- Pay taxes at any location with an Internet connection.
- Pay taxes 24/7, including holidays.
- Can access the tax authority's electronic portal to view, print, and download notices and payment receipts.
- Use other value added services of commercial banks.
However, besides the achievements, the application of IT in supporting businesses in paying taxes still has limitations. Specifically:
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First of all , the information technology system has not kept up with the rapid pace of policy changes: due to the rapid process of supplementing, amending, updating, perfecting and applying new tax management operations, which requires the information technology system to be updated promptly in accordance with changes in policy. On the tax authority side, many units have not yet digitized data on tax policies, the number of business records, etc., leading to the promotion of declarations, although the number of businesses declaring has increased, but it is still slow.
Second , the quality of services for tax declaration and payment is still limited because businesses often have the habit of declaring and paying taxes online close to the deadline, so there is a risk of network congestion, affecting the implementation of the tax management system via the internet and there are many risks when the volume of businesses accessing is huge.
Third , the level of information technology and application of information technology in management work of tax officers is still low, tax officers are not proficient in information technology applications because the working environment does not encourage tax officers to use information technology services and they are afraid of changing working methods.
In developed countries, information technology is effectively applied, electronic tax services are organized and deployed accordingly.
for popular. Typically, in Korea, in 1971, the National Tax Data Processing Center was established and has been operating to date, significantly reducing the workload for tax officials as well as supporting and interacting with tax-paying businesses, reducing tax declaration and payment procedures and quickly resolving problems for businesses. Electronic tax services (e-Tax services) have been deployed and applied, including electronic tax declaration (e-Filing) and electronic tax payment (e-Payment) and the Korean National Tax Service has established a business dialogue forum on its "electronic information page" to promptly access suggestions and requests related to tax policies and regimes. The support of the Korean tax authority for taxpayers has also been expanded in the implementation of the Home Tax Service (HTS) in the form of electronic transactions through applications provided via the Internet, allowing taxpayers to use the service via the Internet, receive electronic signatures, declare and pay taxes electronically, receive telephone consultation from the center, and be provided with a complaint settlement system [24, p. 57].
Compared to having to go directly to tax offices to make tax declarations, electronic tax declarations and payments have become much simpler and more convenient. Electronic tax services allow taxpayers to work with tax offices from home or from their workplace, and pay taxes by electronic transfer without having to go to tax offices and banks to pay taxes. By applying modern information technology to tax management and supporting businesses in tax payment, the Korean tax industry has achieved the important goal of increasing the quality of tax agency services, increasing the level of satisfaction and trust of businesses in state management activities. The application of information technology to management to support businesses in paying taxes has brought benefits to businesses: reducing procedures and costs, adapting to the process of world economic integration, contributing to fundamental changes in tax declaration procedures, bringing great efficiency to both businesses and tax agencies.
2.2.3. Deadline for payment of value added tax
Article 49 of the Law on Tax Administration allows taxpayers to request an extension of tax payment in the following cases: "Suffering material damage, directly affecting production and business due to natural disasters, fires, unexpected accidents; Inability to pay taxes on time due to other special difficulties as prescribed by the Government" [28]. This provision is a measure to help businesses overcome difficult times and continue to develop production and business activities. In recent years, the Government has repeatedly issued regulations on tax payment extension to support businesses, stimulate production, and improve competitiveness, such as Decision No. 21/2011/QD-TTg, Decision No. 54/2011/QD-TTg, Circular Guiding the implementation of exemption, reduction, and extension of some state budget revenues according to Resolution No. 13/NQ-CP dated May 10, 2012 of the Government on some solutions to remove difficulties for production and business, support the market, and most recently Circular No. 16/2013/TT-BTC dated February 8, 2013 Guiding the implementation of extension, reduction of some state budget revenues, Resolution No. 02/NQ-CP dated January 7, 2013 of the Government on some solutions to remove difficulties for production and business, support the market, and resolve bad debts.
Circular 16/2013/TT-BTC stipulates a 6-month extension of the deadline for paying value added tax (VAT) for the VAT payable arising in January, February, and March 2013 (excluding VAT at the import stage) for enterprises that are paying VAT using the deduction method. Subjects eligible for the extension under Circular 16 include:
- Small and medium sized enterprises;
- Enterprises employing a lot of labor in the fields of production, processing, and manufacturing: agricultural products, forestry products, aquatic products, textiles, footwear, electronic components; construction of economic and social infrastructure works;
- Enterprises investing and trading (selling, leasing, leasing) houses and enterprises producing products: iron, steel, cement, bricks, tiles [25].
Regarding the extension period, the Circular clearly stipulates: Enterprises eligible for an extension of VAT payment must declare and submit VAT declarations for January, February and March 2013 as prescribed, but must not immediately pay the VAT payable arising on the declared VAT declarations.
Because VAT is an indirect tax, the tax is included in the selling price of goods and services, consumers are the taxable subjects when purchasing goods and services and producers and traders fulfill the obligation to declare and pay taxes on behalf of consumers when selling goods and services. The obligation to pay VAT is a mandatory obligation. Therefore, extending VAT payment brings benefits to all businesses that are allowed to extend VAT payment. If in the past, the solution to extend tax payment only applied to profitable businesses, now all businesses, regardless of profit or loss, are allowed to extend. This solution balances the benefits enjoyed by all businesses participating in production and business activities in the market. For businesses facing difficulties and unable to pay taxes on time, the solution to extend tax payment is a "rescue" solution because normally if a business is unable to pay taxes, or is overdue, the business will be fined for late payment, and if the business wants to pay taxes on time, it will have to borrow from the bank. At this time, difficulties are getting in the way of businesses, causing businesses to owe more debt. Therefore, if there is no solution to extend the deadline, many businesses will have to accept the penalty for late tax payment because the penalty for late tax payment is lower than borrowing from the bank (according to Clause 1, Article 106 of the Law on Tax Administration, amended and supplemented in 2012, the penalty for late payment is from 0.05% - 0.07% while the interest rate for bank loans is from 15% or more). Extending the deadline for VAT payment has helped businesses use tax money to create capital for production and business, reducing the cost of paying interest on bank loans accordingly, resulting in a corresponding decrease in product costs, a significant decrease in production and business costs, an increase in production and consumption activities, helping businesses improve their competitiveness.
