The United Kingdom - Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) was signed on December 29, 2020. The UKVFTA Agreement is a proceeding step of the Vietnam - UK trade relationship when the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was no longer applied to the UK after December 31, 2020 because of Brexit. With basic commitments based on EVFTA but was adjusted to be more suitable for the two countries, UKVFTA officially took effect from 23:00 on December 31, 2020, promising to bring many benefits to both sides.

According to the commitment, after 6 years UKVFTA takes effect, the UK will abolish import tax on 99.2% of tariff lines, equivalent to 99.7% of Vietnam's export turnover. The EU has committed to giving Vietnam a tariff rate quota (TRQ) with an import tax of 0% for some products.

For UK, the UK said that they will base on EU statistics on actual bilateral trade between Vietnam and the UK for the period 2014-2016 to decide a similar policy. The UK also committed to review to increase the amount of TRQ with Vietnam's rice products after 3 years from the effective date of UKVFTA.

The export industries that benefit greatly from this agreement are seafood, rice, textiles, wood, vegetables, footwear...

In contrast, Vietnam will abolish tariffs as soon as the agreement takes effect with 48.5% of tariff lines, accounting for 64.5% of imports from the UK. After 6 years, the amount of removed tariff lines will increase to 91.8%, equivalent to 97.1% of export turnover and after 9 years it is about 98.3% of tariff lines (accounting for 99.8% of turnover).

In addition, the Agreement also includes commitments on rules of origin, customs and trade facilitation, food hygiene and safety measures, and technical barriers to trade and services (including common regulations and commitments to open markets), investment, trade defense, competition, state-owned enterprises, Government procurement, intellectual property, trade and sustainable development, cooperation and capacity building activities, legal - institutional.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, thanks to UKVFTA, Vietnam will have more competitive advantages than other strong competitors from China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia ... that have no prospect of signing FTA with the UK for many years to come. On the other hand, Vietnam will have more opportunities for cooperation, investment, technology transfer, and attracting British tourists after the end of Covid-19. The Agreement also created a positive relationship between Vietnam and the UK, especially when Vietnam and the UK just issued a Joint Declaration on the bilateral cooperation vision on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

For Vietnam, thanks to the commitments about opening commodity markets and adding quotas on products with high competitive advantages such as agricultural and fishery products, Vietnamese businesses will have more opportunities to promote exports. According to calculations, the value of import tax that Vietnam's goods can save when entering the UK is estimated at 3.5 trillion / year.

In the context of the ongoing pandemic causing difficulties for production and business activities, the UKVFTA Agreement is expected to help stabilize the market so that businesses can recover and develop. The Ministry of Industry and Trade assessed that the fiscal space for market growth in the UK is still very large because currently Vietnam's exports only account for less than 1% of the market share in the total annual import turnover of the UK which is nearly 700 billion USD.

However, the commitments about opening markets to goods and services for the UK will put certain competitive pressures on the domestic economy, businesses, goods and services, especially in those industries where the UK has advantages such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, chemical products...

Moreover, technical standards and quality requirements for imports from the UK are very high. For example, although UKVFTA inherits preferences with SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) in the EVFTA Agreement, Vietnam's agricultural products such as tea, vegetables... need to improve the uniformity in each batch, harvest and preserve, and product quality to conquer this demanding market.

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In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic affecting all aspects of the economy, the world in general and Vietnam in particular have been constantly facing difficulties that caused a decline in foreign investment. However, in 2020, Vietnam still saw bright spots in attracting FDI investment.

According to the report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of November 20, 2020, the total newly registered capital, adjusted and contributed capital, and purchased shares of foreign investors reached 26.43 billion USD, equivalent to 83.1% over the same period in 2019. The realized capital of direct foreign investment projects was estimated at 17.2 billion USD, equivalent to 97.6% over the same period in 2019. Among them, there were 2,313 new projects granted investment registration certificate, decreased by 33.5% over the same period in 2019, the total registered capital reached 13.6 billion USD, down 7.6% over the same period in 2019.

