Struggling because of "disparate" documents and tax codes
In the process of converting from Identity Card (CMND) to Citizen Identification Card (CCCD), many individuals have the situation of having two tax codes (MST) in parallel.
Ms. P.T. K. Y shared about the difficult situation she is facing: "In 2023, I registered with the company using MST according to my ID card and received finalization documents. By 2024, I canceled the old MST to use only MST according to the CCCD. However, when carrying out tax refund procedures for 2023 in 2025, the tax authority refused because the MST on the document and the declared account MST were not consistent. The company also refused to reissue new documents.
This incident puts workers in a "stuck" situation: one side is the strict regulations of the tax authorities, the other side is the rigidity from the income-paying unit, leading to the risk of not being able to receive back the surpaid tax money.
The responsibility for adjustment belongs to the income-paying unit
Responding to this problem, Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department (Base 1 Tax) said that, based on the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14, each individual is only granted a single MST for lifelong use. When an individual has terminated the validity of the old MST, that code is no longer valid in economic transactions from the date the tax authority notifies.
In Ms. Y.'s case, the company's issuance of documents according to the MST that has been paid (or deviating from the operating MST of the taxpayer at the time of finalization) is not in accordance with regulations. The Tax authority affirmed that if the income-paying organization detects errors in the submitted tax declaration dossier, it has the right and responsibility to supplement it.
What do workers need to do to get tax refunds?
To thoroughly solve the problem and ensure the right to tax refund, the tax authority requests taxpayers to contact the income-paying organization directly (old or current company). This unit is obliged to reissue new PIT deduction vouchers, ensuring that personal PIT information is correct, complete and consistent with the actual operation of employees.
The company's refusal to provide support on the grounds of "already issued" is not consistent with the regulations on the responsibilities of taxpayers and paying organizations. People need to clearly understand the provisions of Article 47 of the Law on Tax Administration to require businesses to properly implement the process of supplementing and correcting documents, thereby serving as a basis for tax authorities to approve dossiers for refunding excess tax money.
