8 percent VAT proposed

Vietnam Tax Consultants Association (VTCA) has sent a document to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to give opinions about the draft government decree on extending the deadline for VAT, corporate income tax, personal income tax and land rent payment in 2023.

To help enterprises maintain growth and recovery after the pandemic, VTCA has proposed that MOF submit to the government and National Assembly a plan on easing VAT from 10 percent to 8 percent, to be applied in 2023.

VTCA believes that enterprises need support to recover in the current difficult period. A survey of 12,000 enterprises conducted by the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) showed that Covid-19 has disrupted production chains and heavily impacted enterprises.

Bond payments in real estate proposed

MOF has submitted to the government the draft decree on amending and supplementing articles of Decree 65 on private bond offerings in the domestic and international markets.

The draft shows major amendments, allowing enterprises to negotiate extending bond terms for two years, and make payments in real estate products.

Online sellers have to pay tax

Local taxation agencies have sent letters to online sellers, requesting them to declare and pay taxes for the business they conduct on e-commerce websites. Many sellers have become worried as they estimate that the tax sums may amount to hundreds of millions of VND.

Taxation agencies have collected information about 53,000 sellers provided by 248 e-commerce websites. The agencies found problems in the real transaction value and declared value, stressing that they would apply measures to control tax payments.

Airlines to open new routes to lure travelers

Vietnam’s air carriers are rushing to resume international air routes in anticipation of high travel demand from domestic and international travelers in the high tourism season of summer.

The international aviation market is recovering rapidly, so the resumption of international air routes will help Vietnamese carriers ease losses and increase revenue, thus offsetting losses they had incurred because of Covid-19.

New salary levels

From February 20, 2023, employees’ salaries and incomes based on social insurance premiums paid will be adjusted and the new levels will be used as the basis for calculating pension and social insurance lump sums.

The regulation is being implemented in accordance with Circular 01/2023 issued by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

Banks ease interest rates

After state invested banks slashed deposit interest rates, private banks followed the move. Interest rates of 6 percent have been quoted by many banks for 1-5-month deposits.

Some banks have announced lending interest rate cuts of up to 3 percent per annum, applied to real estate loans as well.

Solving problems in real estate market 

An online national conference discussing solutions for the real estate market chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was held February 17. At the event, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that a VND120 trillion credit package would be launched for both realtors and home buyers. The interest rates will be 1.5-2 percent lower than those of commercial banks’ average rates.

Vietnam exports rice at record prices to Europe 

Fifteen tons of organic rice of Quang Tri province were exported to Europe for US$1,800 per ton. Vietnam has also signed a protocol on exporting salangane nests to China through official channels. This helps Vietnamese salangane nest exporters to earn $200-300 million a year.

China spent $2.2 billion to import 4.31 million tons of cassava starch in 2022. Vietnam was the second largest cassava starch supplier to China. 

Hanh Nguyen