Viettel workers in Tanzania. — Photo VNA

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The telecommunications and information technology sectors have been the leading corporate taxpayers on a list of 1,000 leading corporations, accounting for 18 per cent of total tax payments this year.

According to the so-called V1000 profile, released yesterday by the Viet Nam Report Company (VNR) in co-operation with the General Department of Taxation, total corporate tax of the enterprises reached VND82.3 trillion (US$3.65 billion), posting an increase of 2.34 per cent from last year and accounting for 10 per cent of the total State budget.

Of these, the top 100 corporate taxpayers contributed VND50 trillion ($2.2 billion) to the State budget and accounted for more than 60 per cent of the total 1,000 businesses.

The financial sector took second place with 76 enterprises contributing 14 per cent to the total. The food, beverage and tobacco had the highest number in the list with 110 businesses. However, the sector's tax contribution to the V1000 was only 11 per cent of the total.

Top 10 corporate taxpayers in Viet Nam 1. Military Telecommunication Group (Viettel) 2. PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (PV Gas) 3. Viet Nam Mobile Telecom Services Company (VMS) 4. Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) 5. Viet Nam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietin Bank) 6. Honda Viet Nam Company 7. Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) 8. Samsung Electronics Viet Nam Co Ltd (SEV) 9. Unilever Viet Nam International Company Limited (Unilever) 10. Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank)

VNR said 229 State-owned enterprises contributed 45 per cent of the total tax payment, representing 21 per cent year-on-year decrease.

Notably, the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector had the highest number of 460 enterprises. However, the sector's contribution to the State budget was 37 per cent. Private companies made up 18 per cent of the total tax payers.

"The figures have shown a paradox as the FDI sector has accounted for a high portion of the economy, while the private sector has been considered the key economic component," the report said.

Ha Noi and HCM City continued to take the lead in the number of businesses on the list. HCM City had 338 firms while in Ha Noi had 226. However, the tax payment in Ha Noi was higher than HCM City with the rates of 37 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively.

Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces followed with 97 companies and 78 companies, respectively.

The report also revealed that businesses were not pleased with the tax system and urged further improvements.

According to the report, up to 61 per cent of businesses expected more changes in the current regulations. Businesses still faced difficulties in tax policies (33 per cent), complicated administrative procedures (13 per cent), investigation and check-ups process (12 per cent), and issues relating to online tax payment (11 per cent).

The report also conducted a survey on the sentiment of businesses on TPP's results. It showed that 49 per cent of the surveyed firms were excited to benefit from the agreement. However, 42 per cent of the businesses believed that they would not be affected from the TPP while 9 per cent had a negative view of the agreement. —VNS