A steel company fined and reclaimed tens of billions in taxes

SMC Investment Trading JSC (code: SMC) has been fined by Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department for tax violations, incurring nearly 3.8 billion VND due to incorrect declarations leading to unpaid VAT and corporate income tax. In total, SMC faces tax collection exceeding 18.8 billion VND and late payment penalties of 3.5 billion VND, bringing total penalties to over 26 billion VND. If SMC does not comply within 10 days, it will face enforcement actions. To settle its bank debts, SMC will sell various mortgaged assets, including shares and term deposit contracts worth 62 billion VND, to pay off existing obligations at Vietinbank – HCMC Branch, where it has debts of 2.3 trillion VND. In the first half of 2025, SMC reported a loss of 102 billion VND and has accumulated losses of 242 billion, with short-term debts exceeding current assets by 971 billion VND. Once a leading steel company in Vietnam, SMC is now struggling due to falling steel prices and difficulties in collecting receivables.