What are procedures for determining eligible tax refunds for dossiers eligible for prior tax refund in Vietnam be from 2025?

What are procedures for determining eligible tax refunds for dossiers eligible for prior tax refund in Vietnam be from 2025?

Based on Clause 1, Article 15 of Decision No. 679/QD-TCT (amended and supplemented by Clause 6, Article 1 of Decision 2201/QD-TCT in 2024...Download) regarding the Tax Refund Procedure issued by the General Department of Taxation, the procedure for determining eligible tax refunds for dossiers eligible for advance refunds is regulated as follows:

(1) Case of refund according to tax laws

The tax refund processing section for advance refunds bases its actions on the electronic tax refund claim in the refund subsystem or the paper refund claim transferred by the refund claim classification section and carries out:

Step 1: Compare the tax refund claim

Based on the taxpayer's refund claim, documents, materials, and information provided by the taxpayer; information about the taxpayer managed by the tax authority in the database and relevant information provided by competent state agencies to identify the subject and case entitled to a tax refund, specifically:

- In cases where the refund claim does not belong to the subject and case entitled to a refund, the refund subsystem creates and sends a Notification of Ineligibility for Tax Refund (Form No. 04/TB-HT issued under Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC) to the taxpayer following the One-Stop Process guidelines.

- In cases where the refund claim belongs to the subject and case entitled to a refund, the tax authority cross-references the requested refund amount on the refund claim with the tax declaration dossiers, supplementary declaration dossiers, offset tax obligations of the taxpayer's business activities (if any), and the tax refunded in the previous immediate period. The refund amount must be declared according to the conformity of the Law on Tax Administration and its guiding documents.

The cross-check results must determine whether the case is entitled to a refund, the amount of tax eligible for refund, ineligible tax amount, or tax not refunded to be offset, or whether additional information is needed and requested from the taxpayer. If entitled to a refund, the tax amount refunded shall be determined under Clause 1, Article 34 of Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC.

The cross-check results are fully updated in the Tax Refund Proposal Form (Form No. 03/Qtr-HT issued under Decision No. 679/QD-TCT).

Step 2: Notify the taxpayer to provide explanations and additional information

In cases where the cross-check results are insufficient to determine whether the taxpayer's refund claim belongs to the entitled subject and case or where the declaration on the taxpayer's tax declaration dossier is not conforming, requiring the taxpayer to supplement and explain, the refund-processing section drafts the Explanation and Supplementation Notification of Information, Documents (Form No. 01/TB-BSTT-NNT issued under Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP) to be approved by the tax authority head and sent to the taxpayer according to the One-Stop Process guidelines.

Step 3: Accept the taxpayer's explanatory, supplementary information, documents or transfer refund claim to the pre-refund examination category

- In cases where the taxpayer has provided explanations or supplemental information, documents but there is still insufficient basis to determine the taxpayer's refund claim as entitled to a refund, and the deadline per the Notification has not expired, the taxpayer can continue to submit additional explanatory, supplemental information documents to the tax authority.

- In cases where the taxpayer has provided explanations or supplementary information and documents proving the refund amount requested is correct, the refund-processing section continues processing the refund claim.

- In cases where the deadline per the Notification has passed, and the taxpayer has neither provided explanations nor supplemented information or has provided explanations that lack sufficient basis for the tax authority to determine the eligible tax refund amount or cannot prove the declared tax amount is correct, the refund-processing section drafts a Notification to transfer the dossier to the pre-refund examination category according to Form No. 05/HT-TB issued under Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC, clearly stating the reason for changing the dossier classification method, submits it to the tax authority head for approval and sends it to the taxpayer.

+ Based on the approval to transfer the dossier to the pre-refund examination category, the TMS system automatically updates the refund claim status, the resolution time based on the dossier processing results, and transfers the dossier to the refund-processing section for pre-refund examination as assigned in Appendix 3 Section 2 issued under Decision No. 679/QD-TCT to continue processing the refund.

Step 4: Determine the eligible refund amount

The refund-processing section bases its actions on the results of the above tasks to determine the requested refund amount that is eligible for refund, the amount requested that is not eligible and to continue to be offset, or not eligible for tax and offset and explicitly states the reasons and legal documents applied in notifications and correspondence sent to the taxpayer.

(2) Case of tax refund for dossier requests from commercial banks (NHTM)

Step 1: Compare the payment request dossier

The processing section for payment request dossiers of commercial banks reviews and compares the payment request amount from the commercial banks with the VAT data compiled from the combined invoices and refund declarations provided electronically by the General Department of Customs.

In case of discrepancies, draft a Notification for Explanation and Supplementation of Information and Documents (Form No. 01/TB-BSTT-NNT issued under Decree 126/2020/ND-CP) for the tax authority head's approval on the TMS system and send it to the commercial bank.

Step 2: Determine the eligible payment amount

The refund-processing section bases its actions on the completion of the aforementioned tasks to determine the requested payment amount eligible for refund and amounts not eligible for refund.

(3) Case of tax refund for individuals with income from wages, salaries directly settling taxes

Step 1: Compare the tax refund claim

The processing section for PIT refund claims reviews and identifies excess payments during the taxpayer's tax settlement period based on information aggregated in the TMS system at the time of processing the refund claim.

If the tax to be paid, paid, deducted, overpaid, and requested refund in the taxpayer's settlement declaration matches the overpaid amount calculated and managed by the tax authority, proceed according to the regulation in Step 4, Point c of (1).

