Day: June 22, 2021

The Vietnam e-Commerce Association (Vecom) said that a number of regulations in Circular 40 were not yet feasible, which could impact activities of hundreds of thousands of individuals doing business on e-commerce floors.

The association has just released a statement on new regulations related to e-commerce in Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC, which guides value added tax, personal income tax and tax administration for business households and individuals.

The circular was issued on June 1 and will take effect from August 1 to replace Circular 92/2015/TT-BTC.

The circular stipulated that commerce trading floors are responsible for declaring and paying tax on behalf of individuals doing business selling goods and services.

The amount of tax declared or paid is based on the tax rate of each field of business.

Circular 40 had many new contents compared to the draft first published March 12, but the drafting board had not yet collected comments from stakeholders and those directly impacted, Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Vecom vice chairman told a meeting last week.

Representatives of some units said that the e-commerce trading floor was not an “income payer” unit. They only provide technology infrastructures to connect sellers and buyers and help them make transactions.

Therefore, they are not subjects to declare and deduct income tax of sellers according to regulations.

In addition, business individuals would have to declare and pay tax at the tax office where their business located, while e-commerce platforms might have their business locations in other provinces, said e-commerce representatives.

Therefore, the declaration and submission on behalf of the company leads to conflicts with current regulations.

Vecom also said the expected roadmap to apply the requirements to the e-commerce floors on August 1 was too short to be able to prepare the system for data collection and report to meet the requirements of the tax authority.

Representatives of e-commerce floors expressed their hope that the tax authority would clarify specific requirements and application roadmap, and at the same time discuss with e-commerce floors to understand the difficulties encountered in reality.

On June 7, Vecom sent a document to the General Department of Taxation expressing concern about the feasibility and potential impacts of the regulation.

A Tiki representative told Viet Nam News they expected the tax authority to give detailed instructions to businesses on the plan to implement the circular, including steps to be taken, implementation time of each stage, and specific dispatches on calculation methods, tax and accounting declaration forms.

Secondly, the e-commerce platform realised that it would take more time to work internally, prepare systems, infrastructures, and equipment for data collection and reports following the request of the tax authority, as well as ensuring the security of the system.

In terms of operation, e-commerce floors also needed more time to work, guide and reach agreement with their brand partners and sellers to ensure close coordination, accurate implementation for circular issued by the Ministry of Finance./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Planning and Investment presented 3,000 white canes to the Vietnam center for rehabilitation training for the blind at a ceremony on June 22, as part of the ministry’s initiative on supporting blind and visually impaired people.

The canes are set to be delivered to the target beneficiaries this month.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc said she hopes the initiative will continue receiving support from the community in its journey to raise public awareness about three million blind and visually impaired people across the nation and to assist the group, leaving no one behind.

Initiated in December 2019, the project aims to offer 1 million white canes to blind and visually impaired people, facilitating their travel and daily activities.

Training on the usage of the cane and awareness-raising communications activities are also part of the project./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Agricultural specialties of some provinces are being sold on the e-commerce platform Sendo, marking the first time cooperatives and farmers have directly put their produce on sale in the digital environment.

The programme, co-organised by Sendo and the Vietnam E-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency (IDEA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), enables cooperatives and farmers in the provinces of Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Vinh Long, Dak Lak, and Son La to directly sell their products to consumers, without intermediaries, thus ensuring competitive prices and freshness.

The produce on sale are all in season such as plums of Son La, avocadoes of Dak Lak, lychees of Bac Giang and Hai Duong, and purple sweet potatoes of Vinh Long.

Joining in this programme from June 21 to 26, farmers will receive the Sendo staff’s guidance on how to package and introduce their products via livestreaming so that they can gradually use e-commerce as a long-term distribution channel.

Bui Huy Hoang, an IDEA official, said the agency is working with e-commerce platforms, including Sendo, to help boost the sale of Vietnam’s agricultural products, and the efforts will benefit more produce from across the country in the time ahead.

The MoIT will also keep coordinating with relevant ministries and sectors to organise other programmes supporting the sale and brand building for agricultural products, including those providing e-commerce training./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Public Security has issued a decision to prosecute and arrest Nguyen Duy Linh, former deputy head of the ministry’s General Department of Intelligence, for his involvement in the bribery of Phan Van Anh Vu.

Linh is accused of “taking bribes” under Article 354 of the Penal Code.

On June 15, the ministry’ Investigation Police Agency detained Linh and inspected his house based on evidence and documents collected.

On June 20, the agency completed the conclusion of an additional investigation into the case of “giving bribes” and “taking bribes” related to Vu.

Earlier on March 5, the agency launched legal proceedings into a case of “giving bribes” and “brokering bribery” in Hanoi and against Vu, a former real estate mogul, for “giving bribes”, under Article 364 of the 2015 Penal Code.

It also took legal action against Ho Huu Hoa (born in 1984 and residing in Quynh Luu district in central Nghe An province) on the charge of “brokering bribery” under Article 365.

Phan Van Anh Vu, aka Vu “nhom”, was born in 1975 and is the former Chairman of the Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC.

