Tax sector resolved to improve sub-index on “unofficial fees”

(LSO) – In 2020, the Department of Taxation of Lang Son province has been carrying out many solutions to improve the sub-index on unofficial fees in the District and Department Competitiveness Index (DDCI).

For three straight years (2017-2019), the Taxation Department topped departments and sectors of Lang Son in the DDCI rankings. However, its sub-index on unofficial fees was still modest, 6.92 points in 2017 (standing fifth among the 15 surveyed departments and sectors), 5.3 points in 2018 (16th among 21 department and sectors), and 5.38 points (17 among 23 department and sectors).

To improve this sub-index, the taxation sector has implemented many concrete solutions, including enhancing its tax inspectors’ sense of responsibility.

Nguyen Thi Dang Hang, head of the tax inspection and examination division at the provincial Taxation Department, said there are 67 civil servants specialising in tax inspection and examination at present, including 17 at her division and 50 at sub-departments of taxation.

Civil servants at the Taxation Sub-department Region 4 share experience to assist tax payers.

As those engaging in tax inspection and examination have the most frequent contact with tax payers, this area is also most vulnerable to negative phenomena. Therefore, activities to promote their specialised capacity and sense of responsibility have been carried out regularly, she noted.

Each year, all civil servants tasked with tax inspection and examination receive training in specialised skills in the province, and about 10-15 take part in refresher courses organised by the General Department of Taxation or training conferences. Such training courses and thematic meetings have greatly helped raise their specialised capacity, sense of responsibility, and professional ethics.

This year, the local tax sector has also implemented other solutions to concurrently improve inspection and examination effectiveness, ensure discipline, and better its staff’s sense of responsibility.

Last May, leaders of the provincial Taxation Department had a meeting with the civil servants tasked with tax inspection and examination. At this event, heads of the inspection and examination division and sub-departments of taxation were asked to fully and strictly follow inspection and examination processes. Civil servants were told to seriously comply with regulations on the time for inspection and examination at businesses while contributing opinions to the building of a handbook in this regard.

To prevent graft, the tax sector has also selected suitable cadres for different positions and sent some civil servants in inspection and examination divisions to work in others. Inspection and examination decisions sent to tax payers have also been accompanied by open letters, which publicise the time for inspections and examinations, along with email addresses and phone numbers of leaders at the Taxation Department and relevant specialised divisions, so that tax payers can give feedback if there are any wrongdoings.

Those solutions have helped improve the effectiveness of inspection and examination activities. The average tax arrears and fines collected per inspection or examination by the Taxation Department has increased over years. In the first five months of 2020, the sector inspected 12 businesses, collecting more than 500 million VND (21,700 USD) in tax arrears and fines, and examined 41 others, collecting nearly 1.5 billion VND.

Additionally, it has also stepped up IT application to tax management so as to minimise direct contact between tax officers and tax payers. Over 99 percent of enterprises in Lang Son province have carried out online tax declaration and payment while 93.68 percent have claimed tax refund online.

Nguyen Chien Thang, Deputy Director of the provincial Taxation Department, said with concrete solutions, the sector is determined to raise the unofficial fee sub-index to at least 7.2 points so as to help sustain the top position among local departments and sectors in the DDCI rankings.

The sub-index on unofficial fees measures the fees that businesses have to pay to cover expenses unrelated to production and investment, or the fines and abnormal expenses in normal production and business conditions.