PM orders tax payments rescheduled to assist virus-affected firms

Apart from lauding tax agencies’ efforts in collecting VND1.270 quadrillion for the central budget last year, well above the target of 9.3%, PM Phuc ordered the tax authorities and the Ministry of Finance to map out a plan to create more favorable conditions for the business community. He was speaking at an online national conference on February 26.

It is necessary to suspend or extend tax payments to support small and medium enterprises as a way to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and maintain socioeconomic development, Thanh Nien newspaper reported, citing the prime minister.

The tax sector should lead the way in helping firms weather the hardship brought by the virus as a number of local firms and residents have called for support from tax agencies, the prime minister added.

Besides this, PM Phuc ordered the relevant authorities to axe some administrative procedures concerning tax as the country has 304 tax procedures and 188 administrative procedures in place for applying public services online at category levels 3 and 4.

As such, he expects to eliminate 10% of the tax procedures and to double the number of administrative procedures at levels 1 and 2 being raised to levels 3 and 4 this year.

A report by the Ministry of Finance showed that as of end-February, the entire tax system had completely eliminated some subdepartments of taxation, dropping from 711 subdepartments of taxation to 415, equivalent to 102% of the plan and 10 months earlier than planned.