Stabilizing VAT policies, removing difficulties, and solving problems in implementing the current Law on Value Added Tax.
Focusing Resources on Legislation to Ensure High Quality
The Government issued Resolution No. 49/NQ-CP on April 17, 2024, regarding the specialized legislative meeting for April 2024.
The Resolution states: In recent times, the Government and members of the Government have been very proactive, demonstrating a high sense of responsibility in leading and directing legislation, thereby creating many positive changes in this work, promptly removing difficulties and obstacles for people, businesses, and promoting the economic and social recovery and development of the country. Since the beginning of 2024, on a monthly basis, the Government has organized Specialized Legislative Meetings to provide opinions and approve many legislative proposals and draft laws to be submitted to the National Assembly at the 7th Session in May 2024.
The Government requests that Ministers and Heads of Ministerial-level agencies continue to focus resources on legislation to ensure the highest quality of draft Laws submitted to the National Assembly at the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly. Ministers and Heads of Ministerial-level agencies are assigned to preside over the drafting of proposals, drafting of projects, and drafting of normative legal documents; closely follow the Party’s guidelines and policies, State policies, and practical requirements; focus on summarizing the implementation of laws, carefully assessing the impact of policies, strengthening policy communication, gathering opinions from experts, scientists, and especially opinions from subjects directly affected by the document to ensure consistency, synchronization, feasibility, publicity, transparency, creating favorable conditions for organizations and individuals in production and business activities, and contributing to preventing corruption, negativity, and vested interests, localism in legislation.
At the Government’s specialized legislative meeting in April 2024, the Government discussed and provided opinions on the draft Law on Value Added Tax (amended). This is a difficult and complicated Law, with a wide scope of application and adjustment, directly affecting the rights, interests of organizations, individuals, people, and businesses.
The Government highly appreciates the Ministry of Finance in preparing and submitting to the Government the draft Law on Value Added Tax (amended); relevant ministries and agencies have actively participated in providing opinions, completing this draft Law with a high sense of responsibility.
The Government agrees that it is necessary to urgently develop and complete the draft Law on Value Added Tax (amended) in order to fully institutionalize the Party’s guidelines and policies on completing a complete, unified, and stable VAT policy framework, ensuring consistency with practical requirements, and removing difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of the current Law on Value Added Tax. The content of the draft Law is basically consistent with the policies in the proposal to develop the Law on Value Added Tax (amended) approved by the Government in Resolution No. 115/NQ-CP dated July 28, 2023, on the specialized legislative meeting in July 2023.
The Government assigns the Ministry of Finance to preside over, coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to study and absorb the maximum opinions of Government members and opinions at the Government meeting; strengthen consultation with experts, scientists, associations, businesses, and affected subjects to complete the draft Law dossier.
In particular, fully institutionalize the Party’s guidelines and policies, State policies on improving VAT policies in line with Vietnam’s reality and international practices, ensuring transparency, harmonizing the interests of the State with the interests of people and businesses, at the same time encouraging domestic production activities, export of goods and services, and promoting the three main driving forces contributing to economic growth: consumption, investment, and export.
At the same time, supplement and thoroughly review all legal documents related to the content of the draft Law, promptly detect, and propose solutions to handle in case of conflicting, contradictory, and overlapping provisions between the provisions of current laws and the proposed amendments and supplements in the draft Law, ensuring the coherence and unity of the legal system; explain in detail the amendments and supplements to each provision in the draft Law, clearly stating the content of the Law on Value Added Tax, which is inherited from the current Law on Value Added Tax, and the content of the amendments and supplements in the draft Law to ensure the requirements of decentralization, delegation, and administrative procedure reform.
Research and review, legalize issues that have been applied stably, consistently, and in accordance with the situation and practical requirements; for issues that are not yet highly stable or need to be adjusted during implementation to suit the reality and socio-economic development requirements of the country, the provisions are in the nature of principles and assigned to competent authorities to regulate details to ensure flexibility and proactive adjustment when necessary, such as: regulations on the threshold of sales of goods and services not subject to VAT of households and business individuals; regulations on the value of non-cash payment vouchers for goods and services purchased at a time…
Fully Review the Goods Subject to VAT Exemption
Regarding the regulations on objects not subject to value-added tax, the Ministry of Finance studies and absorbs the opinions of Government members, thoroughly reviews all goods, services/groups of goods and services that are not subject to value-added tax to ensure consistency and synchronization with regulations of related specialized laws in each field; If necessary, some types of goods and services not subject to value-added tax can be considered and added to meet practical requirements, ensuring the true nature of goods and services not subject to value-added tax.
Regarding the regulations on export services subject to a 0% tax rate, the Ministry of Finance continues to refer to international experience, assess the implementation practices to study criteria, classification principles, and determination of export services to serve as a basis for determining cases of export services that are subject to a 0% tax rate, ensuring fairness, correctness of the nature of export services, and at the same time combining harmoniously between State management requirements and the interests of businesses in the export sector.
Thoroughly Review the Regulations on Cases and Conditions for VAT Refund
Regarding the regulation on VAT refund, the Ministry of Finance thoroughly reviews the regulations on cases and conditions for VAT refund, ensuring reasonableness, feasibility, publicity, transparency, creating convenience for people and businesses; study the regulations on VAT refund for cases where enterprises convert ownership, convert enterprises, merge, consolidate, divide, separate, and cease operations to ensure feasibility; specific, appropriate regulations on the procedures, processes, and responsibilities of tax authorities, tax officials, and relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals, ensuring consistency and synchronization with legal regulations on tax management.
The Ministry of Finance presides over and coordinates with relevant ministries and agencies to urgently study and absorb the opinions of Government members; revise and complete the draft Law on Value Added Tax (amended) in accordance with the Law on Issuance of Legal Normative Documents; report to the Prime Minister before submitting it to the National Assembly at the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly.
