Uber files lawsuit against HCMC’s $2.3 mln tax demand

Ho Chi Minh City was ready to collect a million-dollar sum for what it believes is tax evasion from Uber, but the ride-hailing company has asked the court to suspend the action.

A source from HCMC’s Tax Department said it had received an emergency notice from the city’s court on Friday that the collection of money be put on hold.

“We have to wait for the final verdict from the court to see if we can collect the money or not,” the official said.

The department earlier asked five commercial banks to help collect more than VND53 billion ($2.34 million) of what it believed was back taxes from Uber between January 1 and 10.

In September, the department ordered Uber to pay VND66.7 billion of back taxes and tax evasion penalties by December 23. But the company has only paid VND13.3 billion. It has complained to Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance that it is not subject to paying taxes according to Vietnam’s agreement on double taxation avoidance with the Netherlands, where it is based.

Uber International Services Holding B.V. has been repeatedly accused of tax evasion since bringing its ride-hailing business to Vietnam in mid-2014.

Vietnam’s finance ministry said the company has to pay taxes for the income it generates in Vietnam.

Traditional taxi companies in Vietnam have used the tax issues to accuse Uber and Grab for putting up unhealthy competition.