Vietnam taxman collects big money from tech giants Facebook, Google, TikTok

Vietnam collected a total of VND5.8 trillion ($237 million) from 67 cross-border companies, including transnational tech giants such as Meta, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, via an electronic portal in the first nine months of this year, according to the General Department of Taxation (GDT).

In a bid to prevent tax losses from foreign operators of digital platforms, especially those without representative offices in Vietnam, the GDT launched the electronic portal (https://etaxvn.gdt.gov.vn) in March 2022, enabling them to declare and pay taxes.

The taxman collected VND3.48 trillion ($142 million) from some 30 foreign service providers last year, the general department added. The amount included VND1.63 trillion ($66.7 million) paid by partners in Vietnam on their behalf.

The GDT said it would continue to review and urge foreign providers to register and pay taxes via the portal.

As of September 19, 350 e-commerce operators provided information of over 191,000 institutional and individual traders that recorded sales of a combined VND44.5 trillion ($1.82 billion).

The GDT collected a total of VND1,050 trillion ($42.94 billion) in taxes in the nine months through September, meeting 76% of its full-year target but down 5% year-on-year.

Of the amount, collection of domestic taxes and fees was estimated at VND1,000 trillion ($40.9 billion), down 4% year-on-year. Tax revenue from crude oil was VND46 trillion ($1.88 billion), down 20% from a year earlier.