Cassava Association calls for help from Prime Minister, General Department of Taxation speaks out

The area of ​​cassava in the country is about 530,000 ha, mainly in the midland and mountainous areas (Artwork).

On March 21, the Vietnam Cassava Association submitted an urgent request for help to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, responding to a document from the General Department of Taxation causing this industry to face great difficulties and in danger of collapse. .

According to the above document, the reason is that the General Department of Taxation has issued Official Letter No. 632/TCT-TTKT dated March 7 on the refund of Value Added Tax (VAT) for cassava starch.

Accordingly, the General Department of Taxation directed local tax departments to verify foreign customers, leading to the stop of refund and arrears of VAT of cassava exporters. While the current law on arrears VAT does not stipulate that tax refund records must be certified by foreign customers to be eligible for refund.

Cassava is one of 13 key agricultural products of Vietnam, export value in 2021 will reach 1.35 billion USD with the participation of 1.2 million workers.

Mr. Nguyen Van Lang, Chairman of Vietnam Cassava Association

At the same time, the exporting enterprise does not have the obligation as well as the ability to verify the foreign partner when signing the contract.

Therefore, the Cassava Association believes that, if Official Letter No. 632 is implemented, businesses in the cassava industry will go bankrupt even though they operate in accordance with the law.

The above dispatch will affect more than 1.2 million cassava workers and hundreds of production units will have to stop purchasing for cassava growers, causing socio-economic instability in many localities.

In addition, the Cassava Association said, before that, the Prime Minister also had two documents in August 2021 and January 2022 directing the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to solve problems about VAT refund for the cassava industry. However, up to now, the matter has not been resolved, but even more difficult when the General Department of Taxation issued Document 632.

WHAT DOES THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TAX SAY?

Before the above information, on the evening of March 23, the General Department of Taxation has officially spoken out to explain its decision, clarifying the issue that is of public interest.

According to the General Department of Taxation, in the past time, in tax administration work, this agency has noticed some suspicious signs in the VAT refund records of some enterprises exporting tapioca starch to China. These documents do not meet the conditions for VAT refund.

Accordingly, verification responses from foreign tax authorities through a coordination mechanism have discovered that some enterprises importing tapioca starch in China no longer exist or have long disappeared.

In addition, bank payment vouchers do not match the buyer’s name, the transfer through a border bank does not comply with the regulations on payment conditions for tax refund, etc.

Therefore, in order to ensure the management of VAT refund in accordance with the law, to avoid loss of the state budget, the General Department of Taxation has issued Official Letter No. 632/TCT-TTKT dated March 7, 2022 directing the internal regulations. The Department of Taxation shall perform tasks related to tax refund management.

In particular, the General Department of Taxation requires tax departments to check, review and compare businesses in the area that have declared and incurred sales transactions with businesses and organizations named in the verification documents from the tax authority. Chinese tax authorities to take immediate professional measures.

Specifically, specifying the number of refund periods, the refunded tax amount, the tax amount being requested for refund.

Some businesses take advantage of the state’s incentive policy to forge documents, declare false invoices, etc. to appropriate VAT refunds. Some typical cases have been coordinated by the police to handle such as: JUNMA Phu Tho Co., Ltd., Thu Duc Housing Development JSC…

General Department of Taxation

If it is determined that there are violations and are not eligible for VAT refund, promptly handle the withdrawal of tax refunds to the state budget, if there are signs of law violations, consolidate the behavior records Violations are transferred to the police for investigation and prosecution.

In addition, for tax refund dossiers with verification results from foreign tax authorities (the import unit does not exist or does exist but does not accept the importation of goods by Vietnamese enterprises). …) then the tax department identifies signs of tax refund fraud, collects relevant documents, and sends them to the police station for investigation and handling. When there are conclusions from the police and relevant agencies, the tax department will process tax refund dossiers according to regulations.

Also according to the General Department of Taxation, related to Document No. 632, before that, on December 10, 2021, the Ministry of Finance held a meeting with the Vietnam Cassava Association and units under the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Taxation. , General Department of Customs.

At the meeting, the General Department of Taxation answered the problems with the Cassava Association. Accordingly, if enterprises fully satisfy the conditions and procedures for tax refund, they will be entitled to tax refund from the state budget according to the provisions of law.

Since then, the General Department of Taxation has confirmed that the content of the direction in Official Letter 632/TCT-TTKT is consistent with the content of this unit’s exchange and direction at the meeting with the Cassava Association on conditions and procedures to be approved. tax refund from the state budget.

According to Tuan Viet