Who is responsible for tax evasion in enterprises?

Tax invasion is an act that has great effects on state economic management, so all the individuals and organizations having tax invasion shall be dealt with in accordance with legal provisions. So, who is responsible for tax evasion in enterprises?

1. Who is responsible for tax evasion in enterprises?

In accordance with the provision prescribed at Clause 1, Article 12 of the Enterprise Law 2020. At-law representative of an enterprise means an individual who represents an enterprise to exercise the rights and perform the obligations arising from its transactions

At the same time, represents the enterprise in the capacity as a requester for settlement of civil cases, plaintiff, respondent or person with related interests or obligations before arbitration or court, and has other rights and obligations.

Or in other ways, the Article 3 of this Law prescribes that the at-law representative of an enterprise has the following responsibilities:

- To exercise vested rights and perform assigned obligations in an honest, prudent and best manner in order to protect the lawful interests of the enterprise;
- To be loyal to the interests of the enterprise; neither to abuse his/her title or position nor to use business information, know-hows or opportunities or other assets of the enterprise for personal gain or for the interests of other organizations or individuals;

- To notify the enterprise in a timely, complete and accurate manner of other enterprises which he/she or his/her related party owns or in which he/she or his/her related party has shares or contributed capital amounts.

Besides, the at-law representative of an enterprise shall bear personal liability for damage caused to the enterprise due to his/her breach of the responsibilities specified above.

Therefore, the at-law representatives shall be responsible for tax evasion.

On the other hands, if individual in enterprises have tax invasion (accountants or other relevant individuals are responsible for tax duties), he/she must be responsible for this violation acts.

2. What are the fines for tax invasion?

In accordance with the regulations prescribed at the Article 200, the Criminal Code 2015, the Law amending the Criminal Code 2017, the fines for tax invasion are prescribed as follows:
 

Objectives	Acts	Fine
Individual	Commits any of the following acts of tax evasion with an amount of tax evaded from: - VND 100,000,000 to under VND 300,000,000 or - Under VND 100,000,000 despite the fact that he/she previously incurred a civil penalty for the tax evasion or has a previous conviction for any of the offenses.	- Fine of from VND 100,000,000 to VND 500,000,000; or - Face a penalty of 03 - 12 months' imprisonment.
	This offense committed in any of the following cases: - The offense is committed by an organized group; - The amount of tax evaded is from VND 300,000,000 to under VND 1,000,000,000; - The offense involves the abuse of the offender's position or power; - The offense has been committed more than once; - Dangerous recidivism.	- A fine of from VND 500,000,000 to VND 1,500,000,000; or - Face a penalty of 01 - 03 years' imprisonment.
	The amount of tax evaded is VND 1,000,000,000 and above.	- Fine of from VND 1,500,000,000 to VND 4,500,000,000; or - Face a penalty of 02 - 07 years' imprisonment.
Corporate legal entity	Any corporate legal entity any of the following acts of tax evasion with: - The amount is from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 300,000,000 or - From VND 100,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000 despite the fact that he/she previously incurred a civil penalty for the tax evasion or has a previous conviction for any of the offences: Smuggling, Illegal transport of goods or money across the border, (Manufacturing and trading of banned goods...which has not been expunged	- A fine of from VND 300,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000;
	This offense was committed in any of the following cases: - The offense is committed by an organized group; - The amount of tax evaded is from VND 300,000,000 to under VND 1,000,000,000; - The offense has been committed more than once; - Dangerous recidivism.	- Fine of from VND 1,000,000,000 to VND 3,000,000,000; or
	The amount of tax evaded is VND 1,000,000,000 and above.	- Fine of from VND 3,000,000,000 to VND 10,000,000,000; or - The suspension period is from 06 months to 03 years.

Note: Permanent shutdown means termination of a corporate legal entity's activities in one or some fields in which the corporate legal entity causes damage or possibly harms life, and health of many people, causes environmental emergencies, or negatively impacts social security or order, and the damage cannot be repaired.