Tax department, IFC to jointly improve tax procedures for SMEs

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam 's General Taxation Department and the
International Financial Corporation (IFC) will cooperate to streamline tax procedures for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

With IFC assistance, the General Taxation Department will conduct surveys to appraise SMEs' spendings on taxes, analyse causes to SMEs' unnecessary tax procedures, and study international norms and good practices, and the world's experiences in the field.

The endeavours, planned to be carried out from July 2008 through December 2010, will help the General Taxation Department propose changes related to tax procedures and outline management measures appropriate to Vietnam 's SMEs.

At a seminar on streamlining tax procedures for SMEs in Vietnam held in Hanoi on July 17, Le Hong Hai, Vice Chief of the General Taxation Department reported that the country boasts around 180,000 private SMEs and about 3 million household-based businesses.

Field studies show that SMEs of the private sector spend more time and money on processing tax procedures than large-scale enterprises do and their contributions to the State budget are low.

To deal with the matter, the General Taxation Department has developed a plan to reform tax administrative procedures, focusing on businesses of the private economic sector.-Enditem