He is currently behind bars for his involvement in a number of cases, including those relating to DongA Bank, the disclosure of State secrets, and land-related violations in Da Nang city and HCM City./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi has expressed his sympathy for the hardships and obstacles Vietnamese journalists are facing when working in one of the COVID-19 hardest hit countries.

The ambassador said at a ceremony to mark the 96th anniversary of Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21, 1925-2021) that despite ongoing difficulties caused by the pandemic, many Vietnamese correspondents have exerted every effort to fulfill their assigned tasks, contributing to the successful organisation of many big and major events together with the Vietnamese representative agencies in Russia.

Correspondents of the Party’s key press agencies are always promptly reporting the political and socio-economic situation as well as the major international events in Russia, thus enhancing the image of Vietnam and Russia among readers and audiences of the two countries, he said.

The ambassador expressed his belief that in the coming time, Vietnamese press agencies in Russia will continue to innovate and improve the quality of their work, contributing to building a modern, professional, humane and effective Vietnamese press, and promoting the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Russia.

Speaking at the ceremony, representatives of the Vietnamese press agencies in Russia expressed their gratitude for the support from the embassy over the past time; and hoped for closer and more effective cooperation between them and the embassy in the coming time.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese press agencies in Russia received congratulatory letters from the Committee for Foreign Affairs of Saint Petersburg city, the Vietnamese Association in Russia and Vietnamese representative agencies in Russia./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam has developed a fairly comprehensive legal and policy framework on land governance, said an official of the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam.

Kate Rickersey, a representative from the WB in Vietnam, made the remark at an online workshop co-hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission and the WB in Vietnam on June 21.

As recent rapid urbanisation in Vietnam has resulted in remarkable changes in the pattern of land use and growth in the country, the country needs to define a land governance vision for the 2021-2045 period towards digitising land management services and ensuring rights for all land users, she noted.

According to Standing Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Cao Duc Phat, the workshop focused on reviewing achievements and pointing out shortcomings, as well as proposing new development directions to perfect mechanisms, policies and laws, towards removing obstacles to State management on land, contributing to the nation’s socio-political stability.

Delegates and experts said that in order to modernising its land management mechanism, Vietnam should make structural changes to strengthen its land management capacity in the direction of increasing efficiency and transparency./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Vietnam has presented 5,100 Dignity Kits to women and girls at risk of gender-based violence as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City.

UNFPA Representative for Vietnam Naomi Kitahara handed over the kits to Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Farmers Union (VFU) Central Committee Nguyen Xuan Dinh at a ceremony in Hanoi on June 22.

Dignity Kits are a signature product of UNFPA’s comprehensive package of humanitarian assistance, and the June 22’s delivery of the kits was made possible in partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Government of Australia and the Government of Japan. The aim is to safeguard sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, mitigate the risk of gender-based violence, and protect the dignity of women and girls adversely affected by a crisis.

Addressing the event, Dinh highly valued the support and coordination that the UNFPA has given to the VFU in the fields of population, productive health, gender equality, and the prevention of gender-based violation against women and girls.

Last year, when Vietnam suffered from impacts of both the COVID-19 pandemic and severe natural disasters, the country received great support from the UNFPA in Vietnam, KOICA and the governments of Japan and Australia, he said, adding that the VFU received and handed over 15,707 Dignity Kits to women and girls in affected localities.

He pledged that the union will deliver the 5,100 kits to women and girls in COVID-19 hit localities of Bac Giang (2,397 kits), Bac Ninh (1,438 kits), and HCM City (1,259 kits) as soon as possible.

He expressed hope to continue receiving support from KOICA and the Government of Japan in enhancing capacity for the union’s officials in supporting Vietnamese farmers to sell their products.

For her part, Naomi Kitahara said that since the 1990s, the UNFPA has provided the Dignity Kits to women and girls during humanitarian crisis across the world.

“We must ensure that all women and children in Vietnam, including those most vulnerable such as in COVID-19 context, live a life free of violence, and support for them should be prioritized as part of the COVID-19 response”, she said, adding that it is about making sure that everyone is part of the country’s sustainable development process, leaving no one behind./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The national population data centre and the system for making, granting, and managing citizen identity cards made debut on June 22, and they will officially come into operation on July 1.

A conference was held in Hanoi on June 22 to review the projects on the national population database and on the making, granting, and management of citizen ID cards.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Public Security, noted that the ministry was assigned to coordinate the implementation of these two projects, which have achieved four major results: basically completing the national population data centre, completing the granting of personal identification numbers for citizens nationwide, completing the design and production of chip-based ID cards, and successfully connecting the national population database with ministries, sectors, and localities on a trial basis.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh considered the official operation of the national population database and the citizen ID database a stride in the national governance reform to meet the regional and international integration demand.

It is an important event helping affirm the efforts to promote digital transformation in the country, he said.

The two projects’ outcomes will create optimal conditions for the provision of online public services and the reform of citizen management activities, thus helping with the crime fight and ensuring social order and safety, the Government leader added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency