Business Beat
If you’re in the market for a desktop computer and are looking for a bargain, then look no further. Advertisements in local newspapers are full of offers like: Intel Celeron 700Mhz, 128MB RAM, 10GB hard disk, 15" monitor with DVD drive... at just US$260. This dream machine is now sold at two-thirds the market price and is driving local computer companies mad. Importers are able to snatch up deals from foreign wholesalers and have flooded the local market with cheap second-hand computers from well-known brands like IBM, Compaq, and Dell. They are mostly computers which were leased to organisations or companies in the US and are imported and refurbished to look brand-new. The situation makes local computer assemblers, and especially monitor manufacturers, lose a big market share. Last week, they met to sound a warning that Viet Nam may become a dumping ground for obsolete technology. In the past eight months, used computers and peripherals worth US$1.6 million were imported. Manufacturers argue that buyers of such machines do not enjoy after-sales services nor technical support. A representative of Samsung Vina said because of imported second-hand monitors, his company’s monitor sales in Viet Nam had dropped by 16.5 per cent. But from end-users’ perspectives, buying a brand name computer of fairly good configuration at half the price of locally assembled computers is a bargain hard to resist. While the rest of the world has been racing to keep up with Bill Gates’ endless upgrades, local consumers have waited and taken advantage of the situation.***
The inter-bank e-payment system gets stuck at one critical point. Although e-payment enables users to transfer money among banks almost immediately, a backup set of documents in writing should be prepared and signed. A vice-director of the State Bank in HCM City said he had to reserve a whole day, without a lunch break, to sign 1,400 signatures on e-payment documents. on normal days the number of documents needing to be signed also reached the hundreds. It seems pointless for the vice-director to be signing so many documents at once, as it would be impossible for him to detect anything out of the ordinary in such rushed circumstances. The e-payment system has incorporated the recognition of e-signatures, but why people still need backups on paper is not yet clear.
***
Nguyen Cam Luy was dubbed the "magic lamp genie" because of his ability to move whole houses, temples, churches and buildings up to 100m from their old locations. After making his name through these deeds, the man is now about to help HCM City raise the height of several bridges. After clearing slums along the Nhieu Loc Canal, HCM City built two parallel streets along the canal banks. But when the street meets a bridge, it stops because the bridge is so low it cannot act as an overpass to let traffic move beneath it. Now, Nguyen Cam Luy has approached HCM City authorities, claiming he can help raise these bridges, using his usual method. Upgrading the bridges this way would be much cheaper than upgrading the whole transport system along the canal. Luy also said he could help raise the sinking Van Thanh underpass, a notorious reminder of construction quality in Viet Nam.
***
Collection of value-added tax VAT is undergoing major change, after tax cheaters used loopholes to get illegal refunds worth billions of dong. The most important change is a stricter inspection of documentation before any refund is made. Right after the VAT was introduced, the Government allowed refunds to be made first, with inspection of receipts later, so as not to impede business operations. But the tax frauds have changed that. Now, taxpayers are classified into groups – those exporting goods through border trade or those getting paid in cash will be subject to careful inspection before refunds are made. This means tracing receipts back to their original issuers to see if genuine transactions have been made, or if bogus companies issued them. Because of the complexity of the inspection process, people expect long delays for their refunds. Although tax officials have promised the inspections will only be applied on a limited basis to avoid bottlenecks, some businesses will be affected. A high-ranking tax official confirmed the new procedure was being applied in HCM City, pending an official procedure to apply it nation-wide. Current regulations say tax refunds should be made within 15 working days after refund documents are filed. If further documents are required, the maximum duration is 30 days – not enough for tax people to do a thorough inspection. In order to fight tax frauds, people need long-term solutions. Encouraging businesses to print their own receipts is just one measure. Linking all tax bureaux throughout the country into a network so that suspicious cases can be checked is another. The problem with the VAT lies with the collection procedures and not with the tax itself.
VNS
