Vietnam: Shall the tax be imposed in cases where the declarant fails to calculate the amount of tax payable themselves?

Vietnam: Shall the tax be imposed in cases where the declarant fails to calculate the amount of tax payable themselves?

Based on Article 52 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 regarding the imposition of taxes on export and import goods as follows:

Imposition of tax for export and import goods

1. The customs authority shall impose the tax for export and import goods in the following cases:

a) The taxpayer relies on illegal documents for tax declaration and calculation; fails to declare tax, or inaccurately and incompletely declares content related to the imposition of tax obligations;

b) The taxpayer does not provide, refuses, or delays the provision of records, accounting books, documents, certificates, data, and statistics related to accurately determining the payable tax amount according to regulations over the prescribed time limit;

c) The taxpayer cannot prove, explain, or fails to clarify the contents related to tax obligation imposition as stipulated by law after the prescribed time limit; does not comply with the inspection or audit decisions of the customs authority;

d) The taxpayer does not reflect or inadequately, dishonestly, and inaccurately reflects figures in the accounting books to impose tax obligations;

đ) The customs authority has sufficient evidence and basis to impose that the declared value does not match the actual transaction value;

e) The transaction is executed not in accordance with economic substance, not based on actual occurrence, affecting the payable tax amount;

g) The declarant fails to calculate the amount of tax payable themselves;

h) Other cases discovered by the customs or other authorities showing the tax declaration and calculation are not compliant with the law.

2. The customs authority shall base on the actually exported or imported goods; tax calculation basis, tax calculation method; the database of tax management agencies and commercial databases; customs declaration records; documents and related information to impose the payable tax amount.

3. The Government of Vietnam shall detail this Article.

Thus, based on the above provisions, the customs authority shall impose the tax in cases where the declarant fails to calculate the amount of tax payable themselves.

Vietnam: Shall the tax be imposed in cases where the declarant fails to calculate the amount of tax payable themselves? (Image from the Internet)

What are the bases for tax imposition in Vietnam?

Based on Clause 2, Article 50 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 stipulating the bases for tax imposition as follows:

Imposition of tax for taxpayers in cases of tax law violations

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2. Bases for tax imposition include:

a) The database of the tax management agency and commercial database;

b) Comparing the payable tax amount of businesses dealing in the same item, industry, scale locally; in cases where local data are unavailable, comparisons with other localities are made;

c) Valid documents and results of inspections and audits;

d) The tax collection rate on revenue for each field, industry according to tax law provisions.

3. Taxpayers are imposed for each element related to determining the payable tax amount when one of the following cases occurs:

a) Upon examination of tax declaration records, the tax authority has grounds to believe that the taxpayer has not fully or accurately declared the elements forming the basis for determining the payable tax amount, they are required to additionally declare but fail to do so upon request by the tax authority;

....

Thus, according to the above regulations, the bases for tax imposition include:

- The database of the tax management agency and the commercial database.

- Comparing the payable tax amount of establishments dealing in the same items, industries, scales locally; if such local information is unavailable, comparisons are made with other places.

- Documents and results of inspections and audits that are still valid.

- The tax collection rate on revenue for each field, industry according to tax law regulations.

What are the principles for tax imposition in Vietnam?

Based on Article 49 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 stipulating principles of tax management as follows:

- Tax imposition must be based on the principles of tax management, tax calculation basis, tax calculation methods according to tax law and customs law provisions.

- The tax management agency imposes the payable tax amount or imposes each element, tax calculation basis to impose the payable tax amount.