Are taxpayers required to conduct e-transactions with tax authorities in Vietnam?
What is an e-transaction?
According to Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on e-Transactions 2023, the explanation is as follows:
Explanation of Terms
In this Law, the following terms are construed as follows:
- An e-transaction is a transaction conducted by e-means.
- e-means are hardware, software, information systems, or other means operating based on information technology, electrical, electronic, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or other similar technologies.
- e-environment is a telecommunications network, Internet, computer network, information system.
- Data message is information created, sent, received, and stored by e-means.
- e-certificate is a license, certificate, validation, acknowledgment document, or other consent document issued by a competent authority, organization, in the form of e-data.
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Thus, an e-transaction is a transaction conducted by e-means.
Are taxpayers required to conduct e-transactions with tax authorities in Vietnam?
According to Article 8 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, regulations on e-transactions in the field of taxation are as follows:
e-Transactions in the Tax Field
1. Taxpayers, tax administration authorities, state management agencies, organizations, and individuals who satisfy the conditions to conduct e-transactions in the tax field must conduct e-transactions with tax administration authorities in accordance with this Law and the law on e-transactions.
- Taxpayers who have conducted e-transactions in the tax field are not required to conduct transactions by other methods.
- When the tax administration authorities receive and return results of administrative tax procedures to taxpayers by e-means, they must confirm the completion of the taxpayers' e-transactions, ensuring the taxpayers' rights as stipulated in Article 16 of this Law.
- Taxpayers must comply with the requirements of the tax administration authorities stated in e-notifications, decisions, and documents just as they would with paper notifications, decisions, and documents from tax administration authorities.
- e-vouchers used in e-transactions must be electronically signed in accordance with the provisions of law on e-transactions.
- Agencies and organizations that have connected e-information with tax administration authorities must use e-vouchers in the process of conducting transactions with tax administration authorities; use e-vouchers provided by tax administration authorities to handle administrative procedures for taxpayers and must not require taxpayers to submit paper vouchers.
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Thus, if taxpayers meet the conditions to conduct e-transactions in the field of taxation, they must conduct e-transactions with tax administration authorities in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration 2019 and the law on e-transactions.
Are taxpayers required to conduct e-transactions with tax authorities in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
What are regulations on evaluation of regulatory compliance of taxpayers in Vietnam?
According to Clause 4, Article 9 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the assessment of compliance with the law by taxpayers is stipulated as follows:
Risk Management in Tax Administration
- Tax authorities apply risk management in taxpayer registration, tax declaration, tax payment, tax debts, enforcement of administrative decisions on tax management, tax refunds, tax inspections, tax audits, management, and use of invoices, vouchers, and other tax management operations.
- Customs authorities apply risk management in tax declaration, tax refunds, non-tax collection, tax checks, tax audits, and other tax management operations.
- The application of the risk management mechanism in tax management includes collecting and processing information and data related to taxpayers; establishing tax management criteria; assessing taxpayers’ compliance with the law; categorizing risk levels in tax management, and organizing appropriate tax management measures.
4. Assessment of taxpayers' compliance with the law and categorization of risk levels in tax management are defined as follows:
a) Evaluation of taxpayers' level of compliance with the law is carried out based on a system of criteria, information about the taxpayer's historical operation, compliance with the law, and cooperation with the tax administration authorities in implementing tax laws and tax law violations;
b) Categorizing risk levels in tax management is done based on taxpayers' level of compliance with the law. During the risk categorization process, tax administration authorities consider related content, including information about risk signs; signs, acts of violation in tax management; information on the results of operational activities of tax management authorities and other related agencies as regulated by this Law;
c) Tax authorities use the results of compliance assessments and the risk categorization results in tax management to apply appropriate tax management measures.
- Tax authorities apply information technology systems to automatically integrate and process data to serve the application of risk management in tax administration.
- The Minister of Finance prescribes criteria for assessing taxpayers' compliance with the law, categorizing risk levels, and applying risk management in tax administration.
Thus, the evaluation of taxpayers' compliance with the law is performed based on a system of criteria, information about the taxpayers' operational history, compliance history, and their cooperative relationship with tax authorities in implementing tax laws and the extent of tax law violations.
Tax administration authorities utilize the results of compliance assessments to apply suitable tax management measures.
