Electronic retailer asked to pay $6.7 million in back taxes and fines

A decision to demand this payment was taken on Monday.

An investigation by the Department had shown that the Nguyen Kim administration had accounted parts of its employees’ rank-based remuneration and perks as overtime pay in order to avoid paying personal income tax on the amount.

This was an attempt to evade payment of taxes due under Vietnamese law, said Nguyen Nam Binh, Deputy Chief of the HCMC Department of Tax.

For example, someone who is a director of the company would have an actual salary of VND300 million per month, of which VND270 million would be title-based remuneration and other perks, like bonuses.

By accounting this as overtime pay, the company would only have to pay income taxes on VND30 million.

Of the VND147 billion that Nguyen Kim is now required to pay, VND104 billion is due as back taxes, and the remaining VND43 billion includes fines for tax evasion and delayed payments, the department said.

Nguyen Kim, founded in 2001, is currently one of Vietnam’s top electronic retailers, with 21 stores across the country. The last available sales figure for the company is $400 million in 2014.