TAXATION & CUSTOMS

CIT rates
One uniform income tax regime is applied to both foreign-owned and domestic companies.  Taxpayers are subject to tax rates provided in the CIT Law.  The standard CIT rate effective from 1 January 2009 is 25%.
Oil and gas companies and companies involved in exploitation of precious minerals are subject to CIT at rates ranging from 32% to 50% depending on the specific project.
CIT incentives
Tax incentives and criteria for eligibility to tax holidays and reductions are set out in the CIT regulations and is elaborated in Part C6 of this Guidebook.
Computation of CIT
CIT is computed under the following formula:

Determination of taxable income
The taxable income of an enterprise is the income shown in the financial statements, subject to certain adjustments due to the differences between tax rules and accounting rules.  Taxable income includes income derived by business operations and other activities (including income from the capital or securities transfer, transfer of immovable property which will be discussed in the next sections and extra earnings).
Deductibility of expenses
In general, expenses will be deductible provided that they are related to revenue generation, supported by proper invoices/documentation and not specifically identified as being non-deductible items for CIT calculation purposes.  Examples of non-deductible expenses include:

For certain businesses, such as insurance companies, securities trading, and lotteries, the Ministry of Finance provides specific guidance on deductible expenses for CIT purposes.
Business entities in Vietnam are allowed to set up a tax deductible Research and Development fund with the amount up to 10% of assessable income to the fund.
Tax depreciation
Depreciation for tax purposes must follow the Ministry of Finance regulations. Current regulations on fixed asset depreciation provide three methods for calculation of fixed asset depreciation. Among the regulatory methods, the straight-line method is the most common.
Depreciation rates must be in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s rules.  A brief summary of maximum allowable annual depreciation rates are as follows:

Accelerated depreciation is possible in certain cases.  The accelerated depreciation rate shall be capped at 2 times higher than the rate set by the Ministry of Finance.
Loss carried forward
Taxpayers are allowed to carry forward their losses incurred in operations for a maximum period of five years. Carrying back losses is not allowed. Loss must be carried forward entirely and continuously to the following year.
Tax administration
The tax year is in accordance with fiscal year which is the calendar year as regulated.  A tax year (fiscal year) other than calendar year is allowable.  In this case, notification to the relevant local tax authorities on a different fiscal year is required.
Provisional quarterly CIT returns are required to be filed based on either actual revenue/expenses arising in the quarter or the estimated ratio of taxable income over revenue deriving from the previous year’s result. The provisional return has to be submitted to tax authorities by the 30th day of the following quarter. Provisional CIT must be paid at the time of submitting the return.
The final CIT is filed on an annual basis.  The annual tax finalization return must be submitted within 90 days from the end of the tax year (fiscal year). Outstanding tax (if any) must be paid on the same day the final return is submitted.
The amounts of CIT shall be assessed and payable where the business has its main head office and where the business has its dependently accounting production establishments (if they are in a province or city under central authority other than the locality of the main head office).
The amount of tax payable in the province where the enterprise has its dependant establishment shall equal the amount of CIT payable in the period multiplied by the ratio of expenses of the dependant establishment over the total expenses of the enterprise.
The enterprise lodges its annual tax finalization with the local tax authority where the head-quarter is located.  The outstanding CIT payable upon finalization shall equal the amount payable in accordance with the tax finalization less the provisional quarterly tax paid amounts by its headquarters and its dependant establishments. The outstanding or refundable tax amount after tax finalization shall also be allocated at the same ratio to the places where the head-quarter and its dependant establishments are located.
Profit remittance
Foreign investors shall be permitted to remit their profits annually at the end of the financial year or upon termination of the investment in Vietnam after their tax obligations in Vietnam are fulfilled.  Foreign investors are not permitted to remit profits if the investee company has accumulated losses.
The foreign investor or the investee company are required to notify the tax authorities of the plan to remit profits at least 7 working days prior to the scheduled remittance.
Income tax on capital gains and from transfers of securities
Gains from a capital transfer (capital gains) or the sale of securities (including shares, bonds, fund certificates and other regulated securities) are taxed at 25% CIT.
The taxable gain is determined as the excess of the sales proceeds less purchase price of transferred capital portion less transfer expenses.
Where the transferor is a domestic business, they shall be responsible for declaring the gains from capital and securities transfer as other income in their CIT declaration.
Where the capital transferor is a foreign organization having no legal status in Vietnam, the transferee is required to withhold the tax due from the payment to the transferor, and account for this to the tax authorities.  Where the transferor and the transferee are foreign organizations, the Vietnamese entity will be responsible for tax declaration and payment on behalf of these parties.  The tax return and payment is required within 10 days from the date of the approval of the assignment by the competent authorities or the date of the assignment agreement in case no approval is required.
When foreign investment funds or foreign organizations having no legal status in Vietnam sell securities, e.g. shares (listed or non-listed), CIT is payable on a deemed basis at 0.1% of the total value of the securities sold.
In respect to bonds, 0.1% CIT will be calculated on the face value of the bond plus interest at the time the interest is received.
Income tax on transfer of immovable property
Income from transfer of immovable property includes those from transfer on LUR, land leased rights, sub-lease of land of real estate companies irrespective of whether or not there are any associated infrastructure and/or architecture work.
The assessable income from the transfer will be calculated based on the sale proceeds less the initial cost less deductible transfer expenses less losses carried forward (if any) from immovable transfer activities of previous years.  CIT rate of 25% will apply.
If a company does not regularly conduct immovable property assignments, the gain on such transfer should be provisionally declared per each transaction.  At the year-end, it will be included in the annual CIT finalization of the company.

