proactive in preparing tax refund application documents, reviewing and collecting input invoices, payment documents, customs declarations, and export contracts before submitting tax refund application documents to the tax authority. Avoid documents that do not meet the procedures, affecting the progress of receiving and processing by the tax authority .
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