Regarding the adjusted capital, there were 1,051 projects registered to adjust investment capital, decreased by 16.3% over the same period, the total capital which is registered to increase reached over 6.3 billion USD, up 7.8% over the same period.

For capital contribution and share purchase, there were 5,812 times of capital contribution and share purchase by foreign investors, down 32.1% over the same period, the total value of capital contribution reached 6.5 billion USD, decreased by 41.8% compared to the same period. The structure of the value of capital contribution and share purchase in the total investment capital also decreased compared to the same period in 2019, from 35.4% in the first 11 months of 2019 to 24.7% in the first 11 months of 2020.

According to the Foreign Investment Department, the export turnover of the foreign-invested sector has risen again after falling consecutively for 10 months. Exports including crude oil reached nearly 181 billion USD, up 6.6% over the same period, accounting for 71.3% of export turnover. Exports excluding crude oil reached 179.5 billion USD, up 6.9% over the same period, accounting for 70.7% of the country's total export turnover. Imports of foreign-invested sector reached 148.9 billion USD, up 9.1% over the same period and accounting for 63.5% of import turnover of the country. Generally, the foreign-invested sector saw a trade surplus of 32.1 billion USD including crude oil and a trade surplus of 30.6 billion USD excluding crude oil, offset the trade deficit of 12.7 billion USD of the domestic sector, helping The country see an export surplus of 19.4 billion USD.

According to the investment fields, foreign investors invested in 19 fields, of which the processing and manufacturing sector ranked first with total investment capital of over 12.7 billion USD, accounting for 48, 2% of total registered investment capital. The field of electricity production and distribution ranked second with total investment capital of over 4.9 billion USD, accounting for 18.7% of total registered investment capital; followed by the real estate business, wholesale and retail with a total registered capital of nearly 3.8 billion USD and 1.5 billion USD.

According to investment partners, there were 109 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, of which Singapore took the lead with a total investment of nearly $ 8.1 billion, accounting for 30.6% of total investment in Vietnam. South Korea ranked second with a total investment of 3.7 billion USD, accounting for 14% of total investment capital. China ranked third with a total registered investment capital of 2.4 billion USD, accounting for 9.1% of total investment capital. Followed by Japan, Taiwan (China), Thailand...

According to investment areas, foreign investors invested in 60 provinces and cities nationwide; in which, Bac Lieu province continued to lead with 01 big project with investment capital of 4 billion USD, accounting for 15.1% of total registered investment capital; Ho Chi Minh City ranked second with a total registered capital of over 3.8 billion USD, accounting for 14.4% of total investment capital; Hanoi City ranked third with 3.2 billion USD, accounting for 12.2% of total investment capital; followed by Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, Binh Duong province, Hai Phong city,...

In the complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic in the world, Vietnam, thanks to good plan in controlling epidemic, Vietnam has attracted investors to move production from abroad to the city, contributing to promoting the increase in production, business, creating more jobs for workers, especially in the service industries, leather shoes, garment which are in great demand for labor recruitment...

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On October 19, 2002, the Government issued Decree 126/2020 / ND-CP guiding the Law on Tax Administration including many new regulations, such as significant changes in temporary payment of corporate income tax.

Previously, in Clause 6, Article 4 of Decree No. 91/2014 / ND-CP and Article 17 of Circular 151/2014 / TT-BTC, the provisional payment is provided that, in the case the total of four provisional payments is lower than 20% or more of the payable corporate income tax according to the settlement, the enterprise must pay the interest on late payment for the difference of 20% or more between the temporarily paid amount and the settlement amount, calculated from the day after the last day of the deadline for fourth quarter tax payment, to the date of actual payment of the insufficient tax amount compared with the settlement amount.

However, from December 5, 2020, Decree 126/2020 / ND-CP on guiding the Law on Tax Administration officially took effect, so the regulations on temporary payment of corporate income tax have also changed significantly.

Specifically, Point b, Clause 6, Article 8 of Decree 126/2020 / ND-CP stipulates:

“… The total amount of corporate income tax temporarily paid for the first three quarters of the tax year must not be lower than 75% of the payable corporate income tax amount according to the annual settlement. If the taxpayer underpaid the temporarily payable tax for the first 3 quarters of the year, the late payment interest shall be calculated based on the underpaid tax amount from the day following the last day of the deadline for temporary payment of corporate income tax in the third quarter of the year, to the date of paying the outstanding tax to the State budget.”

Regarding the starting time of application of Decree 126/2020 / ND-CP; Article 5.4, Official Letter 5198 introducing the new contents of Decree 126 prescribes that the temporary payment of corporate income tax under Decree 126 / 2020 / ND-CP will start from the tax period of 2021.

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The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement taking effect from August 2020 has created many opportunities for market opening in Vietnam for European businesses in general and Italian businesses in particular.

Ms. Hoang Thu Huyen, Founder and CEO of Asia Business Consulting, a key speaker of the webinar will share technical insights on “The rules to know to export to Vietnam - Operational and bureaucratic functioning”.

This webinar is complimentary, but registration is required following the link below:

·         Register here: https://bit.ly/2KpsXGk

·         Date: Tuesday, December 15th, 2020

·         Time: 16h Vietnam time - 17h HK/Singapore/Shanghai - 10h Italy

·         Language: Italian and English

We look forward to your participation.

#vietnam#asiabizconsult#exporttovietnam#evfta

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Asia Business Consulting is a boutique consulting firm specializing in corporate establishment, legal and business advisory, tax and payroll compliance, HR administration, market research to multinationals investing in Vietnam.

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On October 19th, 2020, the Government issued Decree 128/2020/ND-CP prescribing the sanctioning of administrative violations in the customs field, with the noteworthy contents regarding the revision of cases that do not violate administrative regulations in the Customs sector, and the increase in certain violations’ fine level.

Compared to Article 5 of Decree 127/2013/ND-CP on sanctioning of administrative violations and enforcement of administrative decisions in the field of Customs and Decree 45/2016/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 127/2013/ND-CP, there are two cases retained in this new Decree. Five cases which have been removed contained provisions about false declaration, false information and the case of declaring incorrectly but having low value goods.

The particular cases that are not subject to administrative violations in the customs sector are as follows:

“1. The cases are not subject to administrative sanctioning under Article 11 of the Law on handling of administrative violations in 2012.

Goods or means of transport brought into the territory of Vietnam in the case of an unexpected event or force majeure event must be notified to the customs or other competent authorities under the law; such goods and means of transport must be brought out of the territory of Vietnam after the above-mentioned factors are overcome.

2. Cases in which additional declarations of customs dossiers are permitted within the specified time stipulated at Clause 4, Article 29 of the Customs Law shall not be administratively sanctioned.

3. Cases in which customs declarants shall comply with competent agencies' guiding documents and handling decisions in respect of tax obligation determination according to Clause 11, Article 16 of the Law on Tax Administration shall not be administratively sanctioned.

4. Cases in which goods sent into Vietnam are inconsistent with the contract as prescribed in Article 39 of the Commercial Law (except for goods banned from import, temporarily suspended from import, counterfeit goods, and scrap not on the List of permitted import as raw production materials) but has been notified in writing by the consignor, carrier, consignee or legal representative of the consignor, carrier or consignee (clearly stating the clause) enclosed documents related to the Director of the Sub-department of Customs where the goods are stored without registering the customs declaration shall not be administratively sanctioned.”

The new Decree has stricter regulations on tax evasion and administrative violations, together with penalties and remedial measures.

