The inspection at Liên Minh Tiêu Dùng Việt Nam Company in northern Bắc Ninh Province revealed that the company also violated tax regulations in calculating personal income tax for their staff. — Photo vietnamnet.vn

HÀ NỘI — Multi-level marketing companies have been discovered indulging in tax fraud worth several billion Vietnamese dong and the sale of fake goods, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Competitive Management Department said.

After three months of investigations, the department yesterday officially announced the inspection results at four companies including Liên kết tri thức Company, Thăng Long Franchise Company, Liên minh tiêu dùng Việt Nam Company, and Liên kết Việt Nam Company.

The inspection team, managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and police forces, uncovered several tax violations at the companies.

The team found that the Thang Long Franchise Company allowed their distribution agencies to receiving benefits which were not stipulated under the promotion campaigns. This violated regulations of multi-level trading.

In addition, several distribution agencies which received commissions from the company had not been mentioned in the list submitted to the team.

“The company reported turnover lower than data from their agencies at VND34 billion. This indicates violation of tax laws,” the ministry said.

The inspection at Liên Minh Tiêu Dùng Việt Nam Company in northern Bắc Ninh Province revealed that the company also violated tax regulations in calculating personal income tax for their staff. They did not report turnover of some distributors into the company’s total incomes.

The ministry added that the company had committed violations by not reporting turnover, invoice usage and use of incorrect accounting documents.

It also revealed that there were some unclear regulations on turnover calculations, resulting in misunderstanding and wrong applications at companies. The inspection team suggested that management agencies should have made suitable adjustments to ensure united applications at multi-level marketing firms.

Selling unchecked products

The ministry also revealed that the Thang Long Franchise Company advertised two functional foods including Thymo-Zin and Thymo Plus which have not been approved by management agencies. In addition, the two products have some incorrect ingredients and functions which do not match the certification granted by the Ministry of Health.

Its other eight functional products have labels which differ from their certifications.

“These violated regulations on advertisement of functional foods,” the ministry said.

The same situation has been seen at the Liên minh tiêu dùng Việt Nam Company.

The ministry would provide the inspection results to relevant agencies for further investigations or punishment. The ministry asked the department to quickly resolve the violations relating to multi-level management.

However, the team has not conducted inspection results at three companies including Amway Việt Nam Company, Unicity Marketing Company and Thiên Ngọc Minh Uy which are considered big multi-level marketing firms in Viet Nam.

The ministry said they have received several complaints from participants at the Thiên Ngọc Minh Uy Company. They established a team to conduct inspections while resolving each complaint. The ministry would announce the results soon.

They also planned to conduct a check-up team at the Amway Viet Nam Company on July 18.

It added that the Unicity Marketing Việt Nam Company is no longer under the inspection list as the ministry imposed a fine of VND110 million on the company.

The formation of the inspection team is the latest move by authorities to manage pyramid-type businesses in Việt Nam after the Liên Kết Việt multi-level marketing firm was caught swindling about 60,000 people in more than 27 cities and provinces nationwide, appropriating a total of VNĐ1.9 trillion since 2014. – VNS