On the morning of June 13th, several amendments to the Law on Tax Administration were officially passed by the National Assembly, including amendments regarding taxpayer rights. The amended Law on Tax Administration will come into effect on July 1st, 2020.
This draft of the revised Law on Tax Administration introduces several new points compared to the old regulations. Most notably are the amendments to the Rights of Taxpayers. Specifically, the regulations in Article 16 are amended as follows:
Taxpayer Rights
♦ Taxpayers will be guided on tax filing procedures; provided with information and documents to fulfill their tax obligations and rights.
♦ Taxpayers receive documents related to their tax obligations from relevant authorities during inspections, audits, and examinations.
♦ Taxpayers have the right to request the tax authorities to explain the tax calculation and assessment; and to request agencies and organizations to inspect the quantity, quality, and type of exported and imported goods.
♦ Taxpayers are entitled to confidentiality of information (except for information that must be provided to competent state agencies or publicly available tax information as prescribed by law).
♦ Taxpayers are entitled to tax incentives and tax refunds as prescribed by law.
♦ Contracted with businesses providing tax clearance services and customs brokerage services to perform tax agency and customs clearance agency services.
♦ Taxpayers will receive tax assessment decisions, tax audit reports, and tax inspection reports; they may request clarification of the content of the tax assessment decisions; they may reserve their opinions in the tax audit and inspection reports; and they will receive written conclusions from tax audits and inspections, and tax assessment decisions following the audit or inspection by the tax management agency.
♦ Taxpayers will be compensated for damages caused by the tax administration agency or tax officials in accordance with the law.
♦ Taxpayers have the right to request the tax administration agency to confirm that they have fulfilled their tax obligations.
♦ Taxpayers have the right to file complaints and lawsuits against administrative decisions and actions related to their legitimate rights and interests.
♦ No tax violations will be penalized, and no late payment fees will be charged, in cases where the taxpayer acts in accordance with written guidance and decisions issued by the tax authorities or other competent state agencies regarding the determination of the taxpayer's tax obligations.
♦ Tax authorities have the right to report violations of the law by tax officials and other businesses and individuals, in accordance with the law on reporting violations.
♦ The right to search, view, and print all electronic documents that they have submitted to the electronic portal of the tax authority in accordance with this Law and the law on electronic transactions.
♦ Allows the use of electronic documents in transactions with the tax authority and related agencies and organizations.
In addition, National Assembly deputies also proposed several amendments to other articles as follows:
- Regarding cases of tax debt cancellation and the authority to cancel tax debts.
The new law stipulates that: Businesses and cooperatives declared bankrupt with no remaining assets; and individuals who have died or been declared dead by the court, or who have lost their civil capacity and have no assets, are two of the five cases eligible for debt forgiveness of tax arrears, late payment penalties, and fines.
According to the new amendments, the authority to write off tax debts no longer specifies the exact amount of tax debt that the Prime Minister was authorized to write off. In exceptional cases, the Minister of Finance must report to the Prime Minister for consideration before deciding on debt write-off.
- Extending the deadline for submitting personal income tax returns.
According to the old regulations (Clause 2, Article 32 of the 2006 Tax Administration Law), the deadline for submitting tax return documents was no later than the 90th day from the end of the calendar year, or the fiscal year for annual tax returns.
HoweverThe new regulations allow individuals to submit their tax returns within 120 days of the end of the calendar year – extending the deadline by one month compared to the deadline for businesses.
