Recently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment issued the Draft Decree on the Government's incentives for businesses suffering from the consequence of the corona virus pandemic. It is aimed that by the end of 2021, at least 01 million businesses will have access to favorable credit policies, reduction or termination of payment of tax, land fees as well as electricity, water, telecommunication charges. The Draft Decree is pending the Prime Minister's approval.
Under the Draft Decree, there are four key groups of tasks for government agencies.
Group 1: Implement flexible and effective measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic, creating conditions for enterprises to stabilize and maintain production and business activities.
Group 2: Ensure stable production, smooth and efficient circulation of goods, overcome supply chain disruptions
_ Apply fast-track customs clearance for aid or donation from
abroad for the healthcare sector to deal with the pandemic
_ Allow enterprises to submit scanned copies certified by digital
signatures for documents that must be submitted as originals in the
form of paper/notarized/certified original to resolve bottlenecks
of customs clearance of goods
Group 3: Support to cut costs, remove difficulties in cash flow for businesses
_ Propose policies suspending or reducing the social insurance
premiums in 2021 for businesses until June 2022.
_ Develop a plan to support air transport enterprises, and report
to the Prime Minister in September 2021.
– Requesting shipping companies to publicly and transparently
list shipping rates to eliminate unreasonable increase in freight
rates that lead to cost burden for enterprises
_ Reduce of electricity prices for goods warehouses of logistics
and processing enterprises in the agriculture, forestry, fishery
and a number of commodity industries with export turnover of over
USD 1 billion USD. Continue to reduce electricity prices for
tourist accommodation establishments.
– Expeditiously implement the issued policies on relaxation
and reduction of taxes, fees, charges and land rents; implement
preferential tax policies for imported goods to finance COVID-19
prevention and control after being approved by the
Government.
– Extend the deadline for paying excise tax on automobiles
manufactured or assembled in Vietnam. Continue to reduce
registration fees for domestically manufactured or assembled cars
for an additional period of time in line with the COVID-19
pandemic.
_ Research to allow travel businesses to temporarily withdraw
deposits for domestic and international travel and tourism
services; reduce deposit withdrawal settlement time from 60 days to
30 days; continue to extend the reduction of the license fee for
travel service business and issue tourist guide cards until the end
of 2021.
_ Continue to administer monetary policy to control inflation,
contributing to stabilizing the macro-economy; encourage credit
institutions to continue reducing lending interest rates for
existing loans and new loans to support production and
business.
_ Supplement policies on debt rescheduling, exemption and reduction
of interest and fees, keeping the same debt group for customers
affected by the Covid-19 epidemic
_ Research and consider the exemption of trade union fees for
members of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and
2022
Group 4: Regarding labor issues, experts
_ Propose policies to flexibly apply and relax regulations and
conditions on the grant and extension of work permits for foreign
experts working in Vietnam
_ Adjust regulations on tax finalization and bad debt and for
borrowing capital to pay wages to employees when restoring
production and business.
This is the second Draft Decree issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment upon collection and investigation of opinions from Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh and opinions of 15 ministries. As such, it has reflected the current situations as well as takes into consideration the cities' and provinces' proposals. The Vietnam Government has continuously proved that it accompanies the business community to immediately implementing measures to remove difficulties and bottlenecks in production and business with the motto “soonest – most effective” in order to minimize damage and negative impacts on the business sector.
For more information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the author Dr. Oliver Massmann under omassmann@duanemorris.com. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, Member to the Supervisory Board of PetroVietnam Insurance JSC and the only foreign lawyer presenting in Vietnamese language to members of the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM.
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