Circular 13/2020/TT-BTTTT procedural compliance of software product manufacturing

CIRCULAR

Determining procedural compliance of software product manufacturing operations

Pursuant to the Law on Information Technology dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 71/2007/ ND-CP dated May 3, 2007, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Information Technology regarding the information technology industry;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 17/2017/ ND-CP dated February 17, 2017, defining the functions, services, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 218/2013/ ND-CP dated December 26, 2013, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Enterprise Income Tax;

At the request of Director General of Department of Information Technology,

The Minister of Information and Communications promulgates the Circular on determining procedural compliance of software product manufacturing operations.

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular prescribes the determination of procedural compliance of software product manufacturing operations for benefitting from corporate income tax.

Article 2. Subjects of application

This Circular applies to management agencies, organizations and enterprises related to manufacturing of software products mentioned under list of software products regulated by Ministry of Information and Communications.

Article 3. Manufacturing process of software products

Stages in manufacturing process of software products:

1. Requirement determination, which includes one or multiple following operations: producing or completing ideas regarding developing software products; describing characteristics (requirements) of products; proposing, surveying, and clarifying requirements of software products; analyzing operations; developing complete requirements for software products; consulting about procedural adjustment; consolidating requirements, approving requirement, control capacity and other factors to determine compliance of the products with the requirements.

2. Analysis and design, which include on or multiple following operations: specifically describing requirements (functional and non-functional requirements, and issues that need to be dealt with); establishing development equation and necessary techniques to best utilize solutions; analyzing legitimacy and examination capacity of the software, analyzing impacts of software requirements on operation environment; listing requirements to be prioritized, approved and updated when necessary; implementing data modeling, function modeling, and information channel modeling; identifying software solutions; designing solution and designing software system; designing data, software structure, designing composition units and modules of software; designing information safety and security for software; designing customer experience interface.

3. Programming and coding, which include one or multiple following operations: programming software; programming units and modules of software; adjusting, customizing and modifying software; integrating software components; integrating software system.

4. Software examination and experimentation, which include one or multiple following operations: developing testing and experimenting scenarios of units and modules of software; testing software; experimenting software; experimenting software functions; appraising software quality; assessing error possibilities; experimenting information safety and security of software; verifying satisfaction of customers’ requirements; inspecting software.

5. Software product completion and packaging, which include one or multiple following operations: developing documents on software product description, installation manuals (in case of total product transfer), software product manuals (for persons using or hiring services); packing software products; registering models; registering intellectual property rights.

6. Software product installation, transfer, instruction, and maintenance, which include one or multiple following operations: transferring (entire products or rights to use products in form of hiring); instructing installation (in case of total product transfer); installing software products (on customers’ systems in case of total product transfer or on service providing systems in case of lending software products); training and instructing (persons using or hiring services); examining software products after transferring or software products on service providing systems; correcting software products after transferring or software products on service providing systems; providing post-transfer assistance during service rental period; guaranteeing products post-transfer or during service rental period; maintaining software products (on customers’ systems or service providing systems).

7. Release, distribution of software products, which include one or multiple following operations: selling, lending, distributing, and publishing manufactured software products.

Article 4. Determination of procedural compliance of software product manufacturing operations

1. Software product manufacturing operations of an organization or enterprise specified under Article 3 of this Circular shall be considered to be procedurally compliant software product manufacturing operations when the organization/enterprise performs at least any of the 2 stages: Requirement determination, Analysis and design specified under Clause 1 and Clause 2 Article 3 of this Circular respectively.

2. Procedurally compliant software product manufacturing operations specified under Clause 1 of this Article shall be displayed by one or multiple following documents depending on operations within stages performed by the organization/enterprise:

a) Documents proving each operation within the Requirement determination stage: Description of ideas regarding  product development methods; description of characteristics (requirements) of products and context of use of products; description of propositions and results of surveys, clarification results, and requirement development results for products; detailed description and analysis regarding operations; description of complete requirements for products; description of contents of consultancy regarding procedural adjustment; records on consolidation of requirements, approval of requirements, description of control capacity and factors to verify adherence to requirements of products; or equivalent documents.

b) Documents proving each operation within the Analysis and design stage: Description of requirements; establishment of development equation and necessary techniques to best utilize solutions; analysis of legitimacy and examination capacity of software, analysis of impacts of software requirements on operation environment; lists of requirements to be prioritized, approved and updated when necessary; descriptions of data modeling, function modeling, and information channel modeling; description of software solutions; solution design and software system design; data design, structure design, designs for composition units and modules of software; designs for information safety and security for software; designs for customer interface; or equivalent documents.

c) Documents proving each operation within the Programming and coding stage: Some primary source code lines to prove that the enterprise writes the software code; description of consolidated software; or equivalent documents.

d) Documents proving each operation within the Software examination and experimentation stage: Scripts of examining and experimenting units and modules of software; description of software experimentation results, software system experimentation results, software function experimentation results, software quality appraisal results; assessment of error possibility; description of information safety and security of software; verification of software’s satisfaction for customers’ requirements; software inspection records; or equivalent documents.

e) Documents proving each operation within the Software product completion and packaging stage: Total introduction to software products; installation instructions (in case of total product transfer), product or service use instructions (for persons using or hiring the services); copies of model registration certificates (if any); copies of intellectual property right registration (if any); or equivalent documents.

f) Documents proving each operation within the Software product installation, transfer, instruction, and maintenance stage: Transfer contracts or records (entire products or rights to use products in form of hiring); installation instructions (in case of total product transfer); description of software product installation (on customers’ systems in case of total product transfer or on service providing systems in case of lending software products); training and instruction contents (persons using or hiring services); description of software product examination after transferring or software products on service providing systems; description of software product correction after transfer or software products on service providing systems; description of post-transfer assistance during service rental period; description of software product guarantee post-transfer or during service rental period; description of software product maintenance (on customers’ systems or service providing systems).

Article 5. Organization of implementation

1. The Department of Information Technology is responsible for:

a) Organizing the implementation of this Circular.

b) Synthesizing relevant information from organizations and enterprises as specified at Point b, Clause 2 of this Article to serve state management.

2. Organizing and participating in the production of software products specified in this Circular shall:

a) Taking responsibility for the veracity of information in the application for tax incentives for software production and determine by themselves software production meets the process.

b) Sending and updating information on software products and stages in the production of software products meeting the process and deductible tax rates to the Ministry of Information and Communications (the Information Technology Department) for synthetic.

c) Ensuring that their production activities of software products and software products do not violate the law on intellectual property and other relevant laws.

Article 6. Transitional provision

Software manufacturing operations determined to be procedurally compliant as per the law prior to the effective date hereof shall remain procedurally compliant until the expiry date of approved investment projects.

Article 7. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on August 19, 2020.

2. This Circular replaces Circular No. 16/2014/TT-BTTTT dated November 18, 2014 of the Ministry of Information and Communications regulating the determination of software production activities.

3. In the course of implementation, if any problem arises, organizations and enterprises shall send documents to the Ministry of Information and Communications (the Department of Information Technology) for handling, settlement, guidance or correction, supplementation accordingly.

4. Chief of Office, Director General of Department of Information Technology, Heads of agencies and units under the Ministry of Information and Communications, Directors of Departments of Information and Communications of provinces and cities under central authority, organizations and enterprises are responsible for the implementation of this Circular.