In an interview with Lao Dong Newspaper, Nguyen Nam Binh, deputy head of the municipal Department of Taxation, said that the agency has continued boosting the tax collection from online businesses. However, the work is quite challenging. 

HCM City Taxation Department have found it difficult to collect taxes from online businesses

The department has defined local individuals and organisations which earn income from online businesses such as through Facebook or Google, Binh said. He added that to date, around 66,000 transactions have been made via Sacombank for the tax payment with a total VND670 billion (USD29.13 million).

However, until now, around VND620 billion (USD26 million) in taxes have not yet been paid, including VND20 billion being tax arrears. According to Binh, the collected tax amount is very modest, failing to meet the department’s expectation.

Among more than 15,000 social network account holders invited to work with the department, just a small number voluntarily declared their tax and co-operated with authorities seriously.

Binh attributed difficulties in tax collection to the fact that many online service owners use cash payment. Meanwhile, lots of services are not licensed, so it is quite hard to define their real revenues for taxing.

In the coming time, the department will intensify the co-operation with other management agencies for dealing with these loopholes.

Under the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to the Prime Minister, all e-commerce transactions for online businesses must be made through banks.