At the tax sector's six-month review meeting on 10/7, Phan Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the Hanoi Tax Department, said the agency is using digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze big data collected from e-commerce platforms, banks, and social networks. This helps them identify cases of revenue generated from e-commerce businesses and guide individuals and businesses in fulfilling their tax obligations.

"Many households and individual business owners who are famous on social media, such as KOCs, KOSs, and KOLs, have proactively declared and paid over 40 billion VND to the state budget," he said.

Along with that, households and individual businesses have proactively paid about 1,020 billion VND in taxes through e-commerce portals, accounting for 55% of the national total.

"People are gradually becoming more aware of their responsibilities and the legal consequences of failing to comply with or deliberately evading tax payments," he said.

Phan Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the Hanoi Tax Department, speaking at the conference on 10/7. Photo: Tax Department

Phan Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the Hanoi Tax Department, speaking at the conference on 10/7. Photo: Tax Department

In reality, along with the development of e-commerce, social networks like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube have become vibrant business environments for millions of individuals and organizations, including many celebrities and social media influencers (KOLs).

According to the Hanoi Tax Department's leadership, tax violations are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect. For example, sellers use multiple accounts, divide their revenue into smaller amounts, use complex accounting systems, and operate with unclear distinctions between business models and individual business households. This is done to conceal revenue, evade taxes, and cause losses to the state budget.

In addition to providing guidance and publicity, the Hanoi Tax Department said that the management agency will "take decisive action against cases of intentional violations".

Since the beginning of the year, the agency has transferred several large-scale violation cases to the investigative police. Most recently, the Hanoi Tax Department cooperated with the city police to detect and handle three tax evasion cases.

Specifically, the case of TikToker Vu Nam Phuong (Vu Hong Phuc - Cun Bong) and the Hoa Ky Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company had large revenues, both online and in-store, but did not issue invoices or fully declare taxes. This caused a loss of more than 10 billion VND to the state budget.

Similarly, MI Hanoi Co., Ltd., directed by Doan Manh Hoa, sold goods on e-commerce platforms but did not declare nearly 33 billion VND, concealing it through personal accounts.

In another case, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (Hycloset) sold clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories from famous brands via Facebook. According to initial verification by the police, the revenue generated was over 834 billion VND from 2020 to the present, but the seller did not declare or pay taxes. The location of the livestream sales business, organized in an apartment, also made it difficult for the tax authorities to detect.

The Hanoi Tax Department leadership stated that doing business on digital platforms must come with tax responsibilities. Therefore, organizations, businesses, and individuals must comply with the law. This does not depend on whether the seller is famous, influential, or the scale of their business.

"Deliberate tax evasion will have serious legal consequences for the violating organizations and individuals, directly affecting the business environment and causing damage to the state budget," he added.

According to data from the General Department of Taxation (Ministry of Finance), organizations and individuals doing business on e-commerce platforms and online channels paid about 98,000 billion VND in taxes in the first six months of the year. This represents a 58% increase compared to the same period last year.

The country currently has about 725,000 organizations and individuals doing business on e-commerce platforms, with a total transaction value of over 75,000 billion VND, according to data from 439 platforms provided to the tax authorities. Tax revenue from this sector has continuously increased over the past three years. Specifically, revenue in 2024 was about 116,000 billion VND, a significant increase compared to the 83,000-97,000 billion VND of the two previous years.

Phuong Dung