What can be done to avoid suddenly finding yourself in tax debt?

Regarding this matter, the Tax authorities advise citizens to update their monitoring channels to stay informed and track their personal income tax settlement obligations.

According to the General Department of Taxation, Government Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020, provides detailed regulations on cases where resident individuals authorize their employers to settle their personal income tax.

The General Department of Taxation recommends that taxpayers install the eTax Mobile application to stay updated on their tax obligations.

Specifically: Individuals who have one source of income from an employment contract of 3 months or more at one unit and are actually working there at the time of personal income tax finalization; Individuals who have one source of income from an employment contract of 3 months or more and have incidental income from other sources averaging no more than 10 million VND per month during the year, and have already had personal income tax deducted at a rate of 10%, if the individual does not wish to finalize this incidental income.

Individuals who do not fall under the above-mentioned cases must directly settle their personal income tax with the tax authorities to determine their tax liability based on the settlement.

In cases where an individual authorizes someone else to settle their tax obligations improperly, the tax authorities will inspect and verify the information, require the individual to fulfill their obligations, and collect the outstanding taxes as prescribed.

The eTax Mobile app now has a "Tax Settlement Information Lookup" function to help individuals look up information about their income, such as: income sources from paying organizations during the year, the amount of personal income tax withheld, and deductions...

This information is compiled by the Tax authorities from data declared by organizations paying individuals' income to the Tax authorities and serves as a basis for individuals to understand and monitor their personal income tax settlement obligations.

In addition, the Tax Department has now implemented a system of sending notifications regarding personal income tax finalization obligations via email and the eTax Mobile application before the tax finalization deadline for individual taxpayers who have an electronic tax account and use the eTax Mobile application.

In addition, individual taxpayers with outstanding tax debts will receive tax debt notifications via the email address provided to the tax authorities and their registered electronic tax account.

Currently, the tax authorities are actively promoting the proactive installation and registration of the Etax Mobile application among taxpayers, encouraging them to provide their email addresses and promptly update the latest information to the tax authorities so that taxpayers can stay informed about their tax debt status.