Legal Status on Supervision and Ensuring Legal Compliance in Personal Income Tax Management

with each other; deduct from the tax payable of the next payment; request a refund when there is no more tax or fine debt ” [5].

However, the Law on Tax Administration does not provide comprehensive provisions on handling excess tax payments. If taxpayers have excess fines or late payment fees, how will they be handled? “ At the same time, the law on tax administration lacks provisions on the statute of limitations for handling excess tax, late payment fees, and fines, leading to certain difficulties in practical implementation and the rights of taxpayers will not be guaranteed ” [5].

2.1.2.5. Tax determination

Tax assessment " is the act of the tax authority determining the amount of tax payable and requiring the taxpayer to comply with the tax assessment decision of the tax authority in case the taxpayer does not declare or declares incompletely or dishonestly " [13, p.49].

Current tax administration law clearly stipulates: principles of tax determination; cases of tax determination; methods of determination; basis for tax determination; tax determination procedures and responsibilities of tax authorities and taxpayers in tax determination.

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The law on tax administration clearly stipulates the basis for tax determination as follows: tax authorities determine tax for taxpayers who have declared violations of tax laws based on one or more of the following bases: the tax authority's database of income from taxpayers in previous tax declaration periods, or from related organizations, individuals or other state management agencies; valid documents and results of inspections and audits, etc.

The tax authority shall notify the taxpayer in writing of the reason for tax determination, the basis for tax determination, the determined tax amount, etc. In case the tax amount determined by the tax authority is greater than the tax payable, the tax authority shall refund the excess amount and compensate for damages according to the complaint settlement decision of the competent state agency or the judgment or decision of the Court, etc. The taxpayer has the right to request the tax authority to explain or to complain or file a lawsuit regarding the tax determination.

With the above regulations, tax determination also gives rise to some limitations in practical implementation:

Tax administration law has not yet distinguished between cases of tax imposition due to tax law violations and cases of tax imposition not due to tax law violations, such as cases where taxpayers have submitted tax declarations to tax administration agencies but cannot calculate the amount of tax payable themselves, or cases of tax imposition for business households and business individuals paying taxes according to the lump-sum tax method. " In our opinion, tax imposition needs to distinguish between rights and responsibilities in tax imposition for two types of subjects who have violated tax law and subjects whose tax imposition is not due to tax law violations " [5].

2.1.2.6. Tax refund

Personal income tax refund is when individuals who are taxpayers are refunded the amount of tax paid in case the amount of tax paid is greater than the amount of tax payable or the individual has paid tax but has taxable income that is not yet at the level of tax payable and other cases as decided by the competent State agency. Personal income tax refund is only applicable to individuals who have registered for tax and have a tax code.

The law on tax administration grants taxpayers who comply with their tax registration obligations the right to enjoy tax incentives, specifically tax refund incentives. Accordingly, when a taxpayer falls into one of the cases eligible for a tax refund, they must prepare a tax refund dossier including the following documents:

- Tax refund request (according to form)

- Copy of ID card or passport

- Personal Income Tax Finalization Declaration

- Tax deduction certificate, personal income tax receipt

- Documents confirming the end of working time

- Authorization letter in case of authorization to declare tax refund

After completing all the necessary documents in the tax refund dossier, the taxpayer submits it to the competent tax authority. The tax authority's responsibility is to receive the dossier, then process the tax refund dossier, specifically classifying the tax refund dossier according to the following categories:

- Refund first, check later: is the file of a taxpayer with a history of good compliance with tax laws and transactions paid through banks according to the provisions of law.

- Check first, refund later: is the remaining documents not included in the above. Specifically regulated in the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration.

In particular, the pre-refund, post-inspection tax records are cases where the tax authority refunds the remaining tax to the taxpayer first, then the tax authority conducts an inspection and verification of the legality and accuracy of the documents in the taxpayer's tax refund records regarding the tax refund in accordance with the law. In these cases, the tax authority usually applies this provision to taxpayers who always comply with the law on tax obligations, based on the trust of the tax authority in the taxpayer. This provision ensures and respects the rights of taxpayers to the maximum extent, because of their good compliance with tax obligations, in this case the tax authority prioritizes them to receive the tax amount back as quickly as possible.

For files that are subject to pre-inspection and post-refund, taxpayers will have to wait for the tax refund file inspection procedure to be completed. If the tax refund file is valid and in accordance with the tax refund law, the taxpayer will receive a tax refund. In this case, the tax authority conducts a pre-inspection to ensure accuracy and minimize the handling of cases that are not eligible for a tax refund but are still eligible for a tax refund.