D.2    Value Added Tax (VAT)

Overall
Under the conventional VAT system, output tax is collected from a customer by adding VAT at the applicable rate to the amount charged.  However, a business also pays input VAT to its suppliers on purchases that it makes. The output tax must be paid to the tax offices after deducting the creditable input VAT. The tax is actually borne by the end consumer or enterprises which engage in goods/services supply not subject to VAT.
Scope of VAT application
VAT is applicable to goods and services consumed within Vietnam. VAT is also applied at the import stage on imported goods. The import VAT must be paid to relevant customs concurrently with the import duty payment.
VAT exemption
There are 26 categories of goods and services out of the scope of VAT application. Examples of these include:

VAT rates
The standard VAT rate is 10%.  A 0% rate applies to exported goods and services subject to certain conditions.  A 5% rate exists for “essential” goods and services such as clean water, fertilizer, teaching aids, books, foodstuffs, medicine and medical equipment, husbandry feed, various agricultural products and services, technical/scientific services, rubber latex, sugar and its by-products.
Output VAT calculation
The output VAT is calculated by multiplying the taxable price (net of VAT) by the applicable VAT rate.
Claiming input VAT credit
Input VAT (including input VAT withheld on FCs under the withholding tax mechanism) credit must be claimed within 6 months from the month that the invoice is issued.  Input VAT credit that is beyond this time limit will be rejected.
In case the invoice total value (i.e. sale price plus VAT) is VND20 million or more, a bank payment proof must be made available for the input VAT to be claimable.
Method of VAT calculation
VAT regulations provide two methods of VAT calculation:
Deduction method
Under this method, VAT payable is calculated as the output VAT charged to customers less the creditable input VAT paid on purchases of goods and services.  Proper bookkeeping and invoices are requisite requirements for applying for this method.
Direct method
In order to calculate VAT payable under this method, the added value in the period must firstly be calculated.  The applicable VAT rate shall be applied to the added value to calculate the VAT payable.
Enterprises which fail to satisfy the requirements on book keeping/invoices and certain deemed goods/services (i.e. trading gold/foreign currency) shall be deemed to apply for this method.
VAT administrative
VAT code registration
All businesses (including foreign contractors, branches, operating offices of foreign organizations in certain cases) must register for a VAT code with local tax authorities within 10 working days from the date the investment license or certificate of business registration is granted.
VAT declaration and payment
The filing due date for monthly VAT return is 20th of the following month.  VAT payable is required to be settled on the same due date.
VAT refund
An input VAT refund is allowed in certain cases (e.g. input VAT credit is larger than output VAT for 3 consecutive months).  A refund may be conducted monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the circumstances of taxpayers.

