Uber files lawsuit against tax department

Acting on previous threats, Uber has taken the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation to court

According to Tran Ngoc Tam, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation, as of the deadline December 23, Uber only paid VND13.3 billion ($585,665) of the VND66.68 billion ($2.94 million) of tax arrears, thus the department decided to enforce payments.

Accordingly, the tax department requested five banks—Vietcombank, Eximbank, Sacombank, ACB, and VietinBank—to facilitate enforcement against Uber. Notably, the fares paid to Uber via bank account would be sent to the tax department’s account instead of being transferred to Uber International Holding B.V. The duration of the coercion would have lasted for ten days.

After receiving the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation’s decision, Uber took the tax department to court. As a result, on December 29, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City, after considering Uber’s petition, asked the tax department to suspend enforcement measures until the final judgment of the court.

Responding to the court’s decision, Tam affirmed to Vnexpress that the tax department’s opinion is clear that the tax arrears are compliant with regulations, however, the tax department will have to carefully prepare evidence for the law suit.

Previously, after inspecting Uber’s tax records since it started operations in Vietnam in 2014 to June 2017, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation requested Uber to pay the tax arrears.

Notably, Uber was requested to pay VND10.5 billion ($461,589) in taxes withheld, as well as VND26.3 billion ($1.16 million) of VAT and more than VND14.6 billion ($641,841) in personal income tax.

Besides, the taxation authority issued a fine of VND10.3 billion ($452,805) for the company’s false tax declaration and the company was requested to pay VND4.9 billion ($215,412) to even its balance.

Uber agreed to pay VND66.68 billion ($2.94 million) in tax arrears to local tax authorities, however, it said it would continue to complain about the charge and would even take the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation to court if necessary.

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