Step 2: Notify the taxpayer to provide explanations and additional information

If the tax to be paid, paid, deducted, and overpaid requested in the taxpayer's settlement declaration does not match the overpaid calculated and managed by the tax authority, the refund-processing section determines the cause for the discrepancy between the taxpayer's declaration and the tax authority's calculation to:

- Draft Explanation and Supplement Notification of Information and Documents (Form No. 01/TB-BSTT-NNT issued under Decree 126/2020/ND-CP), submit it to the tax authority head for approval on TMS, and send it to the taxpayer following the One-Stop Process guidelines to request taxpayer amendments in case of errors or to provide information and justify data discrepancies.

- If the taxpayer has provided explanations, supplementary documents, and information per the request from the Declaration Processing Section, the PIT refund processing section continues as Step 3, Point c of (1).

Step 3: Accept taxpayer’s explanatory supplementary information or transfer refund claim to the pre-refund examination category

The tax authority tracks and urges the taxpayer to provide explanatory and supplementary information to continue processing the refund claim.

- If the taxpayer has provided explanations or supplementary information but there is still insufficient basis to determine the refund eligibility of the dossier, the tax authority continues to notify the taxpayer to send additional explanatory documents and information.

- If the taxpayer has provided explanations or supplementary information proving the requested refund amount is correct, the refund-processing section continues processing the refund claim.

Step 4: Determine the eligible refund amount:

The PIT refund-processing section bases its actions on the results of the above tasks to determine the requested refund amount that is eligible for a refund and amounts that are not eligible.

If the taxpayer's requested refund includes amounts they have proven eligible for refund and amounts lacking sufficient basis to do so, the excess calculated by the tax authority that the taxpayer has shown eligible for refund is used to determine the eligible refund according to the regulations for tax resolution under Article 45 of Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC.

(4) Case of other excess fee refunds

Step 1: Compare the refund request dossier

The refund-processing section cross-checks the taxpayer's requested refund amount against their excess payments.

If there's a discrepancy between the requested refund amount and excess payments on the TMS application, the refund-processing section transitions the dossier to the Filing & KTT Section to review and cross-reference the taxpayer's overpayments and make adjustments (if needed) according to the Tax Declaration, Payment Management, and Obligation Management Procedure for taxpayers.

If the taxpayer requests a refund for allocated surpluses, the refund-processing section cross-references and confirms the paid amount and outstanding amounts incurred in each locality with the taxation management of the allocation area as per the guidelines in the Tax Declaration, Payment Management, and Obligation Management Procedure for taxpayers.

Step 2: Notify the taxpayer to provide explanations and additional information

If the cross-referencing results determine the taxpayer's requested refund does not match the excess payment, the refund-processing section drafts an Explanation and Supplement Notification of Information, Documents (Form No. 01/TB-BSTT-NNT issued under Decree 126/2020/ND-CP), submits it to the tax authority head for approval on TMS and sends it to the taxpayer as per the One-Stop Process guidelines.

Step 3: Accept taxpayer’s supplementary documents or transfer to pre-refund examination

Proceed similarly as per Step 3, Point a of (1)

Step 4: Determine the eligible refund amount

The refund-processing section bases its actions on the results of the above tasks to determine the refundable, non-refundable amounts according to principles under Article 45 of Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC.

What are procedures for determining eligible tax refunds for dossiers eligible for prior tax refund in Vietnam be from 2025? (Image from the Internet)

What are regulations on the classification of refund claims in Vietnam?

According to Article 73 of the 2019 Law on Tax Administration, the classification of refund claims is defined as follows:

(1) refund claims are classified into pre-refund examination dossiers and prior refund claims.

(2) Dossiers eligible for pre-refund examination include:

- Dossiers from taxpayers first requesting refunds for each tax refund case according to tax regulations. If taxpayers submit a refund claim to the tax management authority for the first time but are not eligible for a refund, subsequent requests are still considered first-time refund requests;

- Dossiers from taxpayers requesting refunds within two years from the time of enforcement against tax evasion;

- Dossiers from organizations undergoing dissolution, bankruptcy, termination of operations, sale, or transfer of state-owned enterprises;

- refund claims categorized as high tax risk according to risk management in tax administration;

- refund claims that fall under prior refund cases but have reached the deadline set by the tax authority's written notification without taxpayer elucidation or document supplementation, or explanations and supplementary documents do not verify the declared tax amount;

- refund claims for export and import goods not settled through commercial banks or other credit institutions per legal provisions;

- refund claims for export, import goods eligible for pre-refund check as stipulated by the Government.

(3) The prior refund claims are those of taxpayers not falling under the above cases.

What is the deadline for processing refund claims in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Clause 1 and Clause 2, Article 75 of the Law on Tax Administration 20199, the deadline for processing refund claims is regulated as follows:

- For prior refund claims, no later than six working days from the date the tax management authority issues a notification accepting the dossier and the deadline for processing the refund claim, the tax authority must decide to refund the tax to the taxpayer or notify the transfer of the taxpayer's dossier for pre-refund examination if falling into the case stipulated in Clause 2, Article 73 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 or notify ineligibility for refund if the dossier does not meet refund conditions.

If the information declared in the refund claim differs from the tax management authority's data, the tax authority notifies the taxpayer in writing to provide explanations and additional information. The time for explanations and additional information is not counted in the deadline for processing the refund claim.

- For pre-refund examination dossiers, no later than 40 days from the date the tax management authority issues a written notification accepting the dossier and the deadline for processing the refund claim, the tax authority must decide to refund the tax to the taxpayer or not refund the tax to the taxpayer if the dossier does not meet refund conditions.