Vietnam: Supplementing 3 exceptions to tax or invoice-related administrative penalties

According to Article 9 of the Decree No. 125/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, exceptions to tax or invoice-related administrative penalties include:

1. Exceptions to administrative penalties prescribed in laws on handling of administrative violations shall be treated as the exceptions to tax or invoice-related administrative penalties.

Taxpayers’ delay in carrying out electronic tax or invoice-related procedures due to technical problems of information technology systems that are informed on tax authorities’ web portals shall constitute the act of violation caused by force majeure events under the provisions of clause 4 of Article 11 in the Law on Handling Administrative Violations of Vietnam.

2. Taxpayers’ commission of tax-related administrative violations due to the execution of instructional documents, decisions to respond to such violations of competent tax authorities or state regulatory agencies related to the tasks of determining taxpayer’s tax obligations (including those issued before the effective date of this Decree) shall be treated as exceptions to administrative penalties for tax-related violations or fines for late payment of taxes, except if taxpayers’ tax-related administrative violations are discovered after receipt of conclusions of tax inspections and examinations carried out at the taxpayer’s offices that none of the taxpayer’s defects arising from the declaration and calculation of taxes payable or tax exemptions, reductions or refunds have been discovered yet.

3. If, after making the false declaration, the taxpayer has supplemented tax returns and, of their own accord, has paid taxes before the time of the tax authority’s announcement of their decisions to conduct tax inspections or examinations at the taxpayer’s offices, or before the time of the tax authority’s discovery thereof without needing to carry out these inspections or examinations, or before the time of other competent authorities’ discovery thereof, the act of false declaration committed in this situation shall be exempted from any tax-related administrative penalties.

4. None of administrative penalties for tax-related violations shall be imposed upon persons directly carrying out personal income tax finalization procedures if they delay filing personal income tax finalization applications to claim their tax refunds; upon sole proprietorship households and sole proprietors subject to taxation or fixing of the constant tax rates as provided in Article 51 of the Law on Tax Administration of Vietnam.

5. During the extension of the time limit for tax return submission, taxpayers shall be exempted from any administrative penalties for violations related to the time limit for submission of tax returns.

View more details at the Decree No. 125/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from December 05, 2020.

Thuy Tram

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