Vietnam To Focus On Transfer Pricing Abuse, Tax Debtors

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

25 July 2019

Officials from Vietnam's General Department of Taxation (GDT) are to focus on challenging tax avoidance and evasion involving corporate groups, with an especial focus on transfer pricing.

Speaking at the GDT's half-year conference, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Finance, Tran Xuan Ha, said dealing with transfer pricing issues and aggressive tax planning and evasion is becoming more complex for authorities, due to "incomplete and impractical policies." He highlighted in particular inconsistencies in tax regulations, which he said has scuppered enforcement efforts.

He has tasked the General Department of Taxation with coordinating with the Finance Ministry to redraft the relevant decrees and circulars where appropriate.

He highlighted that tax agency officials have recently focused heavily on improving oversight of intra-group transfer pricing. 150 corporate groups have been subject to inspections, with an additional VND693.4bn (USD29.8m) collected in tax and penalties during the first six months of the year, he said.

The country has also seen an increase in tax debt, he reported. By the end of June, tax debt had risen by 9.3 percent year-on-year, to nearly VND83.4 trillion (USD3.58bn). He concluded by providing a number of recommendations to tackle abuse of the tax system and improve the collection of tax dues.

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