Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Tax authorities will employ digitaltechnology to process tax returns, accelerating the delivery of refunds in thefourth quarter of 2023.

That remark was made by Mai Son, Deputy Director-General of theGeneral Department of Taxation, at a press conference by the Ministry ofFinance on October 5.

Son said the delivery of tax refunds was sluggish over the pastfew years because tax papers had been processed manually. But everything wouldchange in the fourth quarter as the department was working on a scheme to usecutting-edge technology to improve efficiency.

Regarding Samsung Electronics HCMC CE Complex, which claimed a taxrefund of over 500 billion VND (24 million USD) back to the days it hadn'ttransitioned to an export-processing enterprise, he said the claim was underreview and would be approved once the step is completed.

Regarding its other claim for a tax refund of over 400 billion VND (20 millionUSD), arising between June 2021 and December 2022, he said his department had sentthe case to the General Department of Customs for review because the case fallswithin the agency's competence.

Hoang Van Thu, Vice Chairman of the State Securities Commission ofVietnam, said it had never been an easy task to develop a legal framework forcryptocurrency in Vietnam because such a form of money is new and largely inthe crosshairs of cybercriminals.

He called for the formation of a working group to learn from othercountries' legislations and lay the legal groundwork for the"currency" in the country.

"We need to form an inter-ministry working group to studycryptocurrency and weigh up the possibility of developing a legal framework forit," said Thu.

Legally, it is invalid to trade cryptocurrency in Vietnam becausethe "currency" has not been recognised as an "asset" in thecountry.

Tran Thi Hue, Deputy Director of the Vietnam State Treasury, saidher agency was working on a scheme to upgrade its portal of public services in2024 and connect it to the portals of the Ministry of Planning and Investmentand other State agencies.

Once the connection takes shape, it would allow the sharing of digitaliseddossiers between ministries and discourage the use of paper-based dossiers,thereby accelerating the delivery of public investment.

Truong Ba Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of the TaxPolicies, Fees and Charges Supervisory Authority, said the new environmentalfees on emissions were not overlapping with other environmental fees becauseeach serves a different purpose.

According to the Ministry of Finance, fiscal revenues grossed 1.22 quadrillionVND (50.2 billion USD) in the first nine months of 2023, against fiscalexpenditures of 1.24 quadrillion VND (50.8 billion USD).

Imports and exports totalled 461.1 billion USD by mid-September,down 11.9% year-on-year. The falling import of dutiable goods has caused a lossof 34 trillion VND (1.4 billion USD) to the State budget.

About 243.4 trillion VND (10 billion USD) of public bonds wereissued by September 26 with an average term of 12.44 years and an annual couponrate of 3.38%. In the private sector, 51 enterprises issued 123 trillion VND (5billion USD) of corporate bonds by mid-September.

About 152.5 trillion VND (6.3 billion USD) has been allocated bylate September for fiscal efforts to support the economy, of which 49.6trillion VND goes to tax cuts and fee reductions and 102.9 trillion VND to taxand fee deadline extensions./.