Grab Vietnam claimed to have paid VND140 billion ($6.16 million) to Vietnam’s budget in the ten months of this year, which is far above the VND9.53 billion ($433,181) on the records of the General Department of Taxation, according to newswire Zingnews.

Grab co-founder Hooi Ling Tan claimed far higher tax payments than the company paid in reality (Source: Zing.vn)

On November 21, in the framework of his working visit to Vietnam, Hooi Ling Tan, co-founder of Grab, revealed that in the ten months of this year, Grab paid VND140 billion ($6.16 million) to the Vietnamese budget and emphasised that it complies with its tax obligations to support Vietnam to develop public infrastructure as well as public services.

However, Dang Duy Khanh, deputy director of the Inspection Division under the General Department of Taxation (GDT), said that in reality, Grab’s tax payments are far less than VND140 billion ($6.16 million) and that the figure mentioned by Tan was unfounded.

Earlier on October 27, the GDT revealed that both Grab and Uber operated with massive losses in Vietnam. In particular, despite being one of the biggest ride hailing service firms in Vietnam, Grab incurred an accumulated loss of VND938.26 billion ($42.65 million) in the 2014-2016 period.

An official of GDT's Inspection Division said that Grab collected a total revenue of VND1.75 trillion ($79.77 million) in the period and paid VND9.53 billion ($433,181) in taxes.

Previously, as requested by GDT, the Ho Chi Minh City tax agency inspected Grab’s payments between 2014 and 2016. Accordingly, Grab accumulated VND2.28 billion ($103,909) in tax arrears.

Furthermore, the Hanoi Taxi Association gave voice to suspicions that Grab might be involved in tax evasion after the company published a revenue of VND192 billion ($8.45 million) and a massive loss of VND443 billion ($19.49 million) in 2016. Grab has only paid VND5.8 billion ($255,270) in tax in 2016. However, a representative of Grab denied this information.

Grab started operations in Vietnam in February 2014 and has chartered capital of VND20 billion ($909,090).

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport revealed that by the end of September, there were 25,000 under nine-seat cars working in the ride hailing networks of Grab and Uber, more than double the total of traditional taxis that only reach 11,000 vehicles.

VIR