Key Plastics Viet Nam Company Limited, a Japanese-funded company in Binh Duong Province. Japanese firms say they have had problems in using the new online tax payment system. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Chi Tuong

The commitment was made after many Japanese companies raised concerns about the new tax payment method.

Most of the companies said they were worried that they did not have enough time to apply the new method.

Tran Van Nam, chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said that a seminar on online tax payments would be organised from now to the end of July so that local officials could understand the difficulties that companies faced when using online tax payments.

Companies would also be guided on how to correctly pay taxes online.

Online tax payments are scheduled to be implemented nationwide in September.

According to Binh Duong's Tax Department, between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of companies in major cities like Ha Noi and HCM City are paying taxes online. The scale in Binh Duong, however, is only 15 per cent.

The province is ranked 57th out of 63 provinces and cities implementing online tax payments.

In addition to online tax payments, Japanese companies also raised concerns about the new Enterprise Law and other issues including customs, social insurance, labour, infrastructure and investment.

Most of their concerns would be resolved soon, the province's authorities said.

In an attempt to improve the local investment environment, Binh Duong Province holds regular meetings with companies.

In the first half of this year, the province attracted over US$1 billion, representing 101 per cent of the annual target.

Of the total, 102 projects are new and 66 projects have added capital.

Japan is the biggest foreign investor in the province with 231 projects, worth a total of $4.86 billion.

To attract more investment, the province has improved infrastructure and human resource training. — VNS