Q&A: Filing a Tax Return More Than 90 Days Late but Paying Tax and Late-Payment Interest in Full - A Tax Procedure Violation, Not Tax Evasion
An individual proposed amending Article 13 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP on penalties for late PIT finalisation filing, saying people with small casual income from e-commerce platforms who voluntarily paid the shortfall were still fined up to VND 5.75 million per return. The asker proposed removing the fixed fine where additional tax is under VND 1 million and waiving or only warning for small digital-platform income before 2025. Hue City Tax replied, citing Tax Administration Laws 38/2019/QH14 and 108/2025/QH15: filing a tax return more than 90 days late with tax due, where the taxpayer paid the full tax and late-payment interest before the tax authority issued a record of the late filing, is not penalised as tax evasion but is a tax procedure violation subject to administrative penalty. The violation, limitation period and penalty level must be determined from the actual file; Hue City Tax holds no records of the asker's case and so could not determine a specific penalty. The policy proposals were only noted for reporting to the competent authority.
RegHub explainer by New MarketerLast updated:
Based on:125/2020/NĐ-CP - Ministry of Finance
This explanation was generated by AI and checked by an automated AI review, not by a human expert. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice and may contain errors. Check the official document before you rely on it.
Content of the Proposal
An individual proposed amending Article 13 of Decree 125/2020/ND-CP on penalties for late PIT finalisation filing by individuals. The points below are the asker's own views.
Problems as Described by the Asker
- Before 2025, eTax Mobile did not promptly synchronise tax data from e-commerce platforms (Shopee, Lazada affiliate, etc.).
- Salaried employees finalised their main income and received refunds, unaware of omitted casual income tax of a few hundred thousand dong.
- On voluntarily paying the shortfall, the asker says they were fined for filing more than 90 days late up to VND 5,750,000 per return (VND 11,500,000 for two years), many times the tax owed, whereas tax evasion (Article 17) is fined 1-3 times the evaded tax.
Proposals
- Additional tax under VND 1,000,000: remove the fixed fine; penalise at most 3-5 times the underpaid tax plus late-payment interest.
- VND 1,000,000 or more: keep the current penalty bands.
- Small casual income from digital platforms before 2025: consider waiver or warning only where tax and interest are fully paid.
Tax Authority Response
The answer was given by Hue City Tax.
Legal Basis
- Clause 1 Article 141 and point b clause 11 Article 143, Tax Administration Law 38/2019/QH14 (passed 13 June 2019).
- Clause 1 and point l clause 4 Article 45, Tax Administration Law 108/2025/QH15 (passed 10 December 2025).
Answer
- Filing a tax return more than 90 days late with tax due, where the taxpayer paid the full tax and late-payment interest into the state budget before the tax authority issued a record of the late filing: not penalised for tax evasion, but a tax procedure violation subject to administrative penalty as prescribed.
- The violation, limitation period, penalty level and related circumstances must be determined from the actual file and facts of each case.
- Hue City Tax holds no records or data on the asker's specific case, so it has no basis to determine the violation or any penalty.
- The proposals on penalty adjustment and on handling pre-2025 platform income concern amending tax and penalty policy; Hue City Tax noted them for consolidation and reporting to the competent authority.
Contact
Hue City Tax (Individual, Household Business and Other Revenue Division): 64 To Huu, Vy Da Ward, Hue City; tel. 0234 3839222.