A representative of the General Department of Taxation said that the information circulating on social networks that 'Tax authorities have the right to access all personal accounts to collect e-commerce taxes' is incorrect.
According to the Tax Administration Law No. 38/2019/QH14, individuals who conduct business activities are responsible for self-declaring and paying taxes to the State budget and are responsible before tax laws, including e-commerce business activities.
Thus, according to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration and Decree 126/2020/ND-CP, the Tax authority has the right to request relevant agencies and organizations including: E-commerce trading floors, commercial banks, shipping units, etc. to provide relevant information to serve the inspection and examination to determine the tax obligations of taxpayers and implement measures to enforce administrative decisions on tax administration according to the provisions of the law on tax.
Based on information collected from many sources, the Tax Authority will review and compare the information declared by the taxpayer to identify taxpayers who do not declare or pay taxes or do not fully declare the amount of tax payable and will collect and impose penalties according to regulations. In case the taxpayer is found to have committed tax evasion, the Tax Authority will transfer the case to the police for handling according to the law.
In recent times, the tax sector has always focused on and implemented many forms of propaganda, guidance and support for taxpayers in implementing tax policies and regulations for e-commerce and digital business activities through communication on mass media (newspapers, radio, television, social networks, etc.), building an artificial intelligence application - AI "Virtual assistant in supporting taxpayers" to answer and support 24/7 questions and problems of taxpayers; raising awareness, responsibility and consensus of people and businesses in complying with legal regulations on tax obligations.
According to current tax management laws, business individuals with revenue of over 100 million VND/year are subject to value added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT).
The amount of tax payable is determined as a percentage of revenue. The percentage (tax rate) applies to individuals doing business in the fields and professions specified in the tax table issued with Circular No. 40/2021/TT-BTC dated June 1, 2021 of the Ministry of Finance.
Accordingly, individuals selling goods online pay personal income tax at a rate of 0.5%, VAT at a rate of 1%; individuals with income from advertising on products, digital information content services, other services pay personal income tax at a rate of 2%, VAT at a rate of 5%...
With the goal of taking people and businesses as the center of service, creating the most favorable conditions to support taxpayers in carrying out tax procedures electronically, from December 19, 2024, the Tax sector has operated the "Electronic information portal for households and individuals doing business to register, declare, and pay taxes from e-commerce and business on digital platforms" to create convenience for households and individuals doing e-commerce business.
At the same time, Law No. 56/2024/QH15 has stipulated the responsibilities of e-commerce trading floor and digital platform managers (domestic and foreign organizations) in deducting, paying taxes on behalf of, and declaring deducted taxes on behalf of business households and individuals, and regulating direct tax declaration for business households and individuals with e-commerce business activities. This regulation takes effect from April 1, 2025. "With this regulation, instead of hundreds of thousands of individuals directly declaring taxes to tax authorities, there is only one contact point, which is the e-commerce trading floor, deducting, paying taxes on behalf of, and declaring deducted taxes, thereby contributing to reducing social costs and promoting the development of e-commerce activities," said a representative of the General Department of Taxation.