Businesses advised to capitalize on tax incentives

Companies should find ways to make the most of the tax incentives offered by the Government, Nguyen Thi Cuc, head of the Vietnam Taxation Consulting Association, told a workshop in HCMC on Tuesday.

“The corporate sector should capitalize to the full on the tax incentives that the Government provides,” Cuc said at the “Taxing our way out of global recession” workshop.

The workshop covered topics relating to new provisions on value added tax rebates for specific services and extension of tax payment deadlines. It was organized by the British Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Vietnam Taxation Consulting Association.

Concerning personal income tax, the participants voiced concerns about determining and registering personal income tax in line with Official Notice 3473/TCT-TNCN dated September 8, 2010 of the General Department of Taxation.

Particular attention was also given to corporate income tax as well as the important new provisions on customs invoices and invoices made to order.

“Tax policies in a developing country like Vietnam should be simple,” said Chas Roy Chowdhury, head of UK’s ACCA Taxation Department.

Cuc said the latest move of the Government on giving rights of invoice order to enterprises was remarkable, as before only the Ministry of Finance could supply businesses with invoices causing many difficulties.

“This shows the Government is changing the way of administration and facilitating business,” she added.

Chowdhury said, “Companies need to be fully aware that in time of crisis, cash is the most important asset and they need to pursue debts effectively to make sure that customers pay their debts on time.”

Experts also stressed the importance of taxation consultants.

Cuc, who is the former deputy head of the General Department of Taxation, said there weren’t enough taxation consultants with enough know-how working in Vietnam to help the 200,000 small and medium enterprises to deal with the complicated taxation system here.

This is very dangerous if enterprises do not know thoroughly what they have to do and and how they can benefit, she said.