D.3    Foreign contractor tax

The Foreign Contractor Tax (FCT) regime applies to payments made by a Vietnamese contracting party to a foreign entity carrying out projects in Vietnam, or providing services to Vietnamese customers without setting up a legal entity in Vietnam, except for the pure supply of goods at border gates, services performed and consumed outside of Vietnam, and certain other services performed outside of Vietnam (such as repair of transportation means, machinery and equipment; advertising and marketing services; brokerage services; training, etc.).
A foreign contractor (FC) is defined to include a foreign individual or entity that does business in Vietnam or have income arising in Vietnam on the basis of a contract, agreement or undertaking between such foreign contractor and a Vietnamese organization or individual.
The FCT consists of two components (i.e. VAT and CIT). The rates vary depending on the nature of the payment.
FCT payment methods
A FC may choose either of the following methods for tax payment:
Deduction method
According to this method, FCs will file VAT under the deduction method in accordance with VAT Law and declare CIT on the actual net profits at the standard tax rate in accordance with CIT Law.   The FC can recover the input VAT charged by the local subcontractors.
In order to adopt this method, FC is required to satisfy the following conditions:

Direct method
FC who fails to satisfy one of the above-mentioned conditions shall adopt the direct method.  Under this method, VAT and CIT shall be withheld and filed by the Vietnamese contracting party upon the payment to the FC. VAT and CIT shall be defined based on a deemed percentage of taxable turnover.  The deemed tax rates depend on the nature of service performance and the type of goods supplied.  The VAT element withheld will be available as an input VAT credit to the Vietnamese contracting party if it supplies goods/services subject to VAT.
The deemed VAT and CIT rates under the Direct Method are as follows:

Hybrid method
Under this method, the FCT regime permits that where a FC adopts simplified VAS (instead of full VAS), it may choose to pay VAT under Deduction Method and CIT under Direct Method.
Foreign tax relief
Vietnam has signed tax treaties with many countries that provide relief from double taxation.

D.4    Export duty and import duty

          Exports

Standard Customs documentation
Customs entry as to entry of commodities for commercial purposes will typically include the following documents, attached with declaration:

Preparation of commercial documentation to accompany shipment to be exported, in addition to declaration:

Export duty
Export duty is only imposed on a few items, basically natural resources, such as ore and minerals, plants and parts of plants of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy or, and scrap metal.  These rates range from 0% to 40%. The basis for calculating export duties is the free on board (FOB) price, or delivery at frontier (DAF) price – that is, the selling price of goods at the exporting port as stated in the contract, excluding freight and insurance costs.

          Imports

Import duty tariff
Import duty is generally assessed on an ad valorem (on value) basis. The Ministry of Finance (“MOF”) is the authorized Government body which is responsible for tax policy making and accordingly introducing tariff for imports into Vietnam.  In practice, the policy making process in relation to import tariff is complex due to the involvement of other ministries, e.g. the Ministry of Trade and Industry, industry association, and State-owned general corporations.
Import duty tariffs fall into three categories: standard rates, preferential rates and special preferential rates.

To qualify for special preferential rates, the imported goods must be accompanied by particular Certificate of Origin (C/O). Without the C/O or if goods are sourced from non-preferential treatment countries, the preferential (i.e. MFN) rates or the standard rates will be imposed.
Import dutiable valuation
The dutiable value of imported goods for calculation of import duty is generally in accordance with the WTO Valuation Agreement 1994 with certain modifications. Commonly, the dutiable value of imported goods is the price actually paid or payable for the imported goods to the first check-point of importation of Vietnam, which is primarily determined as the Transaction Value, taking into consideration of certain adjusted elements. Where the Transaction Value is unable to be defined or the determination is not satisfied, alternative methodologies are used in a hierarchical order:

Import duty exemptions
Exemption from import duty is granted, among others, for:

D.5    Special sales tax (SST)

SST which is similar to excise tax applies on certain imported and domestically produced goods and certain provisions of services which are not encouraged for domestic consumption or those considered luxurious.
Under SST regulations, subjects of SST include:

Taxable price

SST rates vary from 10% to 70% as follows:

D.6    Business license tax

A FOE is required to pay business license taxes on an annual basis (at the beginning of the calendar year) at the following rates:

                                        

D.7    Environment Protection Tax

The Law on environment protection tax took effect from 1 January 2012.  The environment protection tax is an indirect tax which is applicable upon the production and importation of certain goods including petroleum products. The tax is calculated as an absolute amount on the quantity of the goods.

