In an attempt to exert more control over local netizens’ online shopping activities, Vietnamese authorities recently suggested taxing online shops that sell products via Facebook.
According to Tuoi Tre, at a meeting between municipal officials and relevant departments last Sunday, Director Pham Thanh Kien of the city's Department of Industry and Trade said that Saigon’s online business environment has flourished over the last few years.
“There are now 80,000 e-commerce websites registered in the city, half of which run stable operations,” Kien said, according to the news outlet.
He then added that the government should start taxing vendors operating on Facebook and other social media platforms. In recent years, Facebook has become one of the most popular media channels for local businesses to advertise and sell their products in Vietnam, making it harder for local authorities to monitor their activities and collect tax on these sales.
“I suggest that the municipal administration work with Facebook to have their support in monitoring the revenue from sales conducted via the social network,” he told the audience at the meeting.
Others at the meeting also expressed concern over Vietnam’s online traders, citing local payment methods as a challenge when it comes to levying taxes. Tran Ngoc Tam, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation, shared that Vietnamese netizens might contact vendors online to purchase goods but will opt to pay cash on delivery.
Tam added: “This makes it difficult for tax agencies to know the exact revenue of the online traders, even when they have all papers and receipts for those transactions.”
Last year, a report by the Wall Street Journal pointed out that in Southeast Asia, social networks are gradually taking over other online platforms as shoppers’ favorite way to purchase goods.
[Photo via Tech News Today]
