The HCMC Tax Department sine early this year has inspected 16 foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises with transfer pricing signs, collecting VND11.3 billion in taxes and reducing losses reported by these firms by VND368 billion.

Le Thi Thu Huong, deputy head of the HCMC Tax Department, told the Daily on Wednesday that most of these enterprises are in the garment sector and have reported losses due to either low export prices or high input material costs.

This agency has also inspected many other local and foreign enterprises posting up falling losses, collecting VND275 billion worth of corporate income tax, reducing tax deduction by VND28 billion and losses by over VND2.5 trillion.

Among those examined, some FDI enterprises have posted up losses but annual revenues have surged 20-30% while their investment has expanded continuously. The tax agency has cast doubt on these cases although it has yet to find out evidences of transfer pricing.

This year, the agency has inspected over 1,300 enterprises, collecting nearly VND2.5 trillion in taxes, reducing tax deduction by VND78 billion and cutting losses reported by these enterprises by over VND2.5 trillion, Huong said.

The number of enterprises under inspection rises 55% against last year and tax collection is up over 100%.