Clause 1, Article 14 of the Decree details tax evasion acts, which is a coherent ground for competent authorities to apply. These acts, if not examined for penal liability, shall be fined 1 to 3 times of the amount of tax evasion depending on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. In the previous regulations, legal entity’s fine rate must not exceed 3 times, meanwhile personal entity’s one must not exceed 1.5 times the amount of tax evasion.  However, a general fine is applicable in the new Decree.

Those violations in terms of temporary import for re-export, temporary export and re-import of goods, the fine levels have been significantly corrected in order to ensure the strictness and deterrence of the law. Specifically:

- Acts of not licensing temporary import for re-export of goods requiring a license for temporary import for re-export can be penalized from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND (previously the fine was from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND)

- Acts of temporary import for re-export of goods prohibited or suspended from export or import and acts of temporary export or re-import of goods banned or suspended from export or import without licenses for temporary export or re-import can be fined level from 20,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND.

- The act of trading in temporary import for export of goods but failing to meet the conditions on the list business of conditional temporary import for re-export can be fined from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000.

- For acts of trading without licensing in temporary import for re-export of goods requiring a license, the fine level will be from VND 50,000,000 to VND 60,000,000

- For acts of trading in temporary import for re-export of goods requiring a license but falling to get a license, exhibits of violation are goods banned or suspended from export or import, goods not yet permitted for circulation in Vietnam, the fine will be from 60,000,000 VND to 80,000,000 VND.

- For acts of trading in temporary import for re-export of goods on the list of banned or suspended trading in temporary import for re-export, the fine level was previously from VND 60,000,000 to VND 80,000,000. However new regulations have raised the fine level from 80,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND.

In addition, there are hardly any changes compared to the content of Decree 127/2013/ND-CP and Decree 45/2016 / ND-CP. 

Decree 128/2020/ND-CP takes effect from the 10nd of December, 2020.

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On October 15th 2020, the Government issued Decree 122/2020/ND-CP regulating inter-agency coordination in settlement of procedures for registration of establishment of enterprises, branches and representative offices, declaration of labor use, grant of identification numbers of units participating in social insurance, and registration for use of invoices of enterprises.

Some remarkable contents include the process of coordination between relevant agencies and certain new business registration forms.Accordingly, business registration agencies are the focal point to receive dossiers and return results, the inter-agency coordination shall be performed by means of mutual connection to share data between information systems. Therefore, businesses do not have to go to each particular state agency on labor, social insurance and tax to carry out the compulsory administrative procedures as before, which can save time, minimize errors when filling  information and promptly update changes during the business's operation process. 

Only those state agencies mentioned below are subject to this Decree:

1. Provincial business registration authority as prescribed in the Law on Enterprises and guiding documents;
2. Labor authority according to the provisions of the Labor Code;
3. Social insurance agencies under the Law on Social Insurance
4. Tax authorities in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration.

The process of coordination takes place as follows: 

1. The business registration agency shall receive the application for business registration and checking its validity
   1. The business registration shall share information with the tax authority. 
   2. The tax authority shall provide information regarding the identification numbers of enterprises, branches, representative offices, and decentralization powers to managing tax offices. 
   3. The business registration agencies shall issue the Certificate of Registration and inform about managing tax offices as well.
   4. After granting the Certificate of Registration, the business registration agency shall share with social insurance agencies the statutory information and changes if there is a change in the contents. 
   5. When enterprises pay social insurance premiums, social insurance agencies shall share information on the number of employees who pay social insurance premiums with business registration agencies in order to perform the state management of enterprises after establishment registration.
   6. The business registration agency shall share relevant information with the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Division or Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Department where the enterprise, branch or representative office is located and with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to serve the state management of labor.

