Hanoi tightens e-commerce management

A database of more than 320 e-commerce business owners, 54 registered e-commerce platforms, and over 16,500 business households has been built by the Hanoi Tax Department. The system has about 110,000 bank accounts and over 591,200 identified businesses, said Vu Manh Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Tax Department.

"This is a way of accurately determining the tax obligations of taxpayers," he emphasized at a conference on the subject last week.

The Hanoi Tax Department has focused on digitizing tax administration for e-commerce activities. Photo: Thanh Hai

Build a database for e-commerce businesses

The transition from traditional to digital platforms is becoming increasingly widespread and is considered to be an effective solution for organizations and individuals to expand their business activities. In line with this trend, the Hanoi Department of Taxation has taken the initiative in tax management measures and has become one of the leading government agencies in the country in successfully executing Project No. 6 on the development of the application of population data, identification and electronic authentication.

The department successfully synchronized data between citizens' ID cards and personal tax identification numbers, achieving an accurate match rate of 92.76% with data from the Ministry of Public Security, Cuong said.

The director of the Hanoi Tax Department also said that since late 2023 and early 2024, they have been focusing on digitizing tax management for e-commerce activities, following the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation.

Identification and location of organizations and individuals, as well as transaction and e-commerce entity data, are regularly and continuously updated.

Revenue enhancement through inspections and audits

To prevent fiscal losses in e-commerce business activities, the Hanoi Department of Taxation has a plan for inspections and audits with a focus on e-commerce in 2024, targeting a total of 2,342 organizations and individuals, of which 1,749 have been audited.

"As a result, some 921 organizations and individuals have paid tax arrears of VND104 billion (US$4.1 million), denied deductions of VND43 billion (US$1.7 million), and the tax department has prevented losses of VND59 billion (US$2.3 million)," the director said.

In Hoan Kiem, a district at the forefront of administrative reform and digital transformation with a thriving e-commerce business, the city's Department of Taxation is piloting an initiative to manage taxes for e-commerce activities in the city.  

Based on the results of the pilot implementation, the tax management for e-commerce activities will be extended to the whole city, leading to the development of a city-level project on tax management for e-commerce activities throughout Hanoi.

Cuong added that to further improve tax management for e-commerce, the department will continue to apply information technology and build an e-commerce database to support tax officials in accessing taxpayer identification information.

"In addition, we will strengthen communication methods and electronic support for tax filing and payment, and aim to establish virtual tax agencies and virtual tax support units on e-commerce platforms to maximize electronic tax filing," he said.