The State's budget revenue recorded at VND831.19 trillion (US$38.7 billion) as of December 22. — Photo tinnhanhdiaoc

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State's budget revenue surpassed its yearly target, recorded at VND831.19 trillion (US$38.7 billion) as of December 22, Deputy Finance Minister Tran Xuan Ha announced on Wednesday.

It was also disclosed that VND10 trillion ($476 million) in additional revenue will be carried over to 2015 to be allotted for the State's payroll, while the remainder will be used for debt payment.

The deputy minister noted during a conference held in Ha Noi that overspending this year has been kept within 5.3 per cent of the GDP, as set by the National Assembly.

Also, reforms in tax filing and customs formalities have helped businesses save time and costs, from 537 hours to 247 hours, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung revealed. The conference was held to review the State's 2014 financial budget activities and to set goals for 2015.

The minister attributed the low CPI growth of over 4 per cent to the close management of market prices, which aided inflation control.

He reported that as of November, 90 out of 108 State economic groups and corporations had their restructuring schemes approved. During this 11-month period, 115 State-owned enterprises were equitised, while 62 others were merged.

SOEs have withdrawn over VND2.4 trillion ($114 million) from non-core business activities, which is an increase of 2.5 times compared to the same period last year.

However, the pace of divestment and equitisation remains slow, Deputy Minister Ha acknowledged.

At the same time, Minister Dinh Tien Dung pointed out issues that led to losses in the state's revenues. These included violations in value-added tax refunds, smuggling, trade frauds and transfer pricing.

The amount of corporate tax debt currently stands at approximately VND71 trillion ($3.3 billion), which is higher than the 2013 figure. Since the beginning of this year, the financial sector has collected approximately VND30 trillion ($1.4 billion) in unpaid corporate tax debt and the customs sector collected more than VND1.7 trillion ($85 million).

The large amount of outstanding debt has been caused by the declining demand that resulted in large inventories, which pushed a number of firms into tax default.

The financial sector set a 2015 goal of collecting VND911.1 trillion ($43.3 billion) for the State's budget. Moreover, overspending will be set at 5 per cent of the GDP, as approved by the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, Minister Dung vowed to keep a close watch on the state's budget spending, market prices and public debts to eliminate liabilities. Further, he will aim to fine-tune policies in taxation, customs, budget and corporate financial management. Guidelines governing the securities market and accounting-audit services will be focused on, as well. These steps will be taken, in line with the economic restructuring.

He also requested that market prices during the Tet (Lunar New year) holiday be kept in check and ensure sufficient supplies of essentials. — VNS