Livestream sellers must pay tax: deputy finance minister

As an economic activity that can generate large incomes, selling through livestreams, like all trading on e-commerce platforms, should be subject to tax laws, he said at a government press conference Saturday.

Selling goods through livestreams, especially on e-commerce platforms, is growing increasingly popular and has the potential to account for 20% of e-commerce sales by early 2026, according to a forecast by consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

At the conference the finance ministry pointed out that businesses on e-commerce platforms are becoming more diverse.

To strengthen tax collection, authorities have proposed several measures like amending regulations to require e-commerce companies to declare and pay taxes on behalf of individual sellers on their platforms.

This could reduce the complexity of tax declaration and lower administrative costs, the ministry said.

E-commerce platforms have all the information about their sellers’ customers, transactions, revenues, and expenses, it said.

"The General Department of Taxation will continue to study this solution to ensure its feasibility, effectiveness and alignment with international practices."

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc had said in the National Assembly on May 23 that collecting taxes from e-commerce platforms and online businesses operating is his ministry’s main focus this year.

It has taken steps to collaborate with the police and banks to better manage e-commerce platforms and transactions, he said.

He suggested that the State Bank of Vietnam should promote cashless payments to help keep tabs on e-commerce revenues.

Last year taxable income generated by the e-commerce sector amounted to VND3.5 quadrillion (US$137.7 billion), which translated to taxes of VND9.7 trillion, up 14% from 2022.