The total number of accounts with sale activities via social networks and websites that the Hanoi and HCM City taxation agencies have shortlisted is 27,000. They have asked to pay tax on the profits the accounts’ owners make from their sales.

In principle, individuals who earn over VND100 million a year from sales activities via social networks and websites must pay tax, the General Taxation Department (GDT) has stated.

Checking transactions via bank accounts has been cited by taxation bodies as a measure to control the sales. However, analysts said that banks have to protect customers’ privacy.

GDT is considering collecting information about the income of online sale accounts via forwarding companies. 

However, this solution is not feasible, because providing information about clients will be rejected and will be difficult to verify. 

This is partially because online sellers hire deliverymen from different sources, including freelancers and Grab, and they don’t necessarily use forwarding companies’ services. 

One of the typical characteristics of online shops is that owners do not do business regularly. How can taxation bodies collect tax if the owners open for a period and then stop?

The solutions that taxation bodies plan to apply will only be effective for large-scale business households. Meanwhile, for petty merchants, it is as easy as ABC to evade tax.

The HCM City Taxation Agency has found 13,469 Facebook accounts with online sale activities and has asked the accounts’ owners to declare and pay tax. 

The Hanoi Taxation Agency has sent SMS to the owners of 13,422 Facebook accounts, instructing them to access the taxation agency’s website to declare tax.

However, lawyer Tran Xoa, director of Minh Dang Quang Law Firm, commented that tax officers are ‘embracing trees and waiting for rabbits to come’ as said by Vietnamese, i.e. they cannot do anything except wait for taxpayers to come.

Answering Tuoi Tre’s reporters about how to block Facebook accounts, a representative of GDT said GDT has had working sessions with mobile network operators and Facebook representatives on the issue. 

He said the operators and Facebook would help taxation bodies block accounts, affirming that the institutions are operating in Vietnam and they have to obey policies in Vietnam.

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M. Ha