Coordination in directing tax administration for e-commerce activities, digital platform-based business in Vietnam

Coordination in directing tax administration for e-commerce activities, digital platform-based business in Vietnam (Image from the internet)

On July 11, 2024, the Ministry of Finance (Hanoi, Vietnam) issued Official Dispatch 7228/BTC-TCT regarding the coordination in directing tax administration for e-commerce activities, digital platform-based business.

Coordination in directing tax administration for e-commerce activities, digital platform-based business in Vietnam

The e-commerce market in Vietnam is continuously expanding with diverse operational models and numerous participants. Its growth, evaluated as the fastest in Southeast Asia, presents new and considerable challenges for tax administration, such as: the ability to fully manage revenue sources and taxpayers; the need to modernize the management methods to be efficient and in line with international practices; and risk-based compliance management employing artificial intelligence on big data collected from multiple sources, especially information connected and shared from various Ministries and sectors.

Therefore, to further enhance tax administration for e-commerce activities (including livestream selling), it requires the involvement of the entire political system, Ministries, sectors, local authorities at all levels, and the consensus of taxpayers.

In the upcoming period, the Ministry of Finance hopes to continue receiving the attention and directives from the Secretaries, Chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and cities so that the Tax Department can manage more effectively e-commerce activities and livestream selling, thereby ensuring reasonable mobilization of resources for the state budget, continuing to fulfill the budget revenue tasks in the coming years, contributing significantly to achieve the dual objective of both developing the e-commerce market and enhancing tax administration efficiency, ensuring monetary security as directed by the Government of Vietnam and the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam.

With this spirit, the Ministry of Finance respectfully requests colleagues to pay attention and direct party committees, local governments, and related Departments to effectively carry out the following tasks:

- Coordinate with the tax authorities to implement a program to review and handle violations for cases of e-commerce business, livestream selling that do not fully comply with tax obligations, and business establishments that do not issue invoices as prescribed to spread the rigor of law enforcement.

- Direct the tax authorities and related Departments (Banks, Industry and Trade, Public Security, Information and Communications, Planning and Investment, Transport, etc.) to coordinate providing information, sharing data related to organizations and individuals engaged in e-commerce business, livestream selling (subjects, transaction information, payment information, shipping information...) to promptly and effectively implement appropriate tax administration measures for each taxpayer's activities.

- Continue to closely coordinate with the tax authorities in implementing electronic invoices, deploying electronic invoices initiated from cash registers associated with the lucky invoice program nationwide by the Tax Department to control the revenue of businesses in general, participating in e-commerce activities, livestream selling in particular, ensuring full compliance with tax obligations.

- Direct the Provincial/City Propaganda Department, Department of Information and Communications, and local press agencies to closely coordinate with the tax authorities to enhance the dissemination of tax policy laws through various communication channels so that taxpayers raise awareness and voluntarily comply with tax obligations for e-commerce activities and livestream selling.

More details can be found in Official Dispatch 7228/BTC-TCT dated July 11, 2024.

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