Nearly 43,000 online sellers under tax audit

As a result of these actions, total tax revenues for this group were approximately $399 million, an increase of approximately $139 million compared to the same period last year.

In addition, tax authorities addressed violations involving 4,560 cases, resulting in back taxes and penalties of $11.88 million. On average, each case resulted in fines and back taxes of about $2,600.

Through data sharing activities with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the State Bank of Vietnam, GDT obtained data from 929 e-commerce websites, 130 organisations operating in the telecommunications, advertising and broadcasting sectors, and 144 million payment accounts (including 10 million organisational accounts and over 134 million individual accounts).

The tax office also recorded more than 663,000 connections to the Ministry of Public Security’s citizen database. It also shared information on 929 e-commerce platforms with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, cross-referencing 53,000 business operators across 383 platforms, including major players such as Shopee, Lazada, Sendo, Voso and Tiki.

In the first five months of the year, revenues managed by organizations and individuals engaged in e-commerce activities amounted to about $71 billion. Taxes paid amounted to about $2 billion, an increase of 23 percent compared to the average for the same period.

In Hanoi, the GDT said the match rate between citizenship information and tax codes exceeded 99.8 percent. The tax office identified hundreds of e-commerce platform owners and thousands of online business owners.

Tax revenue from Hanoi’s e-commerce sector alone exceeded $400 million in the first six months, with personal taxes, including those from live streaming, rising 79 percent.

In addition, GDT reported that the total amount of taxes declared and paid directly through the electronic information portal by foreign suppliers in the first half of the year amounted to USD 161.56 million, an increase of almost 19% compared to the same period in 2023.

This includes significant contributions from large tech companies such as Google ($41.16 million), Meta ($58.68 million), TikTok ($28.92 million) and Apple ($18.48 million).

In addition, 26 new overseas suppliers registered, filed returns and paid taxes in Vietnam through this channel in the first half of 2024, indicating a growing compliance trend among international e-commerce players.

Tax increases must be effective to support beverage groups The beverage production and trade sector makes a significant contribution to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and meets the needs of domestic and export consumption, ensuring market stability.