Uber withdraws lawsuit against HCMC tax man

A tax department official said Friday that the HCMC People’s Court has suspended the case in which the Netherlands-based Uber B.V. had sued the department over its demand that the firm pays over VND53 billion ($2.3 million) in back taxes and fines.

The official, who did not want to be named, told VnExpress that the suspension, which followed Uber withdrawing its lawsuit, was a positive development.

He expressed hope that this would allow the department and Uber to sit down and resolve the issue of back taxes and fines. In case this does not happen, the department would resume efforts to force Uber to pay its dues, the official added.

The department had previously attempted to collect the back taxes and fines by sending documents to local banks and asking them to deduct the dues from funds transferred to Uber’s bank account as a form of tax enforcement.

This attempt failed because the firm had not opened any account in the country.

In September last year, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department asked the Vietnamese branch of Uber International to pay VND66.68 billion ($2.91 million) in back taxes and fines for violating tax laws.

However, the company appealed the decision, telling the General Department of Taxation as well as the Ministry of Finance that it was not subject to pay taxes under Vietnam’s double taxation avoidance agreement with the Netherlands, where it is based.

Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc announced it had agreed to sell its Southeast Asian business to bigger regional rival Grab in March. The app company officially left Vietnam on April 8.