Nguyen Nam Binh, deputy head of the HCM City Taxation Agency, confirmed that the agency has collected tax arrears of VND1.5 billion from an individual in HCM City who had income of VND19 billion from activities on YouTube over the last three years.

Binh said the HCM City taxation body is working with other individuals who have income from Google, YouTube and Facebook.

The news caught special attention from the YouTubers’ community, because paying tax on income from the internet remains unfamiliar to small YouTube channels. The owners of big YouTube channels, however, are aware of their duty to pay tax.

The tax rate that Vietnam levies on YouTubers is 7 percent, much lower than other countries.

“I have been observing the laws in paying tax because I want my business to run legally and sustainably,” said Quan Dung, a 5-year YouTuber.

“The tax rate of 7 percent in Vietnam is lower than in other countries,” he said.

According to Business Insider, the tax rate in the US can be up to 30 percent.

However, in the US, there are many different tax rates. If YouTubers spend money on equipment, travel, machines and office and do more than 40 percent of the content production work, they can enjoy tax deductions. In Vietnam, there is only a single tax rate of 7 percent on total income.

“The tax rate of 7 percent in Vietnam is relatively low, but taxation is not flexible,” said Nguyen Huu Nhat, owner of YouTube Wassup with 500,000 registrations.

He said some people make content with only mobile phones, but have very high income. Other people spend big money on equipment and professional actors, but have lower income.

Thus, it would be better to create a tax reduction framework, because this would be fair for content producers. According to Nhat, a network model would help control and monitor tax payments.

The Ministry of Information and Communication has found that video clips with bad content that seriously violate Vietnamese laws are among 130,000 channels directly managed by YouTube. This means that YouTube pays for ads directly to the content creators.

“The channels with dirty content, or the ones that evade tax, are mostly under Goole’s management. Coordination with a network model would help the government control taxes and content better,” he said.

Some YouTubers have asked for support from the State.

“YouTubers now have to pay tax. So, will YouTube content creation be considered a career? If the answer is yes, then YouTubers will need the support and encouragement from the State, like other enterprises which pay tax,” said Khiem Vu, the administrator of a YouTuber team.

Thanh Lich

HCM City YouTuber forced to pay VND1.5b in income tax

The HCMC Tax Department has ordered a YouTuber who earned VND19 billion in personal income from 2016 to 2018 via videos uploaded on YouTube to pay VND1.5 billion in back taxes, the local media reported.