Where is the location for tax refund claim inspection in Vietnam? What are regulations on classification of tax refund claims in Vietnam?

Where is the location for tax refund claim inspection in Vietnam?

According to Article 74 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the location for tax refund claim inspection is prescribed as follows:

- applications eligible for a pre-refund audit are inspected at the headquarters of the tax administration agency.

- applications subject to audit before refund are inspected at the headquarters of the taxpayer or at the premises of the relevant agency, organization, or individual.

Where is the location for tax refund claim inspection in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

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

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

Classification of tax refund claims

1. tax refund claims are classified into applications for audit before refund and applications eligible for pre-refund.

2. applications subject to audit before refund include:

a) applications of taxpayers requesting a refund for the first time in each case as prescribed by tax laws. If the taxpayer's application is sent to the tax administration agency for the first time but does not qualify for a refund, subsequent requests will still be considered as the first-time refund request;

b) applications of taxpayers requesting a refund within 2 years from the time of being penalized for tax evasion;

c) applications of organizations undergoing dissolution, bankruptcy, cessation of operations, sale, or transfer of state-owned enterprises;

d) Refund applications classified as high tax risk according to tax risk management classification;

đ) Refund applications in cases eligible for pre-refund that fail to meet deadlines as per the tax administration agency's written notice and where the taxpayer fails to provide an explanation or additional documentation, or the explanation and additional documentation fail to substantiate the declared tax amount;

e) Refund applications for export and import goods that do not undergo payment through commercial banks or credit institutions as prescribed by law;

g) Refund applications for export and import goods subject to audit before refund as regulated by the Government of Vietnam.

3. applications eligible for pre-refund are those not falling under the conditions outlined in Clause 2 of this Article.

4. The Minister of Finance shall detail the provisions of this Article.

Thus, tax refund claims are classified into:

- applications subject to audit before refund- applications eligible for pre-refund

What is the processing time for tax refund claims in Vietnam?

According to Article 75 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the processing time for tax refund claims is as follows:

(1) For applications eligible for pre-refund

No later than 6 working days from the date the tax administration agency issues a notice accepting the application and the deadline for processing the tax refund claim, the tax administration agency must decide on the refund for the taxpayer or notify the transfer of the taxpayer's application to an audit before refund if falling under the circumstances stipulated in Clause 2, Article 73 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 or notify the taxpayer of the non-refund if the application does not meet the refund conditions.

If the information declared in the tax refund claim is different from the information managed by the tax administration agency, the agency will issue a written notice for the taxpayer to provide explanation and supplement information.

The time taken for explanation and supplementing information is not counted within the processing time for tax refund claims.

(2) For applications subject to audit before refund

No later than 40 days from the date the tax administration agency issues a written notice accepting the application and the deadline for processing the tax refund claim, the tax administration agency must decide on the refund for the taxpayer or notify of the non-refund if the application does not meet the conditions.

If the refund decision is delayed beyond the stipulated deadline due to the fault of the tax administration agency, in addition to the refundable tax amount, the agency must also pay interest at 0.03%/day calculated on the refundable amount and the days delayed. The interest payment is sourced from the central budget as per the legal regulations on state budget.

Who has the authority to decide on tax refunds in Vietnam?

According to Article 76 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the authority to decide on tax refunds is specifically prescribed as follows:

- The Director General of the General Department of Taxation, the Director of the Tax Department of the province or city directly under the central government decides on tax refunds in accordance with the tax laws.

- The head of the tax authority where the refund application is received decides on the refund regarding the return of surplus tax payments as prescribed by this Law.

- The Director General of the General Department of Customs, the Director of the Customs Department, the Head of the Customs Branch where the refundable tax amount arises, decide on tax refunds in accordance with the legal regulations on taxes.