Under the provisions of this Decree, the new application forms for enterprise registration will include the contents specified in the Law on Enterprises and the declaration of the employment status, the declaration of social insurance premiums’ payment method, and registration for use of invoices. Enterprises and business registration agencies use the registration form and the notice of operation registration issued together with this Decree instead of the previous documents, specifically as follows:

“The application forms for enterprise registration, notice of registration of branch, representative office/business location promulgated together with this Decree shall replace Appendices I-1 to I- 5 and Appendix II-11 issued together with the Circular No. 02/2019/TT-BKHDT dated January 8th, 2019 of the Minister of Planning and Investment amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 20/2015/TT-BKHDT dated December 1st, 2015 of the Minister of Planning and Investment providing guidance on enterprise registration.”

Moreover, enterprises, branches or representative offices when performing administrative procedures at the state agencies in charge of labor, social insurance and tax shall provide their name and identification number instead of Copies of the Certificate of Business registration, Certificate of registration of branch operation, representative office and related documents as before.

This Decree takes effect on October 15th, 2020.

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On October 19th, 2020, the Government issued Decree 125/2020/ND-CP regulating penalties for administrative violations pertaining to taxations and invoices. Some remarkable contents are: the increase in certain tax-related administrative violations and the harmonization of all regulations related to sanctioning administrative violations of taxes and invoices with the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019.

1. Noteworthy contents

The new Decree coherently specifies administrative violations of taxes and invoices, penalties and remedies for each specific act in Chapter II and Chapter III.

A large-scale administrative violation of taxes and invoices are defined as follows:

“An administrative violation with the tax amount (the tax deficient, the tax evaded or the tax exempt, reduced or refunded higher) from 100,000,000 VND or the value of goods, services from 500,000,000 VND is defined as a large-scale tax administrative violation. An administrative violation of 10 or more invoice numbers is defined as a large-scale administrative violation of invoices.”

Aggravating and mitigating factors in taxation and invoices are defined according to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations. Principles of determining fines when there are aggravating and mitigating circumstances are as follow:

“Each mitigating circumstance is entitled to a 10% reduction of the average fine level of the fine bracket, but must not be reduced to the minimum level of the fine bracket; each aggravating circumstance is entitled to a 10% increase of the average fine rate of the fine bracket but must not exceed the maximum level of the fine bracket.”

The Decree is not applicable in the following cases:

“This Decree does not apply to administrative violations of fees and charges; administrative violations of tariffs collected by the customs and violated regulations on tax registration procedures, violations of regulations on notification of business suspension, notification on the continued business operation ahead of schedule with business registration agencies, cooperative registration agencies of organizations and individuals that carry out tax registration together with enterprise registration, cooperative registration, business registration."

2. Increasing penalties level for tax violations

The sanction level has increased remarkably compared to the previous regulations in Decree 129/2013/ND-CP. Specifically:

• For administrative violations of time limit for taxpayer registration; notification of suspension of operation/business; notification of continuing to operate/do business before the notified time, the maximum fine can be up to 10,000,000 VND
• For administrative violations of time limit for notification of changes to taxpayer registration information, the fine level is from 500,000 VND to 7,000,000 VND
• The act of declaring tax inaccurately, dishonestly and inadequately in the tax dossier which does not lead to a lack of tax liabilities payment or an increase in tax exemption or reduction can be penalized from 500,000 VND to 8,000,000 VND.
• Failure to meet the deadline for submission of tax declaration dossiers, the fine level is from 2,000,000 VND to 25,000,000 VND, depending on the number of days of late filing.
• The taxpayer who fails to submit the tax declaration dossier within 90 days after tax is incurred but has fully paid the tax, late payment interest before the tax authority announces the tax audit or tax inspection decision, or before the tax authority issues the record on late submission of the tax declaration dossier will not be fined for tax evasion. However, the taxpayer is still subject to a penalty between 15,000,000 VND and 25,000,000 VND.
• For violations against regulations on provision of tax-related information, the fine level can be up to 5,000,000 VND
• Failure to comply with the administrative decision on tax inspection, tax audit, tax enforcement is fined from 2,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND
• The taxpayer who commits tax evasion can be fine 3 times the amount of tax evasion if there are 3 aggravating circumstances or more.