However, the provisions on tax refunds in tax administration law also have some limitations, specifically:

- If pre-refund and post-audit are convenient for taxpayers, pre-audit and post-refund causes many difficulties and inconveniences for both taxpayers and tax authorities. In reality, many individuals and individual business households face difficulties in capital for business activities because the tax refund application process is too slow due to the tax authority holding the tax refund application for too long and the prolonged examination of the application affects the taxpayer's rights.

as well as their business activities while the amount of tax they have paid is very large and they are stuck in the tax refund settlement procedure of the tax authority. This reality not only causes difficulties and disadvantages for taxpayers but also causes difficulties for the tax authority. Because, if they do not properly resolve their responsibilities and timely resolve tax refunds for taxpayers, the tax authority will have to bear a very heavy responsibility. Faced with the pressure to resolve tax refund dossiers within the prescribed time, tax officials have no choice but to ask taxpayers to supplement their dossiers, sometimes this paper, sometimes that paper to prolong the time. This way of doing things is quite brutal for taxpayers, but if the procedure is not followed correctly, tax officials must be held responsible. But if difficulties and taxpayers are miserable like this, causing them to stop doing business, then the question is, will the State continue to collect taxes to contribute to the State budget revenue? “ In addition, if the business activities of most enterprises are stagnant due to lack of capital and cannot promote production and business, it will affect not only the budget revenue but also the country's economy ” [33].

- Clause 17, Article 1 of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration stipulates that the tax refund dossier includes: a tax refund request; documents related to the tax refund request. This provision is not specific, and does not clearly state the types of documents. Even if there are a large number of tax payment documents, must the taxpayer submit all documents or only submit a list of tax payment documents?

In short, the law is one thing, but whether the law can be applied in practice is another matter. However, if these regulations cause difficulties and affect the rights of taxpayers, they need to be reconsidered.

2.1.2.7. Regarding tax exemption and tax reduction procedures

According to Article 63 of the Law on Tax Administration:

In case the taxpayer self-determines the amount of tax to be exempted or reduced, the submission and receipt of tax exemption or reduction dossiers shall be carried out simultaneously with the declaration, submission and receipt of tax declaration dossiers. Documents related to the determination of tax exemption or reduction are part of the tax declaration dossiers [29, Article 63].

With this regulation, tax exemption and reduction procedures are simplified, creating convenience for taxpayers.

Tax exemption and reduction cases must be decided by the tax authority. Article 4 and Article 5 of the Law on Personal Income Tax specifically stipulate cases of tax exemption and reduction. However, the time limit for processing tax exemption and reduction dossiers is 30 days from the date of receipt of complete dossiers. “ In case of needing to conduct an on-site inspection to have sufficient grounds for processing tax exemption and reduction dossiers, within 60 days from the date of receipt of complete dossiers, the tax authority shall be responsible for issuing a decision on tax exemption and reduction or notifying the taxpayer in writing of the reasons for not being eligible for tax exemption and reduction” [30, Article 19] . The time for processing tax exemption and reduction dossiers by the tax authority as stated above is a bit long, and the taxpayer's rights may be affected due to having to wait.

2.1.3. Current status of laws on monitoring and ensuring compliance with laws in personal income tax management

2.1.3.1. Taxpayer information management

Previously, information about taxpayers was poor and was only kept, managed and used within the scope of the tax administration agency directly dealing with taxpayers. “ The information about taxpayers that the tax authority has is individual, does not ensure accuracy, is incomplete, is not kept, managed and exploited systematically. Information about taxpayers serves very little for tax administration. The law has almost no regulations on this issue ” [4].

When switching to implementing tax management according to the self-declaration and self-payment mechanism , the issue of taxpayer information in tax management is identified as an issue of special importance. The Law on Tax Management devotes Chapter IX from Article 69 to Article 74 to regulate an important new content, which is information about taxpayers. In which, Clause 2, Article 69 clearly stipulates that "Information about taxpayers is the basis for implementing tax management, assessing the level of law compliance of taxpayers, preventing and detecting violations of tax laws" [29, Article 69].

The law on tax administration has clearly defined the responsibilities of entities in providing information about taxpayers to tax administration agencies. Providing information related to determining one's tax obligations is a responsibility and obligation.

Basic duties of taxpayers. Taxpayer information is information directly related to business activities and even confidential information that taxpayers do not want to disclose or make public, because it can affect their business activities. In addition, for tax authorities, this information is also extremely important for State management. Taxpayer information is identified as the basis and starting point for all tax management activities of tax authorities. The taxpayer database information system is exploited and used in most tax management operations such as: tax registration; tax declaration processing, tax accounting, tax refund; debt collection and tax enforcement management; tax inspection and audit; analysis and forecasting of State budget revenue; reporting information serving the direction and operation and building strategic plans of the tax sector; provide reporting information to the Ministry of Finance and relevant State agencies. From this information about taxpayers, the tax authority processes it through its own operations such as: analysis, comparison, comparison... to find violations, fraudulent acts, tax evasion of taxpayers, thereby assessing the level of compliance with the law of taxpayers, classifying taxpayers according to different levels to have appropriate tax management measures for each type of taxpayer.

