TikTok, Facebook, and other foreign service providers pay $575M in taxes

According to the General Department of Taxation, foreign service providers, including Google, Facebook, and TikTok, have paid VND14.572 trillion (US$575 million) in taxes.

Data from the General Department of Taxation indicates that currently, 94 foreign service providers are registered to pay taxes through the electronic portal, and the cumulative tax amount from March 2022—when the electronic portal for foreign providers became operational—totaled VND14.572 trillion, an increase of more than VND3.5 trillion compared to the end of last year.

The list of foreign service providers who have declared and paid taxes includes Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Netflix, and Apple.

Authorities are implementing a variety of short- and long-term strategies to enhance tax management for domestic and cross-border e-commerce. Furthermore, tax agencies are continuing to review, audit, inspect, and address violations that fail to comply with regulations.

The department said another approach is for tax agencies to work with various ministries and sectors to prevent tax revenue losses and ensure financial security.

Data released last week indicates that the tax sector now has access to bank data for 121 million personal accounts, approximately two-thirds of the 183 million personal payment accounts registered by the end of 2023, and over 9 million corporate accounts across 96 commercial banks.

Using this data, the tax authority will identify online businesses that have not declared and paid taxes for further action. Recently, many online sellers have been mandated to pay additional tax.

The tax authority plans to collaborate with the Ministry of Public Security to hasten the adoption of citizen identification documents as tax identification numbers, in accordance with the Tax Administration Law.

The agency is also exploring the use of electronic identification for organizations and individuals engaged in tax declaration and payment transactions, aimed at preventing tax evasion in e-commerce.

In 2023, the e-commerce channel paid VND97 trillion in taxes, marking a 14% increase from 2022.