Official Letter 400/TCT-QLN 2025 Handling Late Payment of Value Added Tax Refunds

MINISTRY OF FINANCE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION __________ No. 400/TCT-QLN Regarding Handling Late Payment of VAT Refunds

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ______________________ Hanoi, January 23, 2025

 

 

To: Hanoi Tax Department

The General Department of Taxation has received Official Letter No. 54019/CTHN-QLN dated October 2, 2024, from the Hanoi Tax Department requesting opinions on handling the late payment incurred on the VAT refund recovery amount of Ngân Lực Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (hereinafter referred to as Ngân Lực Company). Regarding this matter, the General Department of Taxation provides the following opinions:

• Clause 1, Article 59 of the Tax Administration Law No. 38/2019/QH13 stipulates the handling of late payment of taxes as follows:

“1. The cases requiring late payment include:
a) Taxpayers who pay taxes after the prescribed deadline, the deadline for tax payment extension, the deadline specified in the tax authority’s notice, the deadline in the tax assessment decision or enforcement decision of the tax authority;
b) Taxpayers who supplement their tax declaration to increase the tax amount payable or when the tax authority or the competent state agency audits or inspects and discovers that the declared tax amount was insufficient, requiring late payment for the additional tax amount from the day following the last day of the original tax payment deadline or from the date of the expired customs declaration;
c) Taxpayers who supplement their tax declaration to reduce the tax amount refunded or when the tax authority or the competent state agency audits or inspects and finds that the refunded tax amount is less than the tax refund amount already paid, requiring late payment on the refunded tax amount to be recovered from the day the refund was received from the state budget;”

• Clause 3, Article 21 of Circular No. 80/2020/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance stipulates the handling of late tax payments as follows:

“3. Adjustment of late payment reduction
a) In cases where taxpayers supplement their tax declaration to reduce the payable tax obligation, they shall self-determine the reduced late payment amount in the supplementary tax declaration. The tax authority shall base on the taxpayer’s obligation management information to determine the adjusted late payment amount and notify the taxpayer using Form No. 03/TTN attached with Appendix I of this Circular.
b) In cases where the tax authority or competent state agencies detect a reduction in the payable tax amount through an audit or inspection, or the tax authority or competent state agency issues a decision or notice of a reduction in the payable tax amount, the tax authority shall adjust the reduced late payment amount accordingly and notify the taxpayer using Form No. 03/TTN attached with Appendix I of this Circular.”

According to the report from the Hanoi Tax Department and the attached documentation, the late payment amount (VND 5,704,487,217) that the Hanoi Tax Department requests to be handled for Ngân Lực Company arose from the VAT refund recovery amount as per Decision No. 41177/QĐ-CT-KTNB dated August 25, 2014, by the Hanoi Tax Department based on the Tax Inspection Conclusion No. 41176/KL-CT-KTNB.

In the Inspection Conclusion No. 2386/KL-TTCP dated September 16, 2016, the Government Inspectorate stated: The Hanoi Tax Department determined that the transaction between BIDV.UC and SUDICO lacked goods, and the VAT invoices issued by SUDICO were fraudulent. It annulled the handling decision No. 34842/QĐ-CT-TTr1 dated August 29, 2013, and recovered the VAT refund (VND 25.288 million) from BIDV.UC, which lacked legal basis. On December 12, 2016, the General Department of Taxation issued Official Letter No. 5746/TCT-TTr on implementing the recommendations of the Government Inspectorate regarding the Ngân Lực Company’s case, including a request for the Hanoi Tax Department to strictly follow the Inspectorate’s conclusions based on current regulations and the actual documentation at the enterprise.

Therefore, the General Department of Taxation requests the Hanoi Tax Department to implement the guidance provided in Official Letter No. 5746/TCT-TTr as mentioned above. After handling the VAT refund recovery decision, the Hanoi Tax Department should proceed with handling the late payment in accordance with regulations.

The General Department of Taxation provides this reply for the Hanoi Tax Department's information and implementation.

 

Recipients: As above; Deputy General Director Đặng Ngọc Minh (for reporting); Departments of PC, CS, KK, KTNB, TTKT – TCT; TCT Website; Archive: VT, QLN(2b).

On behalf of the GENERAL DIRECTOR OF TAXATION HEAD OF THE DEBT MANAGEMENT AND COLLECTION DEPARTMENT       Nguyen Thu Tra

See details here.