Vietnam: Regulations on first-time taxpayer registration that taxpayers must know

According to Circular No. 66/2019/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, the taxpayer that is newly established or starts to incur amounts payable to the state budget shall enter the web portal of General Department of Taxation to declare tax and submit the application for first-time taxpayer registration as prescribed in Circular No. 95/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam.

The web portal of the General Department of Taxation shall receive and compare information and send a notice of receipt of the electronic application for taxpayer registration to the taxpayer within 15 minutes from the receipt of the taxpayer’s application to the email address or phone number registered by the taxpayer with the tax authority. The notice shall specify time and location of returning the results and request the taxpayer to bring physical documents to the tax authority.

In case the application for taxpayer registration is satisfactory, the taxpayer shall follow the instructions mentioned in Circular No. 95/2016/TT-BTC.

If the taxpayer shall submit a physical application for taxpayer registration at the tax authority written on the notice of receipt of electronic application for taxpayer registration. The tax authority shall compare the physical application with the application received via the web portal of the General Department of Taxation. There will be one of the following 03 cases:

- If the physical application for taxpayer registration matches the electronic one, the tax authority shall return a notification of result to the taxpayer.

- If the physical application for taxpayer registration does not match the electronic one and information in the physical application is sufficient and accurate, the tax authority shall use information on the physical application and send a notification of result to the taxpayer.

- If the information in the physical application is not sufficient and accurate, the tax authority shall instruct the taxpayer to complete the information and submit the physical application.

Within 30 days from the date written on the notice of receipt of electronic application for taxpayer registration, if the taxpayer does not go to the tax authority or go to the tax authority without a written explanation, the electronic application will be rejected.

If the application for taxpayer registration is not satisfactory, within 02 (two) working days from the date of receipt of the application written on the notice of the electronic application for taxpayer registration, the tax authority the taxpayer shall send a notice of rejection of the application to the taxpayer via the web portal of the General Department of Taxation.

The taxpayer shall submit another electronic application for taxpayer registration via the web portal of the General Department of Taxation or a physical application at the supervisory tax authority instead of the application already submitted to the tax authority.

According to Lawyer Nguyen Thuy Han, Manager of LawSoft, "Circular 66 provides specific and detailed regulations on the first-time taxpayer registration for taxpayers that are newly established or start to incur amounts payable to the state budget. One of the notable amendments is the clear provision on the time of notifying the receipt of tax registration documents by the General Department of Taxation. Specifically, the General Department of Taxation shall send a notice of receipt of the electronic application for taxpayer registration to the taxpayer within 15 minutes from the receipt of the taxpayer’s application to the email address or phone number registered by the taxpayer with the tax authority. The notice shall specify time and location of returning the results and request the taxpayer to bring physical documents to the tax authority. These amendments will provide more favorable conditions for taxpayers during the first-time taxpayer registration process.".

Nguyen Trinh

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