HCM City looks to tax Facebook business
The HCM City Department of Taxation is seeking ways to get information of business activities carried out online, including via Facebook, in order to collect taxes.
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A representative from Phu Nhuan District’s Taxation Department said that it had received a list of individuals and organisations which have sales websites and Facebook accounts provided by the municipal Department of Information and Communications.
The division however needed more time to check the information on every case to clarify the tax payment status of the individuals. After that, the division will work with website and Facebook account owners on tax payment.
Le Thi Thu Huong, deputy head of the HCM City Taxation Department, said that around 13,000 Facebook accounts in HCM City have online sales. A number of those have been licensed and paid taxes, while the remainder had not.
Many experts supported the tax collection for online business, including via Facebook, to ensure the equality among different forms of business. However, it was important for authorities to manage revenues via online channels. E-commerce sales are carried out offline, so it is impossible for authorities to manage their real revenues.
According to Huong, the tax collection will firstly focus on online business activities which operate frequently and those with big revenues.
Pham Thanh Kien, director of HCM City Department of Trade, suggested that the HCM City People’s Committee worked directly with Facebook to manage the source of revenue.
The HCM City Taxation Department should also co-operated with commercial banks to check accounts of organisations and individuals who are doing business on Facebook, because Facebook traders have to register bank accounts for transactions.
Economist Nguyen Tri Hieu said that transactions on the internet were difficult to control and collecting taxes should be done step by step.