Official Dispatch No. 2348/BTC-TCT dated March 03, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance on enterprise income tax incentives

Some enterprises have requested the Ministry of Finance to provide specific guidance on the abolition of enterprise income tax incentives in line with WTO commitments granted to enterprises that meet conditions on export ratio and use of locally made materials and to allow those meeting conditions on other incentives to continue enjoying these incentives (other than those on export ratio and use of locally made materials). Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s direction in the Government Office’s Official Letter No. 8951/VPCP-KTTH of December 31, 2008, on enterprise income tax incentives in line with WTO commitments and after consulting the Planning and Investment Ministry (document No. 8365/NKH-TCTT of November 14, 2008) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (document No. 10838/BCT-TC of November 12, 2008), the Ministry of Finance guides in detail enterprise income tax incentives as follows:

1.For enterprises which are no longer entitled to enterprise income tax incentives for meeting the conditions on use of locally made materials and export ratio in textile and garment activities:

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 46 of the Government’s Decree No. 24/2007/ND-CP of February 14, 2007, and Point 9, Part H of the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 134/2007/TT-BTC of November 23, 2007, if enterprises operating in the textile and garment sector and enterprises entitled to incentives for using locally made materials meet other conditions for enjoying enterprise income tax incentives (other than those on export ratio and use of locally made materials), such as production in industrial parks and export processing zones; operation in geographical areas with difficult or extremely difficult socio-economic conditions on the list of those eligible for investment incentives, and labor-intensive production, they will continue enjoying enterprise income tax incentives corresponding to these conditions for the remaining incentive period. They may select either of the following ways of enjoying incentives and notify it to tax authorities:

Way 1:Continuing enjoying enterprise income tax incentives corresponding to the conditions which the enterprises meet (other than those on those on export ratio and use of locally made materials) for the remaining incentive period according to the previous legal documents on enterprise income tax which were effective at the time of grant of establishment licenses.

Way 2:Continuing enjoying enterprise income tax incentives corresponding to the conditions which the enterprises meet (other than those on those on export ratio and use of locally made materials) for the remaining incentive period according to the previous legal documents on enterprise income tax which were effective at the time of revision in line with WTO commitments (January 11, 2007).

The application of enterprise income tax incentives for the remaining period as mentioned above must ensure the principle that enterprises must be enjoying incentive enterprise income tax rates and tax exemption and reduction under the guidance at Points 5 and 6, Part II of Circular No. 134/2007/TT-BTC.

2.For enterprises currently enjoying enterprise income tax incentives for meeting the condition on export ratio (excluding textile and garment activities), they will continue enjoying these incentives through the end of 2011.

From 2012, if meeting other conditions for enjoying enterprise income tax incentives (other than the condition on export ratio), these enterprises may select and notify tax authorities of enterprise income tax incentives for the remaining period corresponding to the conditions they actually meet for enjoying such incentives according to previous legal documents on enterprise income tax which were effective at the time of grant of establishment licenses or legal documents on enterprise income tax which were effective at the time of revision in line with WTO commitments (January 11, 2007).

The application of enterprise income tax incentives for the remaining period as mentioned above must ensure the principle that enterprises must be enjoying incentive enterprise income tax rates and tax exemption and reduction.

3.Investment incentive procedures: Under Clause 1, Article 38 of the Investment Law, investors shall base themselves on investment incentive levels and conditions as prescribed by law to determine by themselves their incentive levels and carry out procedures for enjoying investment incentives at competent agencies. An investor that wishes to obtain certification of investment incentives shall carry out investment registration procedures at a state management agency in charge of investment for the latter to give such certification in the investment certificate. Otherwise, it does not need to carry out procedure for adjustment of its investment license.

The Ministry of Finance notifies its opinions to ministries and provincial-level People’s Committees for information and direction of their units. Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported to the Ministry of Finance for timely handling.