The Ho Chi Minh City Taxation Department has collected VND9.1bn (USD400,100) in tax arrears from a Facebook account that sells cosmetics online.

According to the department, they are collecting VND10.8bn of tax arrears from two online sellers, one of which had to pay up to VND9.1bn.

After receiving reports about a wrongful declaration, the local taxation department collected the information and data from the banks which showed the total income of one of the sellers was VND400bn more than they declared. The seller made the correct tax payment to avoid police prosecution.

The second seller had to pay VND1.7bn (USD74,700) in tax arrears.

The department had also previously collected VND8.7bn (USD382,500) of tax arrears from two online firms.

In June, HCM City Department of Taxation collected a list of 13,469 Facebook accounts which are doing online business which they believe liable for tax. While some people dodged the authorities, many have registered business licences. The authorities will work with all users on the list to understand more about the business operation and whether it will be permanent or not. Due to the huge number of Facebook accounts, the authorities will need time to check the information.

The Department of Taxation announced that they would go to the internet users' houses to apply fines if they avoid taxes.

They clarified the data with 3,776 individual and firms that have online businesses. However, most of the tax declarations are incomplete or obviously false.

Le Thi Thu Huong, vice head of HCM City Department of Taxation said even though it was difficult to collect taxes from online businesses and the initial results were not good enough, they hoped the situation will improve with help from agencies and banks to monitor incomes from online businesses and advertisements. 

 dtinews