Ensuring reasonableness upon enforcement of regulations in "1 law amending 7 laws"

Experts and businesses contribute their opinions at the workshop. Photo: HD

The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the State Budget Law, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Law on National Reserves, the Law on Accounting, the Law on Independent Auditing, the Law on Securities, the Law on Tax Administration (one law amending seven laws) is being completed to submit to the National Assembly for approval at the 8th Session taking place in the next few days.

The draft Law is developed according to shortened orders and procedures. Therefore, at the workshop to collect opinions from businesses on the draft "one law amending seven laws" on October 17, 2024, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan, Deputy Secretary General, Head of the Legal Department of VCCI, said that the Ministry of Finance and the the National Assembly Committees have worked very hard to complete the draft.

However, VCCI has received many opinions from businesses on some provisions of the Draft that increase the responsibility of businesses.

For example, adding more restrictions on the issuance of securities; adding more responsibilities for organizations related to securities issuance such as consulting organizations, auditing organizations; increasing administrative penalties for violations in the auditing field; adding more responsibilities for businesses in the field of e-commerce related to tax management activities.

According to the VCCI’s representative, the revised contents should aim at removing difficulties and promoting economic growth. Therefore, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan said that it is necessary to seek comments to ensure that the issued regulations are reasonable.

For example, many delegates concern that the draft law regulates that organizations managing e-commerce trading floors or digital platforms are responsible for declaring and paying taxes on behalf of business households and individuals if they are not obliged to pay taxes directly.

Mr. Pham Dinh Thuong, Member of the Senior Advisory Council of the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), said that businesses support the principle that businesses must pay taxes, but this regulation can create inequality and burdens for business households and individual businesses.

Furthermore, he is also concerned that the regulation will raise investment and operating costs for businesses operating e-commerce platforms, which may affect competitiveness in attracting investment.

Therefore, businesses and experts suggest that the Drafting Committee needs to study carefully, and the Tax authority needs to have strong enough information technology to connect with trading platforms, and apply a common tax rate.

In response to some opinions from businesses and experts, at the workshop, a representative of the General Department of Taxation (Ministry of Finance) said that when drafting regulations related to tax collection on e-commerce platforms, the Drafting Committee and the General Department of Taxation have consulted international experience, with full information.

This representative also said that they will continue to work with the Drafting Committee and the Ministry of Finance to record comments and suggestions to include the concerns in implementation guidelines appropriately, creating convenience for businesses in practice.