Mazars in Vietnam Newsletter - Tax & Legal Update - Issue November 2022

I. Operational updates

1. Circular 12/2022/TT-NHNN (“Circular 12”) providing guidance on foreign exchange administration in respect of enterprise’s foreign borrowing and foreign debt repayment of enterprises
2. Official Letter 3805/TCHQ-TXNK providing guidance on tax treatment for export processing enterprises (“EPEs”) processing for domestic enterprises
3. Official Letter 3034/TCT-CS providing guidance on the updating project progress when postponed
4. Official Letter 2448/CTBNI-TTHT providing guidance on the registration of dependents being not relatives
5. Official Letter 3870/TCT-DNNCN providing guidance on tax declaration and payment on behalf of business households and individuals regarding bonuses and commercial discounts
6. Concerns regarding in-country export and import transactions of foreign traders without presence in Vietnam (update)

Official Letter 4357/TCHQ-GSQL dated 17 October 2022, issued by the General Department of Customs (“GDC”) responses to the query regarding to in-country export and import activities of foreign traders without presence in Vietnam, in which:

• A foreign trader without a presence in Vietnam being refered to the Law on Foreign Trade Management is understood as a foreign trader that does not have investment or business activities in Vietnam according to the forms prescribed by the Law on investment, commerce and enterprises; does not have a representative office or branch in Vietnam as prescribed by the Law on commerce and enterprises;
• Enterprises that performs in-country export and import transactions (customs declarants being in Vietnam) must be lawful responsible for determining that foreign traders do not have a presence in Vietnam.

Per the above interpretation, a foreign company that has presence in Vietnam (including representative offices and subsidiaries in Vietnam) shall not be eligible to participate in the in-country export and import activities. This is a new view of the GDC and in fact, similar cases regarding this issue are not common.

However, this view would impact to business operations in the near future. Therefore, it is suggested that companies should review their in-country export and import transactions and consider the related impact because the custom and tax authorities would implement a stricter control on customs clearance procedures regarding these transactions.

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Disclaimer:

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

OUR SUPPORT

For regulation changes and tax matters, we can provide you with assistance on:

• Registration, declaration of Personal Income Tax, Corporate Tax, VAT and Foreign Contractor Tax.
• Tax refunds assistance and representation.
• Consultancy on utilizing opportunities provided by transfer pricing.
• Customs advisory: Compliance & reporting; FTA and C/O; Harmonised System code classification and valuation; Inventory control; International trade arrangement; and Others.

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