Before amending and supplementing the Law on Tax Administration, Point c Clause 1 Article 24 Decree 106/2010/ND-CP dated October 28, 2010 amending Decree 85/2007/ND-CP dated May 25, 2007 had provisions for extension in case "Due to changes in State policies that directly affect production and business results".
of the taxpayer". However, when the Law on Tax Administration 2012 was issued, this case was not yet regulated in the Law on Tax Administration but was regulated in Decree 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013 and Circular 156/2013/TT-BTC stipulating cases where taxpayers are granted an extension when "taxpayers must stop operations due to relocation of production and business establishments at the request of competent state agencies, affecting production and business results" [8].
2.2.4. Business support mechanism
2.2.4.1. Propaganda and business support
Propaganda and support for taxpayers is an important content, a breakthrough in the entire roadmap for reform and modernization of the tax sector in the current period. This work is of particular importance, not only to raise the sense of responsibility and voluntary compliance with tax laws of taxpayers, contributing to the successful implementation of the sector's tasks, but also to create a close relationship between tax authorities and taxpayers. The close relationship between tax authorities and taxpayers has a positive meaning in promoting the effectiveness of the State's legal policies. In order for enterprises to comply with their tax obligations, they need to have a firm grasp of tax regulations. Through research and implementation of tax policies, enterprises can not only strictly implement tax policies, plan effective business directions, but also provide feedback on inappropriate information of the tax policy system for the State to improve and amend. Practice shows that most tax policy adjustments come from feedback from enterprises through the implementation process.
The task of tax support propaganda is undertaken by tax authorities. Tax administration agencies are both tax management subjects and public administrative service providers of tax authorities. However, unlike customers in the private sector, enterprises cannot choose service providers.
tax administration outside the State tax management agency. Therefore, business satisfaction is sometimes limited by the propaganda and support work of the tax agency. For example, in the past, businesses often did not have much sympathy for the tax agency and tax officials; from there, the fear of taxes, tax debts, tax evasion caused the state budget to lose revenue, the pressure of tax management, inspection and audit work weighed heavily on the tax agency. However, since switching to the "self-declaration and self-payment" mechanism, businesses have been proactive in declaring and paying taxes, so their level of understanding of taxes and awareness of tax laws have been improved. Therefore, with the self-declaration and self-payment mechanism, businesses need to fully understand tax regulations, policies and tax-related information, so the requirement to disseminate the law and answer questions of businesses to the tax agency is a top priority in raising businesses' awareness of compliance with VAT laws.
In our country, after the Tax sector transformed from a specialized management model to a management model mainly based on functions, combined with management based on objects, the propaganda and support apparatus for taxpayers was organized vertically and specialized from the central to local levels at 3 levels:
- Level 1: The General Department of Taxation has a Propaganda Department and a Taxpayer Support Department - since 2009, they have merged into the Taxpayer Support and Propaganda Department - responsible for planning and directing the implementation of propaganda and support work for the entire sector.
- Level 2: The Tax Department has a Propaganda and Taxpayer Support Department responsible for planning and implementing propaganda and taxpayer support work within the scope of the province or centrally-run city.
- Level 3: Tax Branches have a Propaganda and Taxpayer Support Team to carry out internal professional work and propaganda and support for taxpayers within the scope of the Branch's management.
The Tax sector has gradually built a team of civil servants with high professional qualifications, experience and skills in propaganda and support to meet the requirements.
Professional requirements for propaganda and support for taxpayers. Based on the new regulations of the Law on VAT, the Law on Tax Administration and guiding documents on reducing tax declaration and payment procedures and implementing electronic tax declaration and payment, the propaganda and support departments for taxpayers actively guide and answer questions from businesses during the implementation process. Tax authorities at all levels diversify the forms of propaganda and support for tax payment by: organizing propaganda and dissemination in a concentrated manner; organizing training sessions and dialogues with businesses; distributing documents guiding VAT implementation procedures; posting information at the tax authority's headquarters; answering questions directly or in writing or by phone.
In addition, tax authorities at all levels have been implementing and providing many services to support businesses such as: providing software to apply technology for tax declaration and online tax payment. Thanks to the promotion of information technology application in management stages, the quality of service for businesses is gradually increasing significantly. According to the report of the General Department of Taxation, by June 2013, the Tax sector had expanded tax declaration via the Internet in 50 provinces and cities with 265,114 businesses; of which, in the large business sector alone, 91% of businesses have implemented electronic tax declaration [16]. Since 2014, tax authorities have cooperated with commercial banks to pilot the implementation of allowing businesses to pay taxes electronically.
However, the activities of the department of propaganda and support for taxpayers have not yet met the requirements of taxpayers, and the level of satisfaction is still low. One of the reasons why the law has not yet entered life is that it gives too much power to the Executive Agency to interpret the law [17]. Consulting and support, responding to tax policy documents are still the nature of competent authorities performing on the basis of their functions, tasks and legal status, so it is inevitable that there is a lack of objectivity, voluntarism and not really standing on the side of enterprises. If the tax authority explains correctly, it is okay, but if