HCM City at loss over Uber tax arrears

The department requested Uber to pay VND66.68bn (USD2.94 million) in tax arrears by December 23 last year, but the company only paid VND13.3bn (USD586,000). Uber filed a lawsuit against the HCM City tax department after the decision to forcibly collect the tax, saying that it had fulfilled its tax obligations under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement signed between Vietnam and the Netherlands.

Tran Ngoc Tam, head of the HCM City Department of Taxation, said the court had received this case but recovering the tax arrears would be unlikely. Even if the Department of Taxation won this case, it will still be difficult as Uber doesn’t have Vietnamese bank accounts or representative offices – Dtinews reports

Dang Duy Khanh from the General Department of Taxation said, “When Uber sold its business to Grab, it would have been different if it had been stated that Grab must pay taxes for Uber. We should review the Uber-Grab contracts.”

He went on to say that they should hold Grab responsible.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai also said that the buyer should take over the taxpaying responsibility in mergers and acquisition cases.

However, Grab announced that they are not involved in the case. Grab representative said, “This is Uber’s responsibility. Grab did not buy Uber’s legal status in Vietnam. We will not comment anymore on this problem. Any questions should be directed to Uber’s Director of Communications in the Asia Pacific.