Door closes on VN tax debtors

July 27, 2015 | 10:31

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Business representatives with large amounts of tax debt will not be allowed to leave Viet Nam under a new Ministry of Finance draft decision.

Under the draft decision, credit institutions' legal representatives who act as guarantors for the tax debtors are also subject to the restriction. Illustrative image/ Photo vneconomy

The ban applies to chairmans, directors and director generals who have owed VND1 billion (US$45,850) or more in taxes - or VND50 million ($2,300) or more in individual owning taxes - for more than 90 days.

Under the draft decision, credit institutions' legal representatives who act as guarantors for the tax debtors are also subject to the restriction. However, the restriction does not apply to debtors who have deposits or other guarantee measures at credit institutions that agree to act as guarantors.

Vietnamese tax debtors cannot leave the country until they fulfill their tax payment obligations.

Foreign debtors will be postponed leaving the country for no more than three years. However, the postponement can be extended until the debt is paid.

A report by the Ministry of Finance showed that the country's total tax debt reached VND72 trillion (US$3.3 billion) by the end of last year, doubling the permitted target set by the National Assembly. To minimise tax arrears, tax authorities must strengthen control over businesses and inspect them more often.

The Ministry of Finance early this week published a list of 600 businesses that still owed a large amount of taxes to the Government.

According to an official ministry dispatch, these enterprises have either accrued the largest amounts of unpaid taxes in a locality or have failed to pay their taxes within the 121-day period, despite notifications from tax agencies.

The names of the firms were published in the media, and a number of measures would be rolled out to reclaim the unpaid taxes, including freezing their assets and declaring their receipts invalid, the dispatch said.

VNS

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