Mazars Vietnam Newsletter - Issue July 2019

We would like to bring you tax and legal updates in July 2019 with the following highlights influencing the corporate operations:

OPERATIONAL UPDATES

Official Letter 21382/CT-TTHT on the Value Added Tax (“VAT”) rate when selling supplies and materials to a Vietnamese enterprise to carry out construction work overseas

On April 17th, 2019, Hanoi Tax Department (“HTD”) issued Official Letter 21382/CT-TTHT guiding the case that Company A and Company B (both Vietnamese) signing a contract in which Company A sells supplies and materials for construction work implemented by Company B overseas. Following this Official Letter, supplies and materials directly exported and delivered overseas by Company A under such signed contract shall be subject to VAT rate 0%, considering that the prescribed conditions of invoices and supporting documents are satisfied.

Official Letter 44285/CT-TTHT on the VAT rate for analytical and technical verification services to a foreign enterprise

On June 10th, 2019, HTD issued Official Letter 44285/CT-TTHT guiding the case that a Vietnamese enterprise provides analytical and technical verification services to a foreign enterprise, then the foreign enterprise would use the result to manufacture and sell the finished products overseas (i.e. consumption outside of Vietnam). In such case, VAT rate 0% for the exported service would be applied, considering that the prescribed conditions of invoices and supporting documents are satisfied.

Official Letter 1667/CT-TTHT, 45553/CS-TTHT, 8171/CT-TT&HT on application of Corporate Income Tax (“CIT”) incentives

According to Official Letter 1667/CT-TTHT issued by General Department  of Taxation (“GDT”) on April 25th, 2019, Official Letter 45553/CS-TTHT issued by HTD on June 13th, 2019 and Official Letter 8171/CT-TT&HT issued by Binh Duong Tax Department issued on May 23rd, 2019, an enterprise which is entitled to CIT incentives subject to a particular condition needs to deduct the number of years enjoying such CIT incentives when wishing to consider and apply other scheme of CIT incentives corresponding to another condition.

Opinion on the signing date on e-invoices

According to Official Letter 44743/CT-TTHT issued by HTD on June 11th, 2019 proposing to GDT, HTD shared the point of view that the information of signing date on e-invoices is only for value added but not mandatory on e-invoices as regulated. Accordingly, HTD opined that in case an enterprise issued e-invoices without such criterion but still could indicate other mandatory criteria per prevailing regulations on e-invoices, such e-invoices should be treated as appropriate and legitimate. The buyer when receiving such e-invoices is eligible for declaring input VAT.

However, in Official Letter 3134/CT-TTHT issued on May 10th, 2019, Dong Nai Tax Department proposed an opposite view. Per this Official Letter, a buyer receiving an e-invoice from a seller must ensure that such e-invoice has criterion on signing date and such date must be the as the e-invoice issuance date, otherwise the e-invoice would be considered invalid.

Official Letter 2936/TCHQ-TXNK on custom procedures for leasing contract

According to Official Letter 2936/TCHQ-TXNK issued on May 14th, 2019 by General Department of Customs (“GDC”), on-the-spot import declaration is applied for buy-sell activities only. If two parties sign the leasing contract where the payment term indicates a non-chargeable leasing fee, this is not considered as a buy-sell activity; additionally if there is no instruction from a foreign enterprise assigning to deliver/receive the products to/from another Vietnamese enterprise, the transaction does not belong to cases eligible to on-the-spot import and export procedure.

Official Letter 3600/TCHQ-KTSTQ on inspection of actual material consumption and timing for stocktaking

According to Official Letter 3600/TCHQ-KTSTQ issued on June 3rd, 2019 by GDC with attention to provincial Custom Departments to unify the method to inspect and determine actual material consumption and timing for stocktaking as prevailing regulations:

Regarding inspection of actual material consumption: The inspection of actual material consumption is implemented on the basis of checking relevant documents and data such as production orders, production plan, internal delivery notes, etc. per each purchase order. During the post-clearance examination/inspection at the enterprise, the customs officer would request the enterprise to provide documents, data filed at place to examine and verify with the actual production according to each production plan by week/month/year depending on the characteristics, management scale and commodity of each enterprise.

Regarding timing for stocktaking: Depending on each circumstance, the actual status of inventory management to determine the appropriate timing for stocktaking for each enterprise:

• For enterprises implementing the periodic stocktaking and recording sufficient documents, the customs authority would select the same timing for stocktaking as that applied by the enterprise to ensure consistency of data recorded in documents;
• For enterprises not implementing the periodic stocktaking or not cooperating to provide data and supporting documents to customs authority during customs inspection, the customs authority would perform stocktaking during performance of post-custom clearance examination/inspection. The head of examination/inspection team can decide the specific timing for stocktaking after collecting and analyzing information and determining the risk per risk management principles, which should also be in line with specific inventory management method of each enterprise.

Official Letter 4138/TCHQ-TXNK on exemption of import duty for raw supplies and materials imported to produce/process goods for on-the-spot export

According to Official Letter 4138/TCHQ-TXNK issued on June 25th, 2019 by GDC, in case an enterprise imports raw supplies and materials to produce/process exported goods and then exports under form of on-the-spot export, import duty for such imported raw supplies and materials is exempted.

This Official Letter replaced Point 2 of Official Letter 5826/TCHQ-TXNK dated 05 October 2018 also issued by GDC.

Payroll Update

Official Letter 2355/TCT-DNNCN guiding the Personal Income Tax (“PIT”) withholding when signing contract with a businessperson

On June 10th, 2019, GDT issued Official Letter 2355/TCT-DNNCN guiding PIT withholding in case an enterprise signs a contract with a businessperson. According to this Official Letter, if the enterprise signs service contract with an individual considered as a businessperson satisfying the following conditions: having business registration or tax registration under form of business household having the same expertise as the signed service contract, the enterprise shall not withhold PIT; instead, the businessperson has to issue invoice (if eligible to) or prepare the list of purchased goods and services as regulated Form 01/TNDN. For other cases of individuals signing service contracts, the enterprise should withhold PIT 10% prior to payment to such individuals.

Official Letter 1970/TCT-DNNCN regarding PIT on transferring securities outside Vietnam

On May 17th, 2019, GDT issued Official Letter 1970/TCT-DNNCN guiding the case where a foreigner being a tax resident in Vietnam transfers securities in an overseas company, which is treated as having income from securities transfer. Such foreigner shall have to declare and pay 0.1% PIT on the securities transfer price to the local tax authority where he/she registered for temporary/permanent residence.

Our support

We do trust the above points are notable and sufficient, but should you have any question or need a deeper discussion on this issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Subscribe to our newsletter here