3. Supplement certain provisions on administratives violations in respect of invoices

Regarding this field, the provisions of this Decree inherit nearly the content of Decree 109/2013/ND-CP. However, the new Decree provides more specific penalties for the act of losing, burning invoices. Moreover, there are more provisions including violations against e-invoices, penalty levels and remedies as well. These violations can be mentioned as: using illegal e-invoices without acceptance or without authentication code, making e-invoices from cash registers without connection; transferring electronic data to tax authority; not destroying voices according to the provisions of law; violating the regulation on transferring data of e-invoices. 

Moreover, in order to be compatible with Decree 123/2020/ND- CP, Article 44, Clause 2 states that: 

“Taxpayers apply to e-invoices in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration No 38/2019/QH14 dated June 13, 2019 and legal documents guiding this Law before July 1, 2022 if violating regulations on e-invoices will be fined according to the provisions of this Decree.”

Decree 125/2020/ND-CP takes effect from the 5nd of December, 2020.

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On October 19th, 2020, the Government issued Decree 123/2020/ND-CP regulating invoices and vouchers with remarkable contents, particularly enterprises, organizations, household and individual businesses can use paper invoices until the end of June 30th, 2022.

 Accordingly, Decree 123/2020/ND-CP abolishes the compulsory use of e-invoices from the 1st of November, 2020 in Decree 119/2018/ND-CP and allows continued use of paper invoices as follows:

“Enterprises, economic organizations have announced the issuance of order-printed invoices, self-printed invoices, electronic invoices without the code of the Tax Agency or have registered to use electronic invoices with the Tax Agency's code, purchased invoices from Tax Agency before the date this Decree is enacted, are allowed to continue using existing invoices from the date this Decree is issued until June 30th, 2022 and the procedures for invoices according to the provisions of the Decree No. 51/2010 / ND-CP dated May 14, 2010 and No. 04/2014 / ND-CP dated January 17, 2014"

The application of invoices for new businesses established from October 19, 2020 to June 30, 2022 is also specified as follows:

“For new business which is established between October 19th, 2020 and June 30th, 2022, in case the Tax Agency notifies the business to apply e-invoices as prescribed in the Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP, the business shall comply with the guidance of the Tax Agency.

In case the information technology infrastructure is not yet completed but continue to use invoices according to the provisions of Decree 51/2010/ND-CP dated May 14th, 2010 and 04/2014 / ND-CP dated January 17th, 2014, the business shall send the invoice data to the Tax Agency according to Form No. 03/DL-HDĐT of Appendix IA issued together with Decree 123/2020 with the submission of the value tax declaration. The tax Agency builds invoice data of business units to put into the invoice database and publish it on the Web portal of General Department of Taxation to serve the invoice data search.”

Decree 123/2020/ND-CP takes effect from the 1^st of July, 2022.

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The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has submitted detailed plans for flight schedules and requirements for airlines to bring international passengers into Vietnam, awaiting approval from the Ministry of Transport and concerned authorities. According to the aviation authority, there will be nine total inbound flights a week landing in Hanoi and HCM City.

Vietnam Airlines check-in counter at Noi Bai International Airport

Recently, Vietnam has decided to reopen international flights to and from six Asian destinations including Japan, South Korea, China, China’s Taiwan, Laos and Cambodia – six months after the country closed its border on March 22 to battle the spread of the coronavirus. Earlier on September 11, the agency sent letters to their Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean counterparts detailing the plans. The Asian partners all agreed with Vietnam’s plan.

Requirements

• Airlines will only process bookings for passengers who provide all necessary information – including the names and phone numbers of the passengers’ contacts in Vietnam, address and phone number of the quarantine facility they will stay in, and the phone number of the host organisation who will receive the passengers at the airport.

• Vietnamese and foreign airlines can only complete flight procedures for passengers with valid visas.

• Passengers must produce documents to prove they have been allowed to quarantine in facilities such as diplomatic representative’s buildings, factories, business headquarters, hotels or other similar accommodations, or centralised quarantine facilities managed by the military.

