Ministry of Finance's quarterly press conference for Q1. — Photo congthuong.vn

HÀ NỘI — State budget revenue reached an estimated VNĐ491.5 trillion (over US$20.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year, equivalent to 30.3 per cent of the estimate, and up 1.3 per cent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) reported on Thursday.

Twenty-eight of the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide recorded State budget revenue hitting 28 per cent of their yearly estimates.

Twenty-three provinces and centrally-run cities saw higher revenues than in the same period of 2022, while 40 others reported lower revenues.

Meanwhile, the accumulated expenditure in the first quarter was equivalent to 17.5 per cent of the yearly estimate.

MoF said expenditures in the first three months of the year were carried out as planned, meeting requirements for socio-economic development, defence, security safeguarding, State management, debt repayment, and implementation of social security tasks.

The ministry said it has directed tax and customs offices to implement tax laws and State budget collection tasks this year; and fully perform solutions and policies on State budget collection to support businesses and people.

Apart from accelerating administrative reform and digitalisation, and taking drastic measures to help businesses promote production and business activities, tax and customs offices have actively performed inspections to prevent revenue losses.

They have also focused on collecting tax from e-commerce services, and from overseas suppliers without permanent establishments in Việt Nam.

Global minimum tax application under consideration

The General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance has said it will keep a close watch on the implementation of the global minimum tax in other countries, listen to opinions of firms impacted by the tax and study guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to propose its application in Việt Nam.

The application of the global minimum tax should not create adverse impacts on Việt Nam’s foreign investment attraction, and should ensure the country’s tax collection rights, said deputy head of the general department Đặng Ngọc Minh at the press conference.

The OECD’s Pillar Two establishes a global minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15 per cent for large multinational enterprises (MNEs), which has important implications for the use of tax incentives around the world.

In Việt Nam, a task force in charge of studying the global minimum tax and proposing relevant solutions was established in August last year with Deputy Prime Minister Lê Minh Khái as the head.

The Finance Ministry set up a working group in February this year, led by a deputy minister, to assist the task force.

The general department, which is assigned by the ministry to study and propose the implementation of the global minimum tax, held a meeting with businesses on March 28 to acquire opinions raised by enterprises that may be impacted by the tax, according to Minh.

At the press conference, the official also cleared up queries regarding the roll-out of the electronic invoice system and value-added tax refund.

Insurance through banks detected

Doãn Thanh Tuấn, deputy director of the Insurance Supervision and Management Department under the Ministry of Finance, said that the department has inspected insurance distribution through banks in four insurance enterprises last year.

The inspection process has been basically completed so far.

"Through the inspection, the department has discovered a number of certain violations related to this field. However, according to the regulations, when there is no inspection conclusion, the information has not been publicised. The department will soon complete and publicise the information on violations as well as suitable handling plan," said Tuấn.

The representative of the department encourages people who are deceived by banks and insurance sellers to file a denunciation and send it to the police agency to handle.

In order to rectify the above situation, the MoF representative said that the ministry would continue to co-ordinate with the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) to conduct inspection and examination for both insurance enterprises and banks distributing insurance products, avoiding the case of forcing customers to buy insurance.

Previously, MoF and SBV issued a joint circular to manage the distribution of insurance through banking channels from 2014.

The ministry also emphasised that, with the law on insurance business, the first important principle of insurance participation must be voluntary.

With agents, whether they are organisations or individuals, they must give honest advice on products that are suitable for customers' needs and financial capabilities.

Recently, the Insurance Supervision and Management Department has actively worked and closely co-ordinated with the inspection and supervision agencies of SBV to jointly perfect mechanisms and policies to ensure strict management of commercial banks and insurance companies in the sale of insurance products through banks. — VNS