Of which, about 86% of the "pre-tax and post-examination" records have been processed by the tax authority quickly, with an average processing time of only 6 working days from the date of receiving complete records from the taxpayer.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, in 2024, the whole industry issued 19,806 tax refund decisions with a total amount of up to VND 156,941 billion, an increase of 5% over the same period last year. In the first 3 months of 2025 alone, the number of tax refund decisions reached 3,911, with a total amount of VND 31,128 billion, an increase of 6% over the same period in 2024.
However, according to taxpayers, in some localities, the progress of tax refund processing is still slow, not meeting the requirements according to regulations in a timely manner. Faced with this situation, the Tax Department has directed the Regional Tax Departments and affiliated units to synchronously deploy many solutions to improve the effectiveness of VAT refunds in the coming time.
The Tax Department requires the organization of a review of enterprises with export activities of goods, services and investment projects in the area. Tax officials need to proactively guide and support taxpayers from the stage of declaration and preparation of tax refund records in accordance with regulations to minimize difficulties and problems.
At the same time, functional departments are required to synthesize all outstanding VAT refund records, classifying them according to groups of subjects and items - especially the main export group such as textiles, footwear, wood and wood products, agricultural products, seafood, steel, electronic components... The monitoring of implementation progress will be organized weekly, striving to have no expired records by the end of May 2025, except for high-risk cases that are in the process of verification.
Taxpayers must have a history of good compliance, complete records and no signs of risk, and the tax refund must be made on time. In case of detecting signs of fraud, profiteering, buying and selling invoices... it is necessary to coordinate with competent authorities to check, verify, and at the same time notify the taxpayer in writing to coordinate in handling.
To promptly resolve difficulties, the Tax Department also requested the Tax branches to assign civil servants to directly support businesses and organize dialogues with associations and investors from April 15 to April 29, 2025. Issues beyond its authority must be compiled and reported promptly to the Tax Department for appropriate handling.
With drastic and synchronous solutions, the Tax sector hopes to continue creating a favorable and transparent environment for businesses and investors, contributing to promoting economic development.
