Proposal: Temporary Travel Ban for Individuals with Overdue Tax Debts

The draft Decree detailing Clause 9, Article 6, which amends and supplements several articles of 07 laws, specifically addresses tax debt thresholds and debt periods for cases of temporary suspension of exit. The Decree is expected to take effect on January 1, 2025.

Specifical as follows:

Individuals or household business owners with overdue tax debt of at least VND 10 million ($400) for more than 120 days will face a travel ban.

Legal representative of businesses, cooperatives, or unions owing at least VND 100 million ($4000) under similar conditions will see barred from leaving Vietnam.

The tax authority will notify taxpayers of the temporary exit suspension measure electronically. If it cannot be sent electronically, a notice will be posted on the tax authority's information page. The Ministry of Finance is soliciting comments on this proposal, and the decree is expected to take effect on January 1, 2025.

An employee counts Vietnamese banknotes at a bank in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

According to the General Department of Taxation (Ministry of Finance), starting at the end of 2023, the tax sector will intensify the application of temporary exit suspension measures, particularly for cases involving the abandonment of the registered business address.

According to the General Departmenrt of Taxation, this year, over 6,500 individuals have been temporarily banned from leaving Vietnam due to tax arrears, threefold increase from the previous year. The department has collected VND 1.341 trillion from 2.116 individuals subject to the travel ban. With the new debt threshold, around 380,000 people face temporary travel restrictions for outstanding tax debts. - (VnExpress/synthetic)

by Quynh Tran