Online sellers keep tax officers busy

Taxation bodies vow to collect tax from online sellers

LTNY in Hanoi, who sells food and sweets via Facebook, said she earns VND50 million a month on average. In mid-autumn festival season, she can earn up to VND400 million. However, the taxation agency has not sent her a notice of the tax she has to pay.

“This is maybe because the number of sold products was not too high and because buyers pay in cash, so taxation agencies cannot get information,” she said.

Meanwhile, the owner of a fanpage specializing in retailing children’s clothes, said she was asked by the Hanoi Tax Agency to make tax declarations online in mid-2017.

The woman was unhappy that she had to pay tax, while other online sellers have not done so.

According to Truong Thanh Duc from Basico Law Firm, it’s difficult for taxation agencies to track down transactions to collect tax. In most cases, buyers place orders via Facebook or telephone, and then make payment in cash on delivery. 

In other cases, the transactions do not succeed as the orders are canceled or customers refuse the products.

It’s also difficult to get information about selling prices of products. Sellers don’t quote the prices on Facebook, but tell customers to leave messages and contact addresses, so that they can give consultancy later. 

So, it’s impossible to know the revenue even though taxation agencies know the numbers of followers and likes of Facebook accounts’ owners.

A taxation officer said tens of letters and messages have been sent to online sellers.

Nguyen Huu Tuan from the E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency said management agencies try to control online sale activities based on the number of followers, likes and comments and orders shown on social network accounts. 

However, experts don’t think these are reliable figures for reference.

Lai Viet Anh, deputy director of the agency, commented that there is no instrument to record sales and revenue from online sale activities.

Only the transactions via e-commerce trading floors such as Lazada, Shopee and Sendo can be recorded based on successful orders. 

However, selling goods on trading floors is not the top choice of online traders. This is just one of the channels used to sell products.

Anh went on to say that it is necessary to check databases and develop modern technologies to collect information. 

If not, tax collections won’t bring high efficiency, even if taxation agencies repeatedly urge sellers to pay tax.