May tax payers submit tax returns electronically in Vietnam during the Gregorian New Year 2025?

May tax payers submit tax returns electronically in Vietnam during the Gregorian New Year 2025?

Based on the provisions of Article 112 of the Labor Code 2019, in 2025, employees are entitled to one day off with full salary on the occasion of Gregorian New Year - January 1, 2025.

According to point a, clause 1, Article 8 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC, it is stipulated as follows:

Determination of the time for submitting e-tax returns, paying taxes electronically, and the time the tax authority sends notifications, decisions, documents to taxpayers

1. Time for submitting e-tax returns, paying taxes electronically

a) Taxpayers can perform e-tax transactions 24 hours a day (from 00:00:00 hours to 23:59:59 hours) and 7 days a week, including weekends, holidays, and New Year's Day. The time for taxpayers to submit their returns is considered to be within the day if the documents are successfully signed and sent within the period from 00:00:00 hours to 23:59:59 hours of the day.

b) e-tax return submission time is determined as follows:

b.1) For e-taxpayer registration files: it is the date the tax authority's system receives the file and is indicated in the e-taxpayer registration file receipt notification sent by the tax authority to the taxpayer (according to form No. 01-1/TB-TDT issued with this Circular).

b.2) For tax declaration files (except for tax declaration cases where tax authority estimates taxes, notifies payment according to the provisions of Article 13 of Government Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP): it is the date the tax authority's system receives the file and is indicated in the e-tax declaration file receipt notification sent by the tax authority to the taxpayer (according to form No. 01-1/TB-TDT issued with this Circular) if the tax declaration file is accepted by the tax authority in the e-tax declaration file acceptance notification sent by the tax authority to the taxpayer (according to form No. 01-2/TB-TDT issued with this Circular).

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Under the above regulations, taxpayers can perform e-tax transactions 24 hours a day (from 00:00:00 hours to 23:59:59 hours) and 7 days a week, including weekends, holidays, and New Year's Day.

The time for receiving e-tax returns is the day the tax authority's system receives the documents and is recorded in the e-tax declaration file receipt notification sent by the tax authority to the taxpayer if the tax declaration file is accepted by the tax authority.

This means taxpayers can perform e-tax transactions, including submitting e-tax returns on the Gregorian New Year 2025.

What are methods for submitting tax returns electronically in Vietnam?

Based on the provisions of clause 2, Article 4 of Circular 19/2021/TT-BTC the principles of e-tax transactions are as follows:

Principles of e-tax transactions

1. Taxpayers performing e-tax transactions must have the ability to access and use the Internet, have an email address, have a digital signature according to the provisions of Article 7 of this Circular or have a mobile phone number issued by a telecommunication company in Vietnam (for individuals not issued with a digital certificate) registered for transactions with the tax authority, except where taxpayers choose the e-tax payment method according to point đ clause 2 of this Article to be implemented according to the regulations of banks or organizations providing intermediary payment services.

2. Taxpayers can choose the following methods to perform e-tax transactions through:

a) The e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

b) The national public service portal, the e-portal of the Ministry of Finance connected to the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

c) The e-portal of other competent state agencies (except point b of this clause) connected to the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

d) T-VAN service providers approved by the General Department of Taxation to connect with the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

dd) e-payment services of banks or organizations providing intermediary payment services to perform e-tax payments.

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Thus, taxpayers can submit e-tax returns through the following methods:

- The e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

- The national public service portal, the e-portal of the Ministry of Finance connected to the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

- The e-portal of other competent state agencies (except point b of this clause) connected to the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

- T-VAN service providers approved by the General Department of Taxation to connect with the e-portal of the General Department of Taxation.

- e-payment services of banks or organizations providing intermediary payment services to perform e-tax payments.

What are penalties for incorrect tax returns in Vietnam?

