The difference in gold prices is a "delicate prey" for speculation and tax evasion
On May 30, the State Bank announced a series of inspection conclusions for enterprises and banks trading in gold. The conclusion shows that many units violate regulations on invoices, documents, money laundering prevention, and even have signs of providing confusing information about businesses and products to attract customers - an behavior that can be considered unfair competition. In addition to common violations, each organization also commits its own violations with different levels of administrative penalties.
Regarding this issue, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu - Tax expert - commented that the gap between domestic and world gold prices has become a "delicate food" for speculative and smuggling activities.
According to him, this is not only an economic problem but also a major management loophole, creating conditions for fraudulent behavior to develop.
Such a large price difference brings terrible profits to businesses and individuals participating in speculation. A yellow tree weighs only 37.5 grams, compact, easy to hide in luggage or clothes, but if the price difference is 15-20 million VND, just a few trades can earn tens of millions of VND in profit.
Dr. Tu emphasized that the current tax system is creating loopholes for gold enterprises. Gold trading enterprises are currently self-declaring, paying taxes themselves and only subject to post-inspections, meaning that the tax authority only intervenes after they have fulfilled their declaration obligations.
However, this post-inspection is often not enough to deter, and it is also difficult for tax authorities to strictly control when the trading volume of gold on the market occurs at a high frequency, especially during periods of strong gold price fluctuations. This creates conditions for businesses to deliberately "circumvent" regulations, not issue full invoices or record incorrect transaction information to reduce the amount of tax payable" - he further explained.
He also pointed out another important factor contributing to the increase in gold speculation, which is the psychology of the Vietnamese people. Vietnamese people have long considered gold a safe investment channel, especially in the context of other channels such as stagnant real estate, fluctuating stocks, and savings interest rates no longer being attractive. As gold prices increase sharply, the demand for gold accumulation increases, putting pressure on supply and aggravating price differences.
Notably, currently, gold bar transactions in Vietnam are not subject to personal income tax (PIT) and value added tax (VNA), unlike investment channels such as securities (PIT 0.1% on transaction value) or real estate (PIT 2% on transfer price). This "tax exemption" is what encourages people to rush into gold, creating an increasingly widespread spiral of speculation" - Mr. Tu commented.
Dr. Tu warned that these violations do not stop at businesses but also cause serious consequences for the state budget.
"The profit from gold is currently very high, at times the difference between buying and selling is up to 3 million VND/tael per day. With a large transaction volume, the amount of profit that businesses and individuals earn can reach hundreds of billions of VND per year.
However, the tax declared from these activities did not increase accordingly, even tending to remain stable or decrease at some times. This clearly shows a serious budget loss, while resources that could have been used to invest in manufacturing, infrastructure, or other economic sectors are buried in gold an investment channel that does not directly promote economic growth he stressed.
Experts call for tax tightening and handling the root cause of the problem
As reported by Lao Dong Newspaper, SJC was fined VND 2.14 billion for lack of transparency in gold prices, showing signs of unfair competition. Eximbank was fined VND400 million for not invoicing 15% of gold bar sales. PNJ was fined VND1.34 billion for not fully reporting large-value transactions. Bao Tin Minh Chau was fined VND 2.64 billion for selling gold at a higher price than listed and violating e-commerce on the website btmc.vn.
All units violated regulations on money laundering prevention and control, did not issue complete internal regulations, did not report on large transactions, and did not train employees.
Regarding accounting regimes, SJC and BTMC accounted for incorrectly, Eximbank did not prepare a complete invoice, PNJ did not provide sufficient reporting data. Failure to fully declare customer information on List 01/TNDN of enterprises creates loopholes for tax evasion, even though this behavior is not directly considered tax evasion, unless the tax authority proves its intention to conceal revenue.
Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu called for strict implementation of leaders' instructions on gold market management, proposing to tighten gold transaction tax (1.5% on revenue) to reduce speculation and strictly handle tax evasion.
Writing an incorrect invoice or not issuing an invoice can be fined 1-3 times the amount of evasion tax, and even criminal liability can be prosecuted if the evasion is over 100 million VND, he emphasized.
In the published conclusion, the SBV requested businesses to stop violations, but according to Dr. Tu, it is necessary to fundamentally solve the problems of the gold market to stabilize the market and avoid budget losses.
