The General Department of Taxation (GDT) officially signed agreements on August 14 with 15 domestic and foreign banks to allow electronic tax payment services. According to the department, with 27 banks having signed earlier, the total number of banks now involved in e-tax payment services has reached 42. Reviewing the results of the implementation of the e-tax service, Bui Van Nam, general director of the department, said the service has been put in place in 63 cities and provinces in over 700 districts and communes across the country. There are more than 398,000 businesses already engaged in using e-tax payment services, with more than 327,000 businesses successfully registered for use of the service with banks, he said. Further, according to Nam, the total amount of taxes collected through portals for online payment services has reached 40.7 trillion VND (1.87 billion USD). With the majority of joint-venture and foreign banks participating, the department's leader said businesses will have more choices when paying taxes. In the near future, Nam said the tax sector plans to expand its e-tax payment service to the remaining banks in the country. The department will also bring this service to all businesses, to ensure 90 percent of the nation's businesses participate in the service in 2015, as directed by the Prime Minister, said Nam. The 15 banks signing the agreements on August 14 included Ocean Bank, VietBank, ANZ Vietnam, HSBC Vietnam, Standard Chartered, Shinhan Vietnam, Vietnam-Russia bank, VID Public bank, Indovina bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Bank for Investment and Development of Cambodia (BIDC), Bangkok Bank Hanoi branch, and BNP Paribas HCM City branch.-VNA