List of 66 companies engaged in illegal invoice trading and tax evasion announced by Thai Binh Tax Department

List of 66 companies engaged in illegal invoice trading and tax evasion announced by Thai Binh Tax Department

On September 16, 2024, the Tax Department of Thai Binh Province issued Official Dispatch 5108/CTTBI-TTKTI regarding the coordination and review of illegal invoices related to 66 enterprises.

View the list of 66 companies involved in illegal invoice trading and tax evasion here.

Following the direction of the General Department of Taxation on the review related to 66 enterprises "Illegal Invoice Trading" and "Tax Evasion" occurring in Hoa Binh Province, Thai Binh Province, and other provinces/cities as mentioned in Official Dispatch 3917/TCT-TTKT dated September 5, 2024, on strengthening the work of preventing and handling violations of tax law. The Tax Department of Thai Binh Province has coordinated with the Provincial Business Association and has published the list of these 66 enterprises on the website of the Thai Binh Tax Department (Official Dispatch 5030/CTTBI-TTKT1 dated September 11, 2024) at http://thaibinh.gdt.gov.vn.

The Tax Department of Thai Binh Province respectfully requests that enterprises cooperate in reviewing VAT invoices from the period 2020 to 2023, specifically:

- In case of transactions involving purchases and sales, please provide:

+ Copies of purchase and sale invoices and related documentation regarding the use of the invoices.

+ Declarations, tax payments, and accounting records for the above-used invoices.

- In case there are no transactions with the 66 enterprises, please provide a written agreement, specifically committing and bearing legal responsibility for not having any transactions or using invoices.

- The Tax Department looks forward to the cooperation of enterprises and joint efforts to handle the non-compliant invoice trading, contributing to a healthy and lawful business environment. Results please send to the Thai Binh Tax Department (Inspection and Examination Department No. 1) before November 15, 2024.

View the full content of Official Dispatch 5108/CTTBI-TTKTI here.

List of 66 companies engaged in illegal invoice trading and tax evasion announced by Thai Binh Tax Department (Image from Internet)

What are regulations on criminal liability for illegal invoice trading activities in Vietnam?

According to Article 203 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended by point k clause 2 Article 2 of the Law Amending the Criminal Code 2017), the act of illegal invoice trading constitutes a criminal offense under the following circumstances:

- Printing, issuing, or illegally trading blank invoices numbering from 50 to under 100;

- Printing, issuing, or illegally trading invoices with contents from 10 to under 30;

- Gaining illicit profits of VND 30,000,000 to under VND 100,000,000 from illegal invoice trading activities.

Penalties for individuals and organizations committing illegal invoice trading include:

(1) For Individuals:

- Fines ranging from VND 50 million to VND 200 million, non-custodial reform up to 3 years, or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years for trading blank invoices numbering from 50 to under 100 or invoices with contents from 10 to under 30 or illicit gains from VND 30,000,000 to under VND 100,000,000.

- Fines from VND 200,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 or imprisonment from 1 year to 5 years in one of the following cases:

+ Organized crime;

+ Professional crime;

+ Abusing position and authority;

+ Blank invoices numbering from 100 or more or invoices with contents from 30 or more;

+ Illicit gains of VND 100,000,000 or more;

+ Causing damage to state budget of VND 100,000,000 or more;

+ Dangerous recidivism.

- The offender may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, prohibited from holding certain positions, practicing certain professions, or doing certain jobs from 1 year to 5 years.

(2) For Legal Entities:

- Fines from VND 100,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 for illegal trading of blank invoices numbering from 50 to under 100 or invoices with contents from 10 to under 30 or illicit gains from VND 30,000,000 to under VND 100,000,000.

- Fines from VND 500,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000 in one of the following cases:

+ Organized crime;

+ Professional crime;

+ Blank invoices numbering from 100 or more or invoices with contents from 30 or more;

+ Illicit gains of VND 100,000,000 or more;

+ Causing damage to state budget of VND 100,000,000 or more;

+ Dangerous recidivism.

- Permanent suspension of activities if falling under the provisions of Article 79 of the Criminal Code 2015.

- Legal entities may also be fined from VND 50,000,000 to VND 200,000,000, prohibited from doing business, operating in certain fields from 1 to 3 years, or prohibited from raising capital from 1 to 3 years.

What acts are classified as tax evasion under the Tax Administration Law in Vietnam?

According to Article 143 of the Tax Administration Law 2019, tax evasion acts are defined as follows:

(1) Failing to submit taxpayer registration dossiers; failing to submit tax declaration dossiers; submitting tax declaration dossiers later than 90 days from the due date for submitting tax declaration dossiers or the extended deadline for submitting tax declaration dossiers as prescribed by the Tax Administration Law 2019.

(2) Failing to record in accounting books the revenue arising from taxable amounts determining tax payable.

(3) Failing to issue invoices when selling goods or services as prescribed by law or recording the invoice values lower than the actual payment value of goods and services sold.

(4) Using illegal invoices, using invoices illegally to record goods input or raw materials in activities arising tax obligations, reducing tax amounts payable or increasing tax amounts exempted, tax amounts reduced, or tax amounts deductible, tax amounts refundable, and tax amounts not payable.

(5) Using documents or data that do not reflect the true nature of the transaction or real transaction values to wrongly determine tax amounts payable, tax amounts exempted, tax amounts reduced, tax amounts refundable, and tax amounts not payable.

(6) Incorrectly declaring exported or imported goods, not declaring tax additional documentation after customs clearance.

(7) Intentionally not declaring or misdeclaring taxable goods upon export and import.

(8) Colluding with shippers to import goods to evade taxes.

(9) Using goods exempt from tax, tax-free considerations, or tax exemption for improper purposes without declaring changes in use purposes to tax authorities.

(10) Engaging in business activities during the period of suspension or temporary suspension of business activities without notifying tax authorities.

Note: Taxpayers are not penalized for tax evasion but are penalized according to clause 1 Article 141 of the Tax Administration Law 2019 in the following cases:

- Failing to submit taxpayer registration dossiers, failing to submit tax declaration dossiers, submitting tax declaration dossiers later than 90 days without arising tax payable amounts;

- Submitting tax declaration dossiers later than 90 days with incurred tax payable amounts and the taxpayer has paid the full tax amount and late payment interest into the state budget before the tax authority announces a decision on tax inspection or audit or before the tax authority records the late tax declaration in the minutes.