Legal updates

Accordingly, in order to stimulate consumption demand, recovery and economic development, if the case of 2% reduction for goods and services is subject to the tax rate of 10% (remaining 8%) according to the following options:

Option 1: Reduce the VAT rate by 2% for the group of goods and services subject to the tax rate of 10% (down to 8%).

Accordingly, the General Department of Taxation instructs that in case the Company has goods and services used for promotion, advertising, donation, internal consumption, the value-added tax paid under the deduction method is not deductible expense when determining taxable income.

In case Google – an overseas supplier has registered, filed and paid taxes directly in Vietnam according to the provisions of Article 76, Article 77, Article 78, Article 79 of Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC, the Company is not obliged to declare, deduct, and pay taxes on behalf of the overseas supplier as prescribed in Circular No. 103/2014/TT-BTC dated August 6, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance.

In case the provision of services takes place both in Vietnam and outside Vietnam but the service contract is signed between two taxpayers in Vietnam or has a permanent establishment in Vietnam, the 0% tax rate only applies to the value of services performed outside Vietnam as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 9 of Circular No. 219/2013/TT-BTC dated December 31, 2013 of the Ministry of Finance.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 219/2013/TT-BTC dated December 31, 2013 of the Ministry of Finance (as amended and supplemented in Circular No. 26/2015/TT-BTC dated February 27, 2015, Circular No. 130/2016/TT-BTC dated August 12, 2016 of the Ministry of Finance) as follows:
1. Clause 10 Article 7 shall be amended as follows: “10. Regarding real estate transfer activities, the VAT taxable price shall be determined in the provision of Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 49/2022/ND-CP dated July 29, 2022 of the Government.”
2. Clause 13 Article 7 shall be amended as follows: “13. Taxable prices for electricity production activities by the Vietnam Electricity (EVN) shall comply with provision of Clause 1 Article 1 of Government’s Decree No. 49/2022/ND-CP dated July 29, 2022.”

Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has guided:
Returned goods: For goods purchased from February 2022 to December 2022 (goods and services are subjected to VAT reduction, the applicable VAT rate is 8%), by 2023 when returning goods, a return invoice is issued with the VAT rate of 8%.

Accordingly, the Ha Noi City Tax Department responded to the concern of determining the VAT rate of 2023 for services completed in 2022 as follows:
When the company signs a construction and installation contract, the time of issuing an invoice is the time of acceptance and handover of the workload, work items, completed construction and installation volume, regardless of whether money has been received or not. In case the Company issues a VAT invoice after December 31, 2022, it is not allowed to apply the VAT reduction policy as prescribed in Article 3 of Decree No. 15/2022/ND-CP dated January 28, 2022 of the Government.

Hai Phong City Tax Department has guided, in case the Company pays the return airfare for foreign experts when terminating the labor contract, not the case of return home once a year:
• Personal income tax: this is a non-cash benefit that employees are entitled to, so this expense is included in the employee’s personal income taxable income.

• According to the instructions of the Tax Department of Bac Ninh Province, in case the Company selling goods has issued an invoice to the customer in December 2022, then the customer returns the received goods due to poor quality, the invoice to returned goods is issued with the value and tax rate corresponding to the invoice made according to regulations

• To amend and supplement Point g Clause 1 Article 9 of Circular No. 111/2013/TT-BTC dated August 15, 2013 related to the regulation on the dossier of proof of dependents, thereby allowing the submission of a copy of citizen ‘s identity card in place of a copy of ID card and allowing the submission of a copy of the certificate of residence information/Notice of personal identification number in place of the household registration book when proving dependents.