To this end, local governments in Vietnam must publicise the list of all certified quarantine facilities in their jurisdiction as well as transportation services that can bring passengers to the quarantine facilities, in addition to the cost of each quarantine option and coronavirus testing. All localities must be uniform in their reception of foreign entries and not introduce separate procedures for flights that have already got permits to operate.

Requirement during check-in procedures

• The airlines ask passengers to present their passport, entry visa, and proofs of a negative SARS-CoV-2 PRC test obtained three days before boarding.

• The negative test must be certified by the Vietnamese diplomatic representative in their country or locality.

• Before boarding, passengers must wear masks, install the Vietnamese contact-tracing app Bluezone and the Vietnam Health Declaration app on their mobile devices, and fill out the health forms. Airlines must carry out temperature checks and deny boarding for anyone with a temperature of more than 37.5 degrees Celsius.

Currently, permitted entries to Vietnam are limited to foreign investors, business executives, experts, highly skilled workers, diplomats, international students – and their family – along with returning Vietnamese and their relatives. International tourists are still not allowed in yet. Meanwhile, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet have registered with the aviation authority to conduct these flights from September 21. However, as authorities have not fully fleshed out screenings, entry and quarantine protocols, the flights have not been implemented.

Note: Professionals can enter Vietnam less than 14 days without concentrated quarantine requirement

Access to this following article for more detail: https://asiabizconsult.com/.../298-professionals-can...

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On September 25th 2020, the Prime Minister of Vietnam signed Decree 114/2020/NĐ-CP detailing the implementation of Resolution No.116/2020/QH14 of the National Assembly on the reduction of corporate income tax for enterprises, cooperatives, non-business units and other organizations. The effective date of the Decree 114 is from the effective date of Resolution No. 116/2020/QH14 and applies to the corporate income tax period of 2020. In particular, Clause 2 Article 1 of Decree 114/2020 /NĐ-CP clearly states a 30% reduction in corporate income tax for the 2020 corporate income tax period for an enterprise whose total revenue in 2020 does not exceed 200 billion VND.

1. Subjects of application: Enterprise income taxpayers are organizations engaged in the production and trading of goods and services with taxable income (referred to as enterprises) according to the provisions of Article 1 of Resolution 116/2020/QH14, including Enterprises established under the provisions of Vietnamese law; Organizations established under the Cooperative Law; Non-business units established under the provisions of Vietnamese law; Other organizations established under the provisions of Vietnamese law and have income-generating production and business activities.

2. Method for calculation of total revenue in 2020: The above total revenue in 2020 is the total revenue in the enterprise income tax period of 2020 of enterprises including all sales, processing and service fees including price subsidies, surcharges and supplements to which enterprises are entitled under the provisions of the Law on Enterprise Income Tax and its guiding documents.

However, in the case of a newly established enterprise or converting form of enterprises, ownership transformation, consolidation, merger, division, separation, dissolution, bankruptcy, plus in the corporate income tax period of the year 2020 that enterprise has not operated for 12 months, total revenue (TDT) in 2020 is determined as follows (in the 2020 corporate income tax period):

Total revenue in 2020 = (Actual total revenue 2020) /(Actual number of months of operating business activity in 2020) *12 months

In the case of newly established enterprises, converting form of enterprises, ownership transformation, consolidation, merger, division, separation, dissolution or bankruptcy in the month, the operation period shall be counted in full months.

3. The enterprise expects total revenue in 2020 corporate income tax period not to exceed 200 billion VND: In this case, the enterprise shall determine the temporary quarter payment as 70% of the quarterly corporate income tax payment.

At the end of the 2020 enterprise income tax period, if the total revenue in 2020 of the enterprise does not exceed 200 billion VND, the enterprise shall declare reducing the enterprise income tax of the year 2020 when finalizing the enterprise 2020 income tax in accordance with the regulations.

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