In the first half of the year, nearly 43,000 online sellers who were subject to scrutiny declared and paid taxes amounting to VND10 trillion (US$425 million), more than 2.8 times the amount compared to the same period last year, data from the General Department of Vietnam Taxation revealed.

Online shopping in Vietnam is on the rise. Photo: Tran Dung/The Hanoi Times

Recently, many organizations and individuals selling goods online have been inspected and required to pay back taxes they owe for failure to report or pay taxes. This review was initiated by the tax authorities as part of stricter enforcement of e-commerce regulations, covering transactions on platforms, online businesses, and livestream sales. In the process, the tax authority handled 4,560 violations, collected arrears, and fined nearly VND300 billion (US$11.8 million).

When registering for tax, sellers provide the authorities with their identification details (name, age, occupation, address, among others). Once registered, they receive a tax code to start doing business. Those who haven't registered for taxes normally face fines, such as penalties for late business registration, delayed declarations, and overdue tax payments. The average penalty for the first two offenses usually amounts to about VND15 million ($590).

The taxes due are determined by the authorities based on total revenue, the VAT rate on goods and services, and personal income tax for each business sector.

For instance, individuals distributing or supplying goods are required to pay taxes equal to 1.5% of their revenue, with a late payment penalty of 0.03% per day. With many of the 3.1 million business households and individuals selling online not registering, declaring, or paying taxes, the tax authorities are linking up and sharing data with other governmental bodies to enforce the Tax Administration Law.

Currently, the tax authority has made over 663,000 queries to the Ministry of Public Security's population database. They also share information with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on 929 e-commerce platforms, matching data from 53,000 businesses on 383 platforms, including major ones like Shopee, Lazada, Sendo, Voso, and Tiki.

In Hanoi, citizen identification information and tax code matching rates exceed 99.8%. As a result, the tax authority has identified hundreds of e-commerce platform owners and thousands of individuals doing business online. Revenue from e-commerce in the capital in the first six months exceeded VND10 trillion ($425 million), with personal taxes (including livestream sales) increasing by 79%.

Regarding the banking sector, the Ministry of Finance holds information on 144 million payment accounts, an increase of over 20 million accounts since the end of April. This includes about 10 million organization accounts and 134 million accounts of individuals in 96 banks.