What are amendments to regulations on applying tax enforcement measures in Vietnam from January 1, 2025?

What are regulations on the implementation of tax enforcement measures in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the application of tax enforcement measures is implemented as follows:

- For enforcement measures specified in Points a, b, and c of Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, based on the actual situation, the tax authority applies an appropriate enforcement measure;

- For enforcement measures specified in Points d, đ, e, and g of Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, if the prior enforcement measure cannot be applied, the tax authority will proceed to apply the next enforcement measure;

- In cases where the enforcement decision for certain measures has not expired but is ineffective, and the tax authority has sufficient information and conditions, they shall apply the previous or subsequent enforcement measure as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019.

What are amendments to regulations on applying tax enforcement measures in Vietnam from January 1, 2025?

Based on Clause 12, Article 6 of the Law amending the Law on Securities, the Law on Accounting, the Law on Independent Auditing, the Law on State Budget, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on Personal Income Tax, the Law on National Reserves, the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2024 (taking effect from January 1, 2025), stipulating amendments to several articles of the Law on Tax Administration as follows:

Amendments to several articles of the Law on Tax Administration

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12. Amendments to certain points of Clause 3, Article 125 are as follows:

a) Amend and supplement Point b and Point c as follows:

“b) For enforcement measures specified in Points d, đ, e, and g of Clause 1 of this Article, if the prior enforcement measure cannot be applied, the tax authority shall switch to the subsequent enforcement measure; the enforcement measures specified in Points đ and e of Clause 1 of this Article shall be applied when the tax authority has complete information and conditions to carry out enforcement enforcement;

c) In cases where the enforcement decision has not expired, but the tax authority has sufficient information and conditions to apply other enforcement measures stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, it may concurrently apply those enforcement measures;”

b) Add Point d after Point c as follows:

“d) In cases where there is evidence to determine that the taxpayer with tax debt has the act of dispersing assets or absconding, the competent authority shall choose to apply an appropriate enforcement measure to ensure timely collection of tax debts into the state budget.”

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At the same time, according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, regarding the application of tax enforcement measures.

Therefore, when the Law amending the Law on Securities, the Law on Accounting, the Law on Independent Auditing, the Law on State Budget, the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on Personal Income Tax, the Law on National Reserves, the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2024 takes effect from January 1, 2025, the regulations on applying tax enforcement measures will be amended as follows:

- Amendment to stipulate that tax agencies only apply the measure of "Seizing assets, auctioning seized assets according to the law" and "Collecting money, other assets of entities subject to enforcement of administrative decisions on tax management held by other agencies, organizations, individuals" when there is complete information and conditions to carry out enforcement.

- Amendment regarding cases where the enforcement decision has not expired, but the tax authority has sufficient information and conditions to apply different enforcement measures, it may concurrently apply those enforcement measures, instead of being restricted to applying only subsequent measures as per Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019.

- Addition of a case for taxpayers with acts of asset dispersal or absconding, where an appropriate enforcement measure can be immediately applied among the 7 enforcement measures stipulated in Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 to promptly recover tax debts into the state budget.

What are amendments to regulations on applying tax enforcement measures in Vietnam from January 1, 2025? (Image from the Internet)

What are regulations on authority to decide tax enforcement in Vietnam?

According to Article 126 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the authority to decide tax enforcement is as follows:

- The head of the tax authority, the Director General of the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Department under the General Department of Customs, and the Director General of the Post-clearance Audit Department have the authority to issue decisions on applying tax enforcement measures specified in Points a, b, c, d, đ, and e of Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019.

- The revocation of enterprise registration certificate, business registration certificate, cooperative registration certificate, investment registration certificate, establishment and operation license, and practice license as stipulated in Point g, Clause 1, Article 125 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the law.