Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The State budget revenue in January – April was estimated tototal 491.38 trillion VND (21.05 billion USD), representing a drop of 5.9 percentagainst the same period last year, as the Government offered tax relief tosupport those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry ofFinance.

In April,domestic collection to the State budget decreased by nearly 25 percent overMarch to 72.5 trillion VND, equivalent to just 65 percent of the figure of thesame period last year.

The GeneralDepartment of Taxation asked local tax departments to hasten the effort ofimplementing the Government’s Decree No 41/2020/ND-CP dated April 8 aboutextension of deadlines for tax and land use fee payments.

Statisticsshowed that the General Department of Taxation has received more than 90,000applications for postponement of tax and land use fee payments, worth totally 26.2trillion VND.

State budgetrevenue from crude oil in April was estimated at 2.5 trillion VND, 2.9 trillionVND lower than March as crude oil prices plunged.

In thefour-month period, collection from crude oil totalled 18.3 trillion VND, or52.1 percent of the plan and up 0.9 percent over the same period last year.Crude oil prices averaged 58 USD per barrel in January – April, 2 USD lowerthan the price estimated in the State budget collection plan.

Revenue fromimports and exports in April was estimated at 13.9 trillion VND, 5.8 trillionVND lower than the previous month. The total in the four-month period was 63.9trillion VND, a fall of 19 percent against the same period last year, due tothe impact of the virus which caused trade to collapse.

According tothe ministry, the State budget revenue this year might see a drop of 150trillion VND due to the impact of the virus, or even bigger if the country’sgross domestic product growth rate was below 5 percent as perthe forecasts of some international organisations.

The drop inrevenue would mainly be attributed to the fallout of sectors heavilyaffected by COVID-19, like services, tourism, trade and logistics.

The ministryestimated that budget deficit might widen by 1.5-1.6 percent of GDP to 5-5.1 percentGDP this year.

Dang NgocMinh, Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation, said that focuswould be placed on hastening reforms to create favourable conditions fortaxpayers and improve the business climate which would promote production andbusiness.

Inspectionwould be enhanced to prevent tax evasion, Minh said. In addition, themanagement on e-commerce would be improved to increase tax collection./.