Vietnam strives for administrative reforms in tax & customs sector

Back in March this year, the Vietnamese government issued Resolution 19, aiming to match the average of ASEAN-6 countries in terms of administrative efficiency by the end of 2015, the deadline for full ASEAN economic integration. So how far have the efforts been carried out? We find answers in this week’s edition of Vietnam in Close-Up.

According to the “Doing Business” report by the World Bank, in 2013: Businesses make 32 tax payments a year, spend 872 hours a year filing, preparing and paying taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 40.8% of profit.

Exporting a standard container of goods requires 5 documents, takes 21 days and costs $610. Importing the same container of goods requires 8 documents, takes 21 days and costs $600.

On March 18, 2014, the Vietnamese government issued Resolution 19/NQ-CP, which set the goal for Vietnam’s business indicators to meet the ASEAN-6 average by the end of 2014, which means that the average tax-filling time will be cut down to 171 hours a year, and processing time for clearance of exports and imports of goods will fall to 13 and 14 days, respectively.

On March 12, 2015, the Vietnamese government issued another Resolution 19/NQ-CP, which set a further goal for the Vietnamese business environment to reach the ASEAN-4 average by the end of 2016. For the tax sector, this would mean average tax and insurance filing time would be cut down to 168 hours per year.

Technology has been implemented as a key tool to achieve the set goals. The government is currently pushing for electronic tax payments and customs declaration. The government’s efforts in administrative reforms will help the country take advantage of these international integration opportunities, improving the business environment and national competitiveness in the region.