Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The fast-growing e-commerce sector is making bigmoney but its tax payments are not commensurate with its revenues, exposing theneed for a better tax policy to prevent losses, according to insiders.

Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Director of the Tax Administration Department for Small andMedium Enterprises, Business Households and Individuals, said the Ministry ofFinance has launched a digital tax portal for foreign service providers (FSP)and an eTax Mobile app for individuals to facilitate tax collection.

Thirty-six FSPs have registered and fulfilled their tax obligations via theportal so far, including six big names - Meta (Facebook), Google, Microsoft,TikTok, Netflix and Apple - which collectively account for 90% ofcross-border e-commerce in Vietnam.

The director also said the tax authorities have developed an AI-powereddatabase to manage tax risks in e-commerce. The database will give warningsignals any time it detects a case exceeding risk thresholds and put forward asolution to deal with the excessive risks.

"If tax evasion is detected, the tax authorities will take the case to thepolice," she added.

Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, Deputy Director of the Vietnam E-Commerce and DigitalEconomy Agency, noted that tax payments in e-commerce fall under the scope ofDecree 85, which has been issued to add regulations to online trade and ensuretraditional commerce and e-commerce be equally regulated.

Under the decree, e-commerce platforms are required to appoint a contact point,which is tasked with disclosing information to regulatory authorities one-commerce violations. Disclosure must be made within 24 hours from the receiptof the authorities' request to facilitate ensuing investigations.

They are also required to settle consumers' complaints about goods and servicesprovided by foreign sellers on those sellers' behalf and notify them of theirtax obligations on the platforms.

"E-commerce platforms are held responsible for information disclosure whenit comes to tax management," she said.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, Head of the Electronic Information Office, Authority ofBroadcasting and Electronic Information, revealed that her authority isdeveloping a draft amending Decree 72 on Internet services and onlineinformation.

Under the draft, social networking platforms are obliged to request onlineaccounts, community pages and content distribution channels operating on theplatforms to disclose information on revenue-generating activities toregulatory authorities.

She said the disclosure is essential as it allows the authorities to monitorcross-border cash flows, which could be used to verify tax declarations anddetect tax evasion.

She also said her authority and the General Department of Taxation arecooperating closely to monitor cross-border tax payments on the e-Tax portal.

"It will take from now until year-end to verify whether the firms havefulfilled their tax obligations," she said.

Hoang Van Cuong, Member of the National Assembly's Finance-Budget Committee,called for a broader legal scope for e-commerce taxation to prevent tax loss.

He took cryptocurrencies as an example. He said cash-flow-based taxation doesnot cover transactions made in cryptocurrencies since such currencies have notbeen legally recognised in Vietnam.

As cryptocurrency-denominated transactions generate revenues for taxpayers, thelack of recognition has held the transactions untaxable, causing tax loss.

Over 90% of internet users in Vietnam engage in online shopping. The country'se-commerce revenues were estimated at 13.7 billion USD in 2021, up 16%year-on-year and contributing to 6.5% of total retail revenues./.