Tech giants pay nearly US$580 million in taxes in Vietnam

By the end of April, foreign service providers such as Google, Facebook (Meta), and TikTok had directly paid VND3 trillion (US$118.3 million) in taxes, bringing the total tax paid over two years to nearly VND14.6 trillion ($580 million).

Facebook (Meta) and Google are among the major foreign service providers that declare and pay taxes in Vietnam.

According to data from the General Department of Taxation, there are currently 94 foreign service providers that have registered for taxes through the electronic portal. The list of foreign suppliers who have declared and paid taxes includes Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, TikTok, Netflix, and Apple, among others.

With the additional VND3 trillion ($118.3 million) paid in the first four months of this year, the total accumulated from March 2022 - when the electronic portal for foreign suppliers was launched - amounts to VND14.6 trillion ($580 million). This represents an increase of over VND3.5 trillion ($138 million) compared to the end of last year.

Tax authorities have stated that they have been implementing short and long-term solutions to enhance the tax administration of domestic and cross-border e-commerce. Additionally, they continue to review, inspect, and address infringements by individuals and organizations failing to file tax returns.

Another solution is to connect and share data between tax authorities and other government agencies to prevent tax losses and ensure financial security.

Data released at the end of last week shows that the tax authorities hold data on 121 million individual bank accounts and over nine million organizational accounts at 96 commercial banks. However, individuals and organizations may have multiple accounts at different banks for convenience in transactions.

Compared to the total number of personal payment accounts by the end of 2023, which was 183 million the tax sector has data on about two-thirds of them. The tax authorities will use this data to compile a list of online traders who have not declared or paid tax. Many online sellers have been subject to significant tax arrears, ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of VND.

Furthermore, the tax authorities plan to work with the Ministry of Public Security to expedite the transition to the use of Citizen Identity Cards as tax identification numbers as required by tax administration laws. They also intend to introduce electronic identification for organizations and individuals involved in tax filing and payment transactions to prevent tax evasion in e-commerce.

In 2023, revenue from e-commerce channels known to the tax authorities exceeded $146 billion, with tax payments totaling VND97 trillion ($3.82 billion), an increase of 14% compared to 2022.