In Vietnam today, the Law on Tax Administration has stipulated a number of contents on taxpayer information, specifically:

- Regarding the responsibilities of entities in providing information about taxpayers to tax authorities. For taxpayers, providing information related to determining tax obligations is a basic obligation of taxpayers [29, Article 71]. Article 71 of the Law on Tax Administration stipulates: Taxpayers must provide complete information in tax records; provide information related to determining tax obligations upon request of tax authorities. In addition, the Law on Tax Administration and detailed regulations also stipulate the responsibilities of relevant entities in providing information about taxpayers such as: income paying agencies; police agencies; inspection agencies, etc. The provisions of law have clearly specified the information that needs to be provided to

For each type of entity, the forms of information provision are prescribed (information provision in writing, by direct response or electronic data). At the same time, the tax administration law also stipulates a number of other rights and obligations of the entity providing information such as: organizations and individuals when providing information to the tax administration agency do not have to notify the taxpayer, unless otherwise provided by law; the third party responsible for providing information upon request shall be paid by the tax administration agency for travel and accommodation expenses according to the prescribed regime; ...

The regulation of the responsibility of providing information about taxpayers of relevant agencies, organizations and individuals comes from the theoretical basis that tax is a national asset used to meet the common interests of everyone, therefore the responsibility to participate in tax management is the responsibility of every organization and individual in society. Determining the responsibility of providing information about taxpayers of relevant State agencies, organizations and individuals is the manifestation and concretization of the responsibility to participate in tax management of these entities.

- Regarding the responsibility of tax authorities in building and managing the taxpayer information system. Based on the purpose of building a taxpayer information system to serve tax management, the Law on Tax Management has stipulated the responsibility of tax authorities in organizing the building, management and development of the database and technical infrastructure of the taxpayer information system; organizing specialized units to perform the tasks of collecting and processing information, managing the database and ensuring the maintenance and operation of the taxpayer information system, and applying necessary professional measures to collect and process information according to the objectives and requirements of tax management.

- Regarding the responsibility to keep taxpayer information confidential, according to the Law on Tax Administration, tax administration agencies, tax officials, and tax procedure service business organizations must keep taxpayer information confidential according to the provisions of law. Tax administration agencies are responsible for providing taxpayer information to investigation agencies, the Procuracy, the Court, inspection agencies, State audit agencies, and foreign tax administration agencies in accordance with the provisions of law and with the provisions of law.

international treaties on tax to which Vietnam is a member. In addition, the Law on Tax Administration also stipulates that tax administration agencies are allowed to publicize information on tax law violations by taxpayers on mass media in some cases. However, the law on information in tax administration still has some limitations that need to be further studied, developed, supplemented and perfected:

- Firstly , the concept of taxpayer information system in Clause 1, Article 69 of the Law on Tax Administration defines: " The taxpayer information system includes information and documents related to the taxpayer's tax obligations " [29, Article 69]. Thus, the Law on Tax Administration only provides a general definition, only limiting the scope of information about taxpayers without clarifying which information and documents are information and documents related to the taxpayer's tax obligations. This issue is quite important because it is related to the responsibility of the subjects to provide information.

- Second , regarding the responsibility of the tax administration agency, Clause 4, Article 70 of the Law on Tax Administration stipulates: " The Ministry of Finance shall specify the construction, collection, processing and management of the taxpayer information system " [29, Article 70]. However, currently these specific contents have not been regulated by the Ministry of Finance, while this is a rather complicated issue related to the construction and implementation of information technology applications in tax administration operations according to the processes and procedures in the tax sector and the coordination and exchange of information with relevant agencies and organizations.

- Third , regarding the confidentiality of taxpayer information, the new Tax Administration Law only stipulates: Entities that obtain information about taxpayers are responsible for keeping the information confidential according to the provisions of law. However, the current law does not have any specific provisions on this issue. Normally, taxpayers seem to be hesitant to provide confidential information even when requested by tax authorities, partly because they are afraid of revealing professional secrets, and partly because they do not feel certain that such information will not be abused, distorted, or affect their future development prospects. " From that psychological reality, taxpayers find every way to keep the information, while tax authorities find every way to exploit the information, even from unofficial sources. In that situation, what is the reliability of the information that tax authorities have? " [4].

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