D.8    Natural Resources Tax

Natural resources tax is payable by industries exploiting Vietnam’s natural resources such as petroleum, minerals, forest products, seafood and natural water.
The tax rates vary depending on the natural resource being exploited and are applied to the production output at a specified taxable value per unit.

D.9    Taxes on individuals: Personal Income Tax

Taxpayers
Tax is imposed based on residency status.  Residents are taxed on their total worldwide income, while non-residents are subject to tax on their Vietnam sourced income only. There are different tax rates for residents and non-residents and for various types of income.
Resident taxpayers are those who:

Pursuant to Official Letter 3473/TCT-TNCN issued by General Department of Taxation on 8 September 2010, an individual who stays in Vietnam for more than ninety (90) days (whether or not maintaining leased accommodation) but less than one hundred and eighty three (183) days in one (01) calendar year or in twelve (12) consecutive months will be considered as tax non-resident in Vietnam for PIT purposes provided that he/she can prove his/her residency in a country other than Vietnam.  The original tax residency certificate is required to be submitted to the Vietnam tax authorities in this case.
Resident taxpayers are subject to PIT on their worldwide income at progressive tax rates regardless of where the income is paid.
Non-resident taxpayers are those who live in Vietnam for either less than ninety (90) days or more than ninety (90) days but less than one hundred and eighty three (183) days in one (01) calendar year or in twelve (12) consecutive months and are tax residents of another country. Tax non-residents are subject to PIT at a flat tax rate of 20% on their employment income in relation to the work performed in Vietnam, and at various rates on their non-employment income.  In some cases, the provisions of any applicable DTA could provide some tax relief.
Taxable income
Taxable income includes employment, non-employment and business income.
Employment income covers all income received by the employee from their employer in cash or in kind, such as:

Some items of income that were previously non-taxable are now included in taxable under the new PIT scope including non-employment income, such as income from capital investment, capital transfer, transfer of real property, income from winnings, royalties, commercial franchises, inheritance and gifts.
In addition, business income of individuals which was governed by the Law on CIT is now included under the PIT scope.
Non-taxable income
Non taxable income includes:

Tax deductions and tax relief
Certain tax deductions and relief are deductible against business income and employment income as follows:

Tax rates
The progressive tax rates for resident foreigners and Vietnamese citizens for business income and employment income are as follows:

Other taxable income and the relevant tax rate applicable are as follows:

Non-residents are taxed at twenty percent (20%) of their employment income in relation to the work performed in Vietnam. The following table represents other kinds of taxable income and the tax rates applicable:

Note: (*) taxed on part of income exceeding VND10 million only.
Where the income received is on net basis, it is required to be grossed up to reflect the tax on tax calculation for Vietnam PIT calculation purposes. Formulas for grossing up are provided under Circular 84/2008/TT-BTC.
Administration
Tax code registration
Tax registration is compulsory for income paying bodies and individuals having income subject to PIT. The place for submission of the tax registration form is the tax office directly in charge of the income paying body and/or individual.
An expatriate employee must secure a tax code within 10 days from the date of commencement of his/her assignment in Vietnam.
Tax filing and payment
PIT liability is required to be filed and paid on a monthly basis on the 20th day of the following month in respect of employment income.  The employer is required to withhold tax from the employee’s income, declare and pay tax to the state budget. Monthly PIT payments will be reconciled at the end of each calendar year.
An individual is required to file tax directly with the tax authority if his employment income is paid by overseas organizations and/or individuals.  Likewise, non-employment income is required to be declared by the individual separately per each type of taxable income and the applicable tax rate as provided in the regulations.
A foreign resident individual terminating their employment contract in Vietnam is required to submit the tax final return before departure of Vietnam.

D.10   Double tax relief and tax treaties

Vietnam has signed a double tax treaty with more than 60 countries. Some treaties have not been enforceable as yet.
Divider: Financial report and auditing