The General Department of Taxation issued Decision 108/QD-TCT dated January 24, 2025, on the automatic personal income tax refund process. The automatic personal income tax refund process stipulates the sequence and procedures for tax authorities to process personal income tax refund applications from individuals who directly file their tax returns and request a refund on their personal income tax return.
Automatic personal income tax refund
Automated personal income tax refund is a process implemented by the Tax authorities to increase transparency and reduce time and costs for taxpayers. The information technology system automatically determines the amount of tax to be refunded and transfers it directly to the taxpayer's account.
The process for automatically processing personal income tax refunds is as follows:
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Applicable to: Individuals who directly settle their tax obligations and have fully repaid any overpaid taxes.
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Tax refund method: Automatically processed through the Tax Department's IT system.
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Conditions for tax refund: Income and the amount paid must match the data managed by the tax authorities.
How is automatic personal income tax refund applied?
The process for automatically processing personal income tax refunds is as follows:
1. The automated personal income tax refund subsystem checks and determines whether the application meets the eligibility criteria for automatic processing.
Accordingly, applications that meet the following criteria are eligible for automatic processing:
(i) At the time of processing the taxpayer's personal income tax refund application, the income-paying organization has fulfilled its obligation to pay the withheld personal income tax or the total personal income tax that the individual taxpayer has paid in full to the State budget in the tax settlement period for which the taxpayer requests a refund;
(ii) Personal income tax refund application with the item “Total taxable income" correct match with aggregated data during the tax settlement period according to the tax management database of the Tax Department at the time of processing the file and with the indicator "Total tax amount requested for refund" no need to worry Aggregate data for the tax settlement period according to the tax management database of the Tax Department at the time of processing the application;
(iii) The taxpayer's refund account information is verified and linked to the tax management database of the Tax Department.
2. In cases where the taxpayer's personal income tax refund application meets all the conditions.
According to Clause 1 of this Article, the personal income tax refund subsystem automatically generates tax refund proposals, prepares tax refund decisions (or tax refund and offsetting decisions for state budget revenue) and tax refund orders (or tax refund and offsetting orders for state budget revenue) for electronic signature by the Head of the Tax Authority.
3. In cases where the taxpayer's personal income tax refund application does not meet one of the conditions.
According to Clause 1 of this Article, the Tax Department's IT application system automatically assigns and sends emails to department leaders and tax officers assigned to handle personal income tax refund applications, informing them of the process and requesting them to continue processing the applications. Based on the inspection results, information provided by the TMS application, and the specific personal income tax refund application, the application processing department will review and process each case as follows:
3.1. In cases where the taxpayer's personal income tax refund application already includes supplementary explanatory documents.
The Tax Refund Department checks and compares the taxpayer's supplementary explanatory documents. If accepted, the Tax Refund Department creates a Tax Refund Decision (or Tax Refund and Offset Decision) and a Tax Refund Order (or Tax Refund and Offset Order) and submits them to the Head of the Tax Authority for electronic signature.
3.2. In cases where further investigation and clarification are needed to determine the cause of discrepancies between taxpayers' declared data and the tax authority's aggregated data.
The Taxpayer Information and Documentation Department creates a Notice regarding the request for explanation, additional information, and documents, which is then submitted to the Head of the Tax Authority for signature and sent to the taxpayer.
Based on the information and explanations provided by the taxpayer, the Personal Income Tax Refund Processing Department will proceed as follows:
+ In cases where explanations and additional information are accepted:
If the taxpayer has provided explanations or additional information and documents proving that the requested tax refund amount is correct, the tax refund processing department will create a tax refund proposal on the TMS application, a tax refund decision (or a tax refund and offsetting decision), and a tax refund order (or tax refund and offsetting order) for the head of the tax authority to sign and issue.
+ In cases where explanations or additional information are not accepted:
In cases where the taxpayer has provided explanations or supplementary information and documents but the basis for determining whether the taxpayer's tax refund application is eligible for a refund is still insufficient, or the deadline specified in the Notice regarding explanations and supplementary information and documents has expired and the taxpayer has not provided further explanations or supplementary information, or has provided explanations but the basis is still insufficient for the tax authority to determine the amount of tax eligible for a refund, or cannot prove that the declared tax amount is correct, the tax refund processing department will create a Notice regarding the application not being eligible for a refund/not eligible for a refund (Form No. 04/TB-HT issued with Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC) on the TMS and submit it to the Head of the Tax Authority for signing and issuance, and send it to the taxpayer.
3.3. Cases where a tax refund application is deemed ineligible and cases where a tax refund is granted.
The Tax Refund Processing Department drafts a Notice regarding the ineligibility of tax refund applications/non-refundable tax refunds (Form No. 04/TB-HT issued with Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC) on the Tax Information System (TMS) and submits it to the Head of the Tax Authority for signing and issuance, then sends it to the taxpayer.
The tasks mentioned in Clause 3 of this Article shall be completed within a maximum of 03 working days from the date of the Notice of Receipt of the Tax Refund Application.
Automated personal income tax refund process
📝 The tax system automatically generates suggested personal income tax return forms.
Based on the declaration databases of income-paying organizations and individuals, tax registration and dependent registration data, and an overview of tax obligations and taxpayer debts nationwide, the tax sector's IT application system automatically compiles data for the indicators on the personal income tax final settlement declaration to determine the taxpayer's declaration obligations and generate a suggested personal income tax final settlement declaration for individual taxpayers who directly settle their personal income tax.
The data aggregation and generation of suggested tax returns are automatically performed by the tax sector's IT application system immediately after the deadline for submitting the personal income tax return of the income-paying organization.
📌 Taxpayers review their tax return, confirm it, or make necessary adjustments.
Taxpayers are individuals who use the eTax Mobile application, the electronic tax application for individuals developed by the General Department of Taxation, to check information on the suggested personal income tax return form automatically generated by the tax sector's IT application system.
- Taxpayer case agree Based on the information provided in the suggested Personal Income Tax Return Form, taxpayers confirm and submit their tax return documents as required through the application.
- Taxpayer case disagree Based on the information suggested in the Personal Income Tax Return Form, taxpayers should amend the information in the corresponding fields, add the reason for the difference from the amount suggested by the tax authority, and submit the tax return along with supporting documents as required.
✅ Received the suggested personal income tax return with a refund request from the taxpayer.
- Automatic reception: The automated tax system automatically generates and sends notifications regarding the receipt of electronic tax returns and tax refund requests to taxpayers immediately after receiving personal income tax final settlement documents containing the item "Tax refund amount to taxpayer".
- Create an automated tax refund request profile: Immediately after sending the Notification of Receipt of Tax Refund Application to the taxpayer, the tax refund subsystem automatically creates a tax refund application.
- For personal income tax return files that include a request for refund from the taxpayer, Submit by other method (Not in the manner described above) then after receiving the application according to the corresponding procedure, the Tax System will automatically accept the tax refund application and Create a similar automated tax refund profile. like this automated tax refund process.
Post-refund control of personal income tax
The tax sector's IT application system periodically compiles data on a quarterly basis to provide alerts and automatically supply the tax authorities with a list of organizations and individuals paying income and withholding personal income tax who file supplementary declarations that change the tax liability information of individual taxpayers who have already received personal income tax refunds, so that the tax processing department has a basis for action. Implement post-refund control and tax refund recovery procedures. (if).