Ensure policies to attract investment when implementing global minimum tax

	Vietnam to develop policies to adapt to global minimum tax
	Urgently prepare a scenario to apply principles of global minimum tax
	Impact and opportunity of global minimum tax

Deputy Minister of Finance chairs the press conference. Photo: T.Diu

Ensure tax refund in accordance with regulations

At the press conference, regarding value-added tax (VAT) refund, Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Taxation, said that the National Assembly and the Government assigns the tax agency to refund about VND150,000 billion per year.

The tax sector has been conducting VAT refunds in accordance with the provisions of the law for all product lines, especially in the field of import-export tax refunds.

However, in business activities, enterprises still commit violations of using illegal input invoices, leading to difficulties in import and export tax refunds.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh said, in 2021, the police and tax authorities in Phu Tho province detected tax refund fraud of woodchip enterprises.

“The law clearly stipulates tax refund before the inspection. If there is a risk, the inspection will be conducted before the tax refund. The woodchip industry revealed many cases of fraud detected and transferred to the police agency for investigation and settlement," said the Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh also said, to strengthen the tax refund, on September 6, 2022, the General Department of Taxation sent an official dispatch to the local tax departments to speed up the settlement of tax refunds for businesses that meet requirements. The General Department of Taxation also had a separate dialogue to answer problems for wood associations and businesses. Also, to conduct export tax refunds in general and export tax refund for woodchip businesses in particular, the General Department of Taxation will work with the National Assembly Standing Committee on finance and budget and some Government agencies to dialogue with businesses, assess risks and answer questions.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh affirmed that tax refund management has been strictly regulated by the law, and the tax sector always creates favorable conditions for businesses in tax refund. He suggested that businesses, especially those in the import and export field, should strictly comply with the provisions of the law, to avoid errors or frauds that lead to the ineligibility for a tax refund.

Regarding the comments on the amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax, Deputy General Director Dang Ngoc Minh affirmed that the General Department of Taxation has conducted a survey and reported to the Ministry of Finance and the Government on 17 groups of solutions to amend and supplement the Law on Personal Income Tax.

The Government has reported and approved by the National Assembly the amendment of the Law on Personal Income Tax by 2025 in accordance with the order of the Government's Law and Ordinance Making Program.

Ensure effective implementation of the global minimum tax

Regarding the global minimum tax, Deputy Director General Dang Ngoc Minh said that this is an important issue that directly affects investment incentive policies.

However, with the global minimum tax under the BEPS program (currently 143 economies participated in the program, and Vietnam is the 100th member), to avoid competition, the economies set the minimum corporate income tax rate at 15%. Some major partners of Vietnam such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore will apply the global minimum tax rate from 2024. This will directly affect Vietnam.

According to the representative of the General Department of Taxation, in August 2022, the Prime Minister established a special working group to study and propose solutions related to the OECD global maximum tax rate in August 2022, led by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai. In February 2023, the Ministry of Finance established a working group to assist this special working group led by the Deputy Minister of Finance.

On February 22, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai chaired a meeting of the special working group with relevant ministries and agencies to discuss the implementation of the global minimum tax rate.

On March 17, 2023, the Ministry of Finance sent a report to the Deputy Prime Minister on the global minimum tax rate. The Ministry of Finance assigned the General Department of Taxation to research and propose the application of the global minimum tax in Vietnam.

On March 28, 2023, the General Department of Taxation held a meeting with businesses to listen to the opinions of a number of businesses that are likely to be affected by the global minimum tax rate.

Deputy Director General Dang Ngoc Minh affirmed that the General Department of Taxation will monitor the implementation of global minimum tax rates by countries, including those that invest abroad and are investing from abroad, and continue to listen to the opinions of businesses affected by the global minimum tax rate and study the OECD guidelines on the global minimum tax rate to report to the relevant authorities to consider and decide the suitable global minimum tax rate in Vietnam, limit negative impacts on foreign investment attraction policies, and ensure Vietnam's tax collection rights.

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Also on this issue, Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi emphasized that the global minimum tax is a very new and important issue, so the Ministry of Finance is looking forward to receiving information and comments from the press agencies and businesses to implement policies effectively.