The tax industry is "squeezing" the value-added tax refund for wood products while other businesses and ministries and sectors consider to be inadequate, burdensome and to have negatively impacted on businesses...
In the draft report on business development in 2020 and the first 5 months of 2021, released on June 14, 2021, the Ministry of Planning and Investment gathered a number of recommendations from businesses, ministries, and sectors show that Tax mechanisms and regulations are creating many obstacles and have not created favorable conditions for production and business activities.
Specifically, problems due to the regulations on tax refund verification are not really reasonable, the tax refund regulations do not take into account the intermediary and commercial stages, thus creating inappropriate situations.
The tax refund process for exported wood products only assigns responsibility to enterprises at the final stage of production, without taking into account the responsibilities of enterprises and business households in the top and middle of the stage.
The Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association also said that the addition of tax inspection and examination will cause difficulties for wood enterprises, especially when their production activities are still being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Circular 27/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 16, 2018 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stipulating the management and traceability of timber and forest products, has recognized the responsibilities of business households at the starting stage. That is, for timber harvested from planted forests, forest owners and forest product establishment owners must make and sign a list according to the prescribed form, to certify that the harvested timber lot is legal.
The Vietnam Wood and Forest Products Association also said that the addition of tax inspection and examination will cause difficulties for wood enterprises, especially when their production activities are still being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regarding the above content, previously, the General Department of Taxation issued Official Letters No. 2928/TCT-TTKT dated July 22, 2020 and Official Letter No. 2424/TCT - TTKT dated May 22, 2020 requested Tax Departments of provinces and centrally-run cities to strengthen measures to prevent, detect and handle violations of the law on value-added tax refund due to concerns about appropriating the value-added tax refund.
At the same time, review taxpayers at risk of value-added tax refund, in order to promptly prevent violations of tax laws and avoid loss of state budget revenue.
According to the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the export of wood and wood products in May 2021 is estimated at USD 1.4 billion, up 80.3% compared to May 2020. In which, the export of wood products is estimated at USD 1.08 billion, up 95.8% compared to May 2020.
Accumulated in the first 5 months of 2021, the export of wood and wood products is estimated at USD6.6 billion, up 61.3% over the same period in 2020. In which, the export of wood products is estimated at 5.1 billion USD, up 79.4% over the same period in 2020.
Theo Tram Anh
Vneconomy