Many business households recently reflected the situation that they have paid taxes through banks but the tax system still reports "not yet paid". The main errors come from transferring money to the changed Treasury account, mistaken budget sub-category or incorrect declaration of tax calculation period. These seemingly minor errors are causing business households to be charged late payment, put on tax debt and face the risk of strong coercion from 2026.
Transfers are still counted as tax arrears because of a misinformation
According to Decree 125/2020/ND-CP, amended by Decree 310/2025/ND-CP, all late tax declaration dossiers or late tax payments are penalized according to the time of violation. However, many business households fall into a situation of being fined even though they have paid money, just because of incorrect information transfer.
Some common errors include: Submitting to an old Treasury account, choosing the wrong sub-items between VAT - PIT - subject-matter fees - late payment money, declaring the wrong tax period or wrong code. The Treasury still receives money, but the payment is not properly regulated to the tax authority; eTax system accordingly records taxpayers as "not paying".
The system will automatically apply a late payment rate of 0.03% per day according to Article 59 of the Law on Tax Administration, causing the fine amount to increase rapidly if not detected in time. Many business households only realize the deviation when the electronic invoice is temporarily locked or when the tax authority announces the debt status.
Small mistakes when paying taxes, big risks when being fined
From July 1, 2026, the 2025 Law on Tax Administration takes effect, continuing to maintain and improve the coercive measures currently applied to cases of tax debt exceeding 90 days or non-compliance with sanctioning decisions. Coercive measures include:
- Extracting money or freezing bank accounts;
- Stop using electronic invoices or temporarily suspend invoice issuance;
- Deducting a portion of the income of business households with stable sources of income;
- Stop customs procedures for import and export goods;
- Revocation of business registration certificate in case of prolonged delay.
Business households are the biggest risk subjects. As long as electronic invoices are stopped for a day, sales, payment and import transactions can all be disrupted. For food service, retail and e-commerce businesses, this is a significant disruption.
Notably, even if tax debt arises from errors when transferring money, if taxpayers do not proactively notify and request adjustments, the coercion process is still fully activated according to regulations.
Small mistakes when paying taxes, big risks when being fined
Business households are advised to proactively check the latest State Treasury accounts by area, and at the same time carefully review sub-items, codes and tax calculation periods before making transfers. Storing complete tax payment documents is very important to serve comparison when errors arise. Taxpayers should also regularly check the status of obligations on the eTax system to promptly detect abnormalities.
If the tax debt display system is inaccurate, business households need to immediately contact the tax authority for guidance on adjustment, to avoid exceeding the 90-day mark, which may lead to the application of coercive measures.
In the context of tax management increasingly based on electronic data and automatic control between banks - Treasuries - tax authorities, incorrect accounts or incorrect sub-items are no longer minor technical errors. Just one error in the transfer operation can cause business households to be delayed in paying, stop using electronic invoices or face the risk of account freeze, directly affecting business operations.
