Six containers belong to Thanh Hai Company in Binh Dinh Province. In its customs declaration forms for export, Thanh Hai Company stated the goods inside the containers are scraps of fabric. But in fact, they contain scrap aluminium and copper. This helps the company avoid paying nearly 90 thousand USD of tax.
"Scraps of fabric are imposed an export tax of 0% while the tax on scrap copper is 22% and aluminium 15-20%. Companies have used tricks like this to dodge taxes", Pham Van Thieng - Staff off Anti-smuggling & Investigation Dept. - said.
Recently, customs forces have also detected signs of fraud. For instance, a parent company imported steel from a foreign company and sold the steel to its subsidiary company. Then, the subsidiary company exported the steel to the foreign company to gain VAT tax refunds. This is the case of a company based in Hanoi.
"In a meeting between the Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department, the Supreme People’s Procuracy and the Ministry of Public Security, we found signs of Thanh Minh Company making fake documents, and using these documents for this consignment to gain tax refunds for another consignment. The company is now under investigation", Dang Cong Thanh - Staff of Anti-smuggling & Investigation Dept., General Department of Customs - spoke.
For the last six months, the Ministry of Finance has intensified anti-tax dodging measures and collected over 1.12 billion USD of taxes.
Due to declining state budget revenues, the Ministry of Finance is intensifying measures to prevent tax dodging in order compensate for losses from decreasing crude oil prices and import tax. However, this is quite a challenge as the government is encouraging the simplification of tax procedures to support businesses.
