Banking information of over 120 million individuals is stored by the tax industry

During a press conference on April 25, a representative of the General Department of Taxation revealed that the tax agency possesses information on over 121 million personal accounts and 9 million organizational accounts at 96 commercial banks. This data collection initiative was prompted by the Prime Minister’s request to enhance data sharing among ministries and branches to prevent tax losses.

The tax agency has made strides in data sharing with agencies like the police and banks, connecting electronically with the tax industry and supporting e-commerce channel management. Currently, the tax agency holds information on over 9 million organizational accounts and 121 million individual accounts at 96 commercial banks.

Individuals and organizations can choose to open multiple accounts at different banks for transactional convenience. By the end of 2023, Vietnam hosted nearly 183 million individual payment accounts, indicating that the tax agency is in possession of almost two-thirds of the total personal payment accounts at banks from the previous year.

The tax authority is provided with bank account data under Decree 126/2020 and the Law on Tax Administration 2019. This includes details such as account transactions, balances, and transaction data, which is supplied by the bank at the request of the tax authority head for tax obligations verification and payment processing.

By utilizing bank-provided data, the tax authority is able to identify individuals engaged in online businesses who have failed to declare and pay taxes. These efforts have led to significant tax collections from online sellers who were found to owe large sums of money.

In addition to bank account data, the tax industry also maintains information on 929 e-commerce service websites and 130 organizations operating in telecommunications, advertising, and broadcasting sectors. The Deputy Director General of the General Department of Taxation highlighted the challenges faced by the tax industry in managing and collecting taxes as e-commerce continues to grow.

In 2023, the tax management revenue through e-commerce channels amounted to 3.5 million billion VND, with taxes paid totaling 97,000 billion VND, reflecting a 14% increase compared to the previous year. The tax agency has been implementing various strategies to enhance tax management in the e-commerce sector to address these challenges effectively.