In the case of incorrect tax return submissions, the penalties will vary depending on each specific instance, as follows:

Case 01:

Incorrect declarations that do not lead to a shortfall in the payable tax amount or do not increase the tax amount exempted, reduced, or refunded will be penalized according to the provisions of Article 12 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP as follows:

(1) A fine ranging from 500 thousand VND to 1.5 million VND for incorrect or incomplete declaration of indicators in the tax return, but not related to tax obligation determination, except for the conduct stipulated in (2).

(2) A fine ranging from 1.5 million VND to 2.5 million VND for incorrect or incomplete declaration of indicators on tax returns, annexes attached to tax returns, but not related to tax obligation determination.

(3) A fine of 5 million VND to 5 million VND for one of the following acts:

(i) Incorrectly declaring or incompletely declaring indicators related to tax obligation determination in the tax return;

(ii) Conduct stipulated in clause 3 Article 16, clause 7 Article 17 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP.

Besides that, individuals violating the above regulations will be forced to implement remedial measures, including:

- Being required to re-declare and supplement documents in the tax return for acts stipulated in (1), (2), and (i) in item (3).

- Being required to adjust the loss, the deductible input value-added tax transferred to the following period (if any) for the act stipulated in (3).

Note: The above penalties are applied to organizations; if the violator is an individual, the penalty will be 1/2 of the penalty for organizations.

Case 02:

Incorrect tax return declaration resulting in a shortfall in payable personal income tax or an increase in tax amounts that are exempted, reduced, refunded, specifically according to the provisions of Article 16 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP, specifically:

In cases of incorrect personal income tax return declaration resulting in a shortage of payable tax or an increase in tax amounts that are exempted, reduced, refunded, a fine of 20% of the under-declared tax amount or the over-declared tax already exempted, reduced, or refunded compared to the regulations for one of the following acts:

(1) Incorrect declaration of the tax base or deductible tax amount or incorrect determination of cases eligible for tax exemption, reduction, refund leading to a shortage of payable tax or an increase in the exempted, reduced, refundable tax amount, while economic transactions have been fully reflected in the accounting system, lawful invoices, and documents.

(2) Incorrect declaration reducing the payable tax amount or increasing the refundable tax amount or tax exempted, reduced not falling within the scope stated in (1), but voluntarily declaring supplementary information and fully paying the outstanding tax amount into the State Budget before the end of the tax inspection period at the headquarters.

(3) Incorrect declaration reducing the payable tax amount or increasing the refundable tax amount or tax exempted, reduced, which has been recorded by the competent authority in tax inspection and administrative violation reports as an act of tax evasion, but the taxpayer committed the administrative violation for the first time regarding tax evasion, voluntarily declared supplementary information and fully paid the tax amount into the state budget before the competent authority issued a penalty decision, and the tax authority recorded the incident to determine it was an incorrect declaration act leading to tax deficiency.

(4) Incorrect declaration leading to a shortfall in payable tax or an increase in exempted, reduced, refundable tax amounts regarding associated transaction but the taxpayer has established a market price determination dossier or has established and sent the required appendix to the tax authority according to regulations on tax management for enterprises with associated transactions.

(5) Using non-legitimate invoices, documents to account for the purchase value of goods and services, reducing payable tax or increasing refundable tax amounts, tax exempted, reduced, but when the tax authority conducts an inspection, the buyer proves that the violation of using non-legitimate invoices, documents is the seller's fault and the buyer has fully accounted the cost according to the regulations.

Besides that, the violator is also required to implement remedial measures as follows:

- Required to fully pay the outstanding tax amount, the tax amount refunded, exempted, reduced more than the regulations and the late payment interest to the state budget for the violation.

If the statute of limitations for penalties has passed, the taxpayer will not be fined but must pay the full amount of tax shortfall, the over-refunded, exempted, reduced taxes, and the late payment interest to the state budget according to the time limit stipulated in clause 6, Article 8 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP.

- Required to adjust the loss, deductible VAT transferred to the following period (if any) for the above-mentioned actions.

Note: If the taxpayer commits the acts stated in (I), (2), and (4) but do not lead to tax shortfall, increased exemption or reduction, or unreclaimed refunds, they will not be penalized under these provisions but instead according to clause 3, Article 12 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP.