Suddenly owing personal income tax, what should people do?
When going to the tax office to pay personal income tax, a resident in Hue suddenly received a notice that she owed more than 1.4 million VND in tax. Ms. D.N.B.C. (residing in Thuy Xuan ward, Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province) said she was surprised to discover that her personal tax code was illegally used by a travel company, causing her to owe tax.
1. Unable to make tax settlement because of sudden tax debt
Accordingly, Ms. C. recently went to the Hue City Tax Department to settle personal income tax for 2023. After submitting all the necessary documents, Ms. C. was surprised when the tax office informed her that she owed tax from many years ago, so she could not make a tax settlement and asked Ms. C. to pay the remaining tax debt.
After that, the tax officer instructed her to install the eTax Mobile application to look up taxes on her phone, only to discover that her tax code had been illegally used by a travel company in Hue City to pay hundreds of millions of VND from 2017 to present.
Ms. C. immediately went to the company’s headquarters to request an explanation. However, after checking, the company only replied that there was an error and “if it is wrong, fix it”.
“The tax notification system still reports that I owe more than 1.4 million VND from the above company. This tax debt affects my life, first I cannot settle the tax amount deducted from 2023 and then I cannot get a passport to go abroad. My plan to travel this summer vacation had to be abandoned”, Ms. C. said indignantly.
Why Do I Owe Taxes This Year?
2. What should people do if they suddenly owe taxes?
Ms. C. immediately filed a complaint with the Thua Thien Hue Tax Department, affirming that from 2017 to present, she has not received any income from the above mentioned travel company.
Immediately after that, the tax lookup system removed all information related to the above mentioned company paying Ms. C. a salary from 2018 to present. However, in 2017, the system still showed that Ms. C. received income from the above mentioned company.
“What I am very upset about is that after receiving the complaint, the above mentioned company has not sent me any satisfactory apology, even though they have illegally used my personal tax code for more than eight years,” Ms. C. said.
A representative of the Thua Thien Hue Tax Department said that they had received Ms. C’s complaint. According to this representative, legally, according to the provisions of Clause 5, Article 143 of the Law on Tax Administration, the act of using documents and vouchers that do not accurately reflect the nature of the transaction or the actual transaction value, and incorrectly determining the amount of tax payable will be an act of tax evasion.
“When the tax authority discovers the incorrect use of the tax code, it will accurately determine whether the violation is a false declaration due to mistake or a deliberate false declaration in order to impose a penalty,” said a representative of the Thua Thien Hue Tax Department.
What To Do If You Owe Taxes
3. Suddenly owing personal income tax, what should people do?
Lawyer Le Cao (Da Nang City Bar Association) said that according to the law, personal information such as tax codes is information protected by law. According to Clause 5, Article 7 of the 2015 Law on Network Information Security, illegally collecting, using, disseminating, and trading other people’s personal information; taking advantage of loopholes and weaknesses of the information system to collect and exploit personal information is an illegal act.
For citizens, when discovering that their tax codes have been violated or used illegally, they need to notify the tax authorities that they do not have any income related to the illegally used tax code information. At the same time, they can notify the competent authorities to investigate and handle individuals and businesses that have illegally used their tax codes.
According to the General Department of Taxation, individuals with two or more sources of income must self-settle their taxes annually. Currently, the tax sector supports taxpayers to look up personal income tax via the Etax Mobile application.
Mr. Nguyen Quy Trung, Deputy Director of the Department of Tax Management for Small and Medium Enterprises and Business Households and Individuals, General Department of Taxation, said: “The Etax Mobile system currently meets the requirements for looking up personal tax liability information. We recommend that taxpayers regularly monitor and update personal information on this application, such as new addresses and workplaces.”
From the above article, we have somewhat understood what people should do when receiving notification of suddenly owing personal income tax. In addition, to help monitor and manage accounting jobs and taxes quickly and accurately, S4B Vietnam pioneered accounting and tax outsourcing services in Vietnam.
S4B Vietnam
- Address: Unit 602A, Tower A, Handi Resco Office Building. 521 Kim Ma Street, BaDinh District, Hanoi
- Tel: + 84 24 3974 4181
- Email: service@s4b.com.vn
——————————————–
We Will Show You The Way To Success!