Hoa Sen Group was sanctioned for violation of tax regulations by the Tax Department of Binh Duong Province, with a total fine and tax arrears of more than VND2.8 billion (US$119,174), the company said on March 21.

In a decision dated March 13 sent to Hoa Sen Group, the Tax Department of Binh Duong Province said that the steel producer has misreported revenue, expenses and other incomes for 2020-2021, leading to underpayment of corporate income tax (CIT) and VAT of VND2.08 billion to the State budget.

Therefore, Hoa Sen Group is fined VND415.76 million for the violations. And besides the unpaid amount of CIT and VAT, the company also has to pay for the late payment VND317.6 million.

The final payment for fine and tax arrears is VND2.81 billion.

In a recent General Meeting of Shareholders 2022-2023, Le Phuoc Vu, chairman of the Board of Director of Hoa Sen Group, said that even though the steel industry struggled with declining demand, supply chain disruptions, and volatility of materials prices last year, the company still recorded a net revenue of VND49.7 trillion, exceeding the set plan.

He also expected that challenges will last in 2023 and even into 2024, due to higher interest rates in the domestic market, the prolonged war between Russia and Ukraine, and strong fluctuations of input materials prices.

Moreover, the US Federal Reserve just hiked its benchmark rates by 0.25 basis points.

In the first quarter of the financial year 2022/23, from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, Hoa Sen Group posted a revenue of over VND7.9 trillion, a decrease of 53.2 per cent year-on-year.

It experienced another loss of VND680.2 billion in profit after tax during the period after seeing a profit of VND638.3 billion in the same period of the previous year.

In the stock market, Hoa Sen Group is listed on the southern bourse - Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE). The steel producer's shares were traded at VND15,900 per share on Friday — VNS