ACCELERATING BUDGET REVENUE COLLECTION

Vietnam’s export and import value in November decreased and the state budget revenue collected by customs agencies reached only over VND284 trillion (US$12.3 billion). Many challenges and pressures on the customs sector needed to be addressed to achieve the best result in the last month of this year.

Depending on crude oil and investment projects

Vietnam's merchandise import and export value was estimated at US$488.59 billion in the first 11 months of 2020, up 3.4% year on year. Of the sum, the export value was projected at US$253.99 billion, up 5.1%, and the import value was forecast at US$234.60 billion, up 1.6%. As of November 30, the customs sector collected over VND284 trillion (US$12.3 billion), fulfilling 88.95% of the plan.

According to an official from the Import and Export Tax Department under the General Department of Customs, while many big budget collectors are unlikely to complete their collection plans like customs departments of Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Binh Duong, some outperformed the plans. For instance, Thanh Hoa Customs Department reported to collect VND9,866.5 billion, 4.96% higher than the target (VND9,400 billion) and 11.26% higher than a year ago. This high value came from VAT on imported crude oil of Nghi Son Refining and Petrochemical Refining Co., Ltd. As of November 16, the company paid VND6,300 billion of tax on its imported crude oil, accounting for 66% of the total revenue of the department.

Similarly, Quang Ngai Customs Department reported huge tax collected from crude oil imported by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company and Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel Joint Stock Company. The two accounted for about 90% of the total budget revenue collected by the department.

Quang Ninh Customs Department collected VND11,466.4 billion of tax in the 11 months, 20.7% higher than the target and 7.93% more than a year earlier. The strong performance largely came from coal import, which resulted in an increase of more than VND1 trillion of tax, and imported petroleum products.

Lang Son Customs Department also collected more tax than expected due to the high growth of imported mobile phone components in the year when airborne and seaborne transport was disrupted by Covid-19. Importers had to import across land borders.

Customs departments of Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Dak Lak and Dien Bien reported a sudden growth in budget revenue because local enterprises increased import of machinery and equipment for power projects.

Accelerating collection

In the last month of this year, the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDC) has required customs offices of provinces and cities to accelerate reform of administrative procedures for greater simplicity, clarity, transparency, openness and convenience for import, export and transit of goods and means of transport; reduce costs and time of dealing with customs procedures for people and businesses.

At the same time, GDC will focus on checking commodity names, codes and tax rates during and after customs clearance to detect and handle wrong code declarations, counterfeits and unclear declarations to enjoy lower tax rates or to enjoy special preferential rates.

GDC will inspect commodity value and enterprises with high risk of shipment omission due to untimely consultation of price and value.

The customs sector will strengthen the fight against smuggling and trade fraud, focusing on checking against falsified quantity, origin, trademarks and illegal cross-border transportation of commodities, especially conditional imports, independent shipments, goods temporarily imported for re-export, goods temporarily exported for re-import, goods in transit, and goods stored in warehouses pending for customs clearance.

The customs sector will strictly control tax exemption, reduction and refund, ensure tax exemption, reduction and tax refund to right beneficiaries.

The General Department has also required local customs bodies to review and accurately classify debt groups, eligible enterprises, debt write-off records according to Resolution 94/2019/QH14 on freezing tax debts, writing off fines on late tax payment and late interest payment to implement procedures relating to these aspects right in 2020. At the same time, it has assigned additional revenue targets to 13 high performers like Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Tay Ninh and Khanh Hoa customs authorities, so as to complete the general budget revenue target set for the year 2020.

Source: VCCI