To date, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation has yet to enforce tax payments from Uber B.V because the company has yet to open a bank account in Vietnam.   

Speaking at the regular monthly government press conference organised on February 2, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Thi Mai stated that the tax department faces difficulties in collecting tax arrears from Uber B.V.

Thus, the General Department of Taxation will review regulations and guide the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation on collecting Uber B.V’s tax arrears.

Previously, by the December 23 deadline, Uber only paid VND13.3 billion ($585,665) of the VND66.68 billion ($2.94 million) of tax arrears, thus the department decided to take enforcement measures.

Accordingly, after receiving approval from the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City, the city Department of Taxation requested five banks—Vietcombank, Eximbank, Sacombank, ACB, and VietinBank—to facilitate enforcement against Uber. Notably, the fares paid to Uber via bank account would be sent to the tax department’s account instead of being transferred to Uber International Holding B.V. The duration of the coercion would have lasted for ten days.

Uber B.V, after receiving the tax department’s decision to take measures to recover its tax arrears, officially took the department to court.

As a result, on December 29, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, after considering Uber’s petition, asked the tax department to suspend enforcement measures until the final judgment of the court.

However, just a few days later, the city court decided to suspend Uber’s lawsuit against the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation due to a lack of legal standing, while simultaneously allowing the tax department to continue to enforce payments from Uber.

VIR