The Ministry of Finance (MOF) plans to reduce the number of its nationwide tax offices from 548 to 257, under its new scheme to streamline the taxation, customs, and state treasury units.

The Ministry of Finance plans to cut hundreds of tax and customs offices. (Photo: thanhnien.vn) 

Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said that at present, each district has its own tax department, which has encumbered the tax authorities. Following the Party’s direction in reorganising the political apparatus in a streamlined, effective and efficient manner, the MOF will restructure its organisation.

The scheme has been approved, Minister Dung said, adding that over the next three years, the tax authorities will rearrange 548 tax departments in districts and towns to 257 subdivisions, reducing 291 in the process of establishing inter-district and inter-regional sub-departments.

He also revealed that in 2018, his ministry would dissolve 43 provincial treasury offices at district level to merge into the provincial treasuries.

Regarding the results of the reform and simplification of administrative procedures and reduction of business conditions, Minister Dung said that from 2011-2015, the ministry carried out a cut of 243 administrative procedures, while simplifying 962 others. Since 2016, the MOF has continued by cutting 174 additional procedures and simplifying 898 others.

Thanks to the above efforts in the tax and customs sectors, the State budget revenue in tax collection for 2017 reached more than VND1 quadrillion (equivalent to 105.2% of the estimate) and VND297 trillion in customs (5.04% increase compared to 2016).

The renovation of administrative procedures has contributed greatly to a more favourable environment for more than 560,000 enterprises across the country, he added.

"In the coming time, the MOF will cut about half of the remaining administrative procedures across the whole financial sector," Minister Dung affirmed.

Nhan Dan