Tax audit period can be up to 80 days, businesses speak out about their concerns

In the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended), the Ministry of Finance proposed to add regulations clarifying the form of tax inspection, including inspection at the tax authority's headquarters and at the taxpayer's headquarters.

Accordingly, inspections at taxpayers' headquarters will be carried out in high-risk cases, with signs of violations, according to plans, topics, at the request of competent authorities or when the enterprise changes its legal status, dissolves, goes bankrupt...

Inspections shall not be conducted more than once a year for planned, thematic, and recommendation inspections; the maximum duration is 20 days (with an extension of 20 days once). In case the enterprise has related-party transactions, the maximum duration of inspection shall be 40 days (if necessary, it may be extended once but not more than 40 working days).

Commenting on this provision of the draft law, the Military Industry - Telecommunications Group ( Viettel ) said that the tax inspection period is 40 working days, equivalent to about 15% of the total working time in a year; if including the extension, it becomes 80 days, or 30% of the working time in a year, which will greatly affect the production and business activities of enterprises.

Therefore, Viettel proposes to amend the content on inspection period to be more consistent with the provisions of Article 47 of the Law on Inspection.

Accordingly, tax inspection at the taxpayer's headquarters, the tax inspection period shall not exceed 20 working days from the date of announcement of the inspection decision; if necessary, it may be extended once but not more than 10 working days.

In case of tax audit for enterprises with related party transactions, Viettel proposes: For taxpayers whose parent company is or is the ultimate parent company of the group is a Vietnamese enterprise, the inspection period for related party transactions shall not exceed 25 working days. If necessary, it may be extended once but not more than 10 working days.

For taxpayers whose ultimate parent company of a group is a 100% foreign-owned enterprise in Vietnam; taxpayers whose ultimate parent company of a group is an enterprise abroad: The inspection period for related-party transactions shall not exceed 40 working days, and may be extended once if necessary, but not more than 25 working days.

In cases where it is necessary to collect and exchange information with foreign tax authorities, the tax audit period may be extended but not more than 2 years. The Government shall provide detailed regulations on tax audits for enterprises with related-party transactions.

According to Viettel, if inspection - a more complex and large-scale activity - is limited in time as in the Inspection Law, then inspection of related-party transactions should not exceed this framework.

However, the Ministry of Finance said Viettel's proposal is difficult to implement because in reality, checking transfer prices often encounters many difficulties and complications, and is prone to disputes and complaints due to its connection to international taxes and the protection of taxing rights of countries.

The subsidiary in Vietnam is under the control and authority of the parent company, so the issue is handled through inspection and examination, the subsidiary reports to the parent company for decision. In many cases, the inspection teams have to wait for the arrangement of a working schedule to directly discuss with the subsidiary in Vietnam and the parent company, so the time to conduct the inspection is often prolonged.

Therefore, to ensure that the inspection of enterprises with related transactions is effective and does not affect the production and business activities of enterprises, the draft law stipulates that the inspection time is longer than the normal inspection time.

PV (synthesis)

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/thoi-han-kiem-tra-thue-co-the-len-toi-80-ngay-doanh-nghiep-noi-thang-noi-lo-520296.html