Millions of fake invoices from ghost businesses, tax industry calls 'too sophisticated'

Director General of the General Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh said that ghost businesses are very sophisticated nowadays, sometimes only existing for 1 month - Photo: TTD

Worried about "problematic" bills

At the dialogue conference between the General Department of Taxation and 300 southern enterprises today, September 27, Mr. Mai Son, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation, said that the current problem of ghost enterprises and invoice trading is too sophisticated, leading to huge risks for both enterprises and tax authorities.

"At the end of 2023, the People's Court of Phu Tho province sentenced 100 defendants in the case of a value-added invoice trading ring with a turnover of nearly VND 64,000 billion.

According to statistics from the General Department of Taxation, this trading line involves 637 businesses. From there, more than 1,052 million invoices were issued, for use by 88,053 businesses. Preliminary statistics show that VAT revenue deducted was 3,315 billion VND," Mr. Mai Son informed.

Notably, according to the General Department of Taxation, the above illegal sales invoices were mainly brought into Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department and relevant units continue to coordinate with competent authorities to handle the use of invoices to declare value added tax, account for expenses, or include them in tax refund dossiers.

Director General of the General Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh said that the situation of millions of fake invoices from ghost businesses creates concerns for businesses about the possibility of using invoices from illegal buyers and sellers in the previous stage.

"The stage where businesses buy is real, but the stage before that is not real. We aim for a clean invoice environment, so that when invoices reach businesses, they will no longer have to worry about them having "problems" or being excluded from expenses," he said.

According to Mr. Thanh, as soon as possible, the tax authority will create a technical environment so that fraudsters cannot issue invoices and have no place to act, thereby helping businesses control and "move towards a clean invoice environment".

"Most of you here have probably received many emails about selling invoices. When the situation of buying and selling invoices is still so rampant, how can the tax authorities feel secure? In other words, it is very risky for the tax authorities," General Director of the General Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh emphasized.

It is worth noting that the life cycle of ghost businesses is very short. In the past, ghost businesses could exist for years, but now they only exist for a month.

Just establishing, issuing invoices and then running away before the tax declaration period, leads to great risks for tax authorities and businesses because these fraudulent invoices go into the business.

"The tax authority is assigned by the State to manage taxes, so it must be careful. Because this invoice is also included in the tax refund file, it wants to appropriate the state budget. The tax industry really wants to avoid this, affecting both businesses and tax officials," said Mr. Thanh.

Hope to no longer have to organize "untangling" conferences

Enterprises talk with Director General of the General Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh (4th from left) - Photo: TTD

Mr. Thanh also expressed his wish that in the future, he would not have to organize conferences like this to solve problems, but rather conferences for businesses to give advice to the tax industry.

At that conference, businesses suggested that taxes should be done this way, policies should be this way. "Instead of us going around in circles, in uncertainty.

Tax authorities are also very worried when inspecting and auditing, not knowing whether the business is certain or not, and taxpayers also do not know whether the taxpayer is certain or not.

So how can businesses manage risks, and how can tax authorities manage their own risks?" Mr. Thanh said, emphasizing that both sides need to manage risks together.

Tax authorities hope that taxpayers will participate more actively in policy making. In the past, when the tax sector sought opinions on policy making, businesses were not enthusiastic. When implementation encountered many problems, they criticized that the policy makers were in… heaven.

He also noted that tax departments must step up propaganda work to support taxpayers, and policy advisory agencies also need to be more active.

"Obviously there are questions that are completely within the local authority, but it was not until today's General Department of Taxation dialogue conference that they were brought up.

Tax authorities should be more active, proactive, and friendly with people and businesses in performing public duties.

After this conference, similar outstanding issues in the localities that have been raised must be immediately resolved. Any issues that are clear must be resolved and the issue must not be allowed to fall silent again," Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ca-trieu-hoa-don-khong-tu-doanh-nghiep-ma-nganh-thue-keu-qua-tinh-vi-20240927174154177.htm