Answering many questions from businesses at dialogue conference on tax and customs policies

The dialogue

Tax refunds heat up the dialogue conference

At the conference, a representative of FLEX Insurance Company Limited (Vinh Phuc) said that the unit is a 100% Korean-owned enterprise.

The total VAT amount that the enterprise is being kept is more than VND1,000 billion from May 5, 2022 to October 2023. After many times of sending official dispatches, on December 4, 2024, the General Department of Taxation issued a document instructing the Vinh Phuc Provincial Tax Department and enterprises in Vinh Phuc province.

However, the representative of the enterprise said that the enterprise had outsourced processing in Bac Ninh province, so could the instructions of this document be used to implement in Bac Ninh or not?

Answering to the enterprise's question, Mr. Vu Manh Cuong, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation, said that the General Department of Taxation had sent an official dispatch to the People's Committee of Vinh Phuc province, the Vinh Phuc Provincial Tax Department, enterprises, the Korean Business Association in Vietnam, and the Korean Embassy to guide the handling of invoices and refund of excess tax to enterprises.

Recently, Bac Ninh province also sent an official dispatch to the General Department of Taxation on this issue and the General Department of Taxation will send an official dispatch to the People's Committee of Bac Ninh province similar to the official dispatch guiding in Vinh Phuc.

Mr. Vu Manh Cuong said that according to the instructions, agencies will base on the provisions of the State Budget Law to determine the source of reimbursement.

Regarding the petition of An Phat Global Import-Export Company (specializing in exporting cassava starch) about not being refunded VAT for the past 5 years, the representative of the General Department of Taxation said that according to the report of the Hanoi Tax Department, realizing that tax refunds are high risk, the Hanoi Tax Department has requested the General Department of Taxation to support the verification of information about importing customers.

The verification results provided by the General Department of Taxation of China show that one company importing An Phat products has abandoned its business address, two companies and three individuals do not exist at the business address, 15 companies and three individuals do not admit to having economic relations with An Phat Company.

The fact that the importer does not exist and does not admit to importing from An Phat Company leads to a high risk regarding the legality of the contract.

The representative of the General Department of Taxation also said that after two complaints through two levels (Hanoi Tax Department and General Department of Taxation), An Phat Company was not satisfied, and now the Company has filed a lawsuit with the People's Court of Ba Dinh District, Hanoi City.

The Tax Authority will comply with the provisions of the law on litigation and comply with the Court's judgment. If the Tax Authority makes a mistake, the Tax Authority will be responsible and implement compensation.

Proposal to make appropriate adjustments to the time limit for customs declaration when issuing C/O

At the conference, Toan Cau Mineral Joint Stock Company - a company specializing in exporting fine limestone powder, proposed: currently, when making a certificate of origin (C/O), it is only allowed to delay the customs declaration for 15 days from the date of issuance of the certificate of origin.

Meanwhile, the waiting time for price consultation and return of the customs declaration is 30 days. This causes difficulties for the enterprise, making it impossible for the enterprise to apply for C/O for the next shipments because they still owe customs declarations for the previous shipments.

Therefore, enterprises propose that the time to owe customs declarations to issue C/O is 25-30 days instead of 15 days as present to remove difficulties for enterprises.

Regarding this issue, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Customs Luu Manh Tuong said: the regulation of consultation within 30 days is applied to all cases, if this regulation is revised to reduce to 15 days to match the number of days of debt for customs declarations when making C/O, it will lead to many cases where enterprises have not prepared enough documents and files, which will be difficult for all consultation cases.

The second solution proposed by the representative of the General Department of Customs is that if enterprises export relatively stable products according to the provisions of Circular 39/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance, which stipulates one-time price consultation for multiple applications, then enterprises using this right, their declarations will be processed immediately.

Regarding the proposal of enterprises to extend the customs declaration debt period to 30 days, Mr. Luu Manh Tuong said that he would request the Ministry of Industry and Trade to consider and make appropriate adjustments.

The representative of Thai Binh Cotton Company Limited raised the issue of importing cotton waste to produce OE yarn. However, the Customs agency took samples of imported cotton waste and the appraisal results determined that cotton waste was scrap, so the enterprise could not import it, leading to the enterprise having to stop operations or operate at a standstill due to lack of raw materials for production.

Regarding this issue, the representative of the General Department of Customs said that cotton waste has two types: rough carded cotton waste and combed cotton waste. Regarding combed cotton waste, this is not scrap, enterprises are allowed to import it to produce OE yarn.

However, for rough carded cotton waste, the appraisal analysis of this product has very high impurities, up to 40%. Regarding the boundary between this type of cotton being waste and not waste, the representative of the General Department of Customs said that the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Customs) has worked with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Justice on this issue.

In November 2024, based on the opinions of the ministries, the Ministry of Finance reported to the Prime Minister for a handling plan. In the coming time, when the plan is issued, the General Department of Customs will guide businesses.