THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
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THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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No. 18115/BTC-TCT
Re. proposing the
mechanism and policy for management of collection of capital transfer tax
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Hanoi,
December 27, 2013
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Dear
People’s Committee of Ho Chi
Minh city ,
Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh city,
The Ministry of Finance has
received the Official Dispatch No. 6450/UBND-TM of Ho Chi Minh city dated
December 5, 2013 on proposing the mechanism and policy for management of
collection of tax levied on capital transfer and franchising operations on
which the Ministry of Finance has offered the following opinions:
I. Applicable tax policies
concerning capital transfer operations.
1. Value-added tax (VAT):
Article 5 of the combined Law on
Value-added Tax that provides provisions on untaxed entities shall include:
- Point d Clause 8:
“d) Capital transfer includes the
partial or complete transfer of a full amount of capital already used for
investment, including the circumstance under which an enterprise is sold to
others for production, trading and securities transfer purposes; other forms of
capital transfer in accordance with legal regulations;
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Pursuant to the regulations laid
down in Article 15 of the Government’s Decree No. 51/2010/NĐ-CP dated May 14,
2010 on providing regulations on sales and service invoices, and Article 14 of
the Circular No. 64/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated May 15, 2013
on providing guidance on the Decree No. 51/2010/NĐ-CP, the seller must issue
invoices after selling their products or rendering their services, including
commodities or services used as promotional, advertising gifts or sample goods;
commodities or services used as gifts, presents, donations, swaps or
substitutes for salary of employees and internal consumption (except for
commodities which are internally circulated to maintain normal manufacturing
operations); Information provided in invoices must be identical to the economic
event that may arise.
As stipulated above,
- Transfer of capital or
intellectual property rights in accordance with the Law on Intellectual
Property belongs to the entities which are not liable for VAT.
- Franchising, if involving the
transfer of intellectual property rights, will belong to the entities which are
not liable for VAT.
- If the franchising is the
transfer of the enjoyment of intellectual property rights, it will belong to
the entities subject to the VAT rate of 10%.
- An enterprise operating transfer
of capital or franchising (known as the transferer – seller) must issue VAT
invoices to transferees and submit their VAT declarations in accordance with
regulations. As for an invoice worth more than VND 20 million, related parties
must make payments via banks.
- If an enterprise operating capital transfer or franchising (known as
the transferer) does not issue an invoice in accordance with regulations, this
act is considered a violation and the tax authority shall exercise the right to
fix an amount of revenues to demand and collect VAT payments (when
appropriate).
2. Corporate income tax:
- Clause 2a Article 14 Chapter IV
in the Circular No. 123/2012/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated July 27,
2012 on corporate income tax stipulates:
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Fixation of the transfer price
is based on the inspection documents kept by the tax authority, or the capital
transfer price under other circumstances at the same time, economic
organization or as agreed upon in similar transfer contracts at the
transferring time. If the tax authority’s fixation of the transfer price is not
appropriate, the basis for fixation of the transfer price is the price assessed
by the professional valuation organization with delegated authority to
determine the transfer price at the transferring time in accordance with
regulations”
- Clause 2c Article 14 Chapter IV laid down in the Circular No.
123/2012/TT-BTC as mentioned above also stipulates:
“If a foreign organization doing
business in Vietnam or generating incomes in Vietnam but failing to operate in
accordance with the Investment Law or Corporate Law (hereinafter referred to as
foreign contractor) is carrying out capital transfer operations, their tax
declaration and payment shall follow the instructions hereunder:
The capital transferee shall be
responsible for determining, specifying, withholding and acting on behalf of
that foreign organization to pay an amount of corporate income tax payable. If
the capital transferee is also a foreign organization that does not operate in
accordance with the Investment Law, Corporate Law, the enterprise established
under Vietnam’s laws in which that foreign organization invests their capital
shall be responsible for making declaration and payment of an amount of
enterprise income tax incurred from capital transfer operations carried out by
the foreign organization.
Tax declaration and payment shall
be governed by regulations laid down in legislative documents on tax
administration”.
Currently, the corporate income
tax policy in relation to the capital transfer include specific regulations and
sanctions which state that, where the transfer contract does not specify the
payment price or the tax authority establishes that this payment price is not
conformable to the market price, the tax authority shall exercise its right to
examine and fix the transfer price. If the tax authority’s fixation of the
transfer price is not appropriate, the basis for fixation of the transfer price
is the price assessed by the professional valuation organization with delegated
authority to determine the transfer price at the transferring time in
accordance with regulations. If the capital transferee is also a foreign
contractor, the enterprise established under Vietnam’s laws in which foreign
organizations invest their capital shall be responsible for making declaration
and acting on their behalf to pay an amount of corporate income tax incurred
from capital transfer operations carried out by these foreign organizations.
The People’s Committee of Ho Chi
Minh city reported that enterprises carrying out capital transfer operations
have made their tax declarations in which the selling price is equal to the
cost price, and performed their capital transfer in a roundabout manner. This
leads to none of revenues recorded and causes tax loss. To deal with this
matter, the tax authority should focus more on tax administration, and
intensify inspection and examination to punctually detect any fraud committed
by enterprises. In case the capital transfer is carried out by enterprises
committing misrepresentation and having signs of tax evasion, the tax authority
must take appropriate measures to manage, inspect and examine (re-fix the
transfer price), or collaborate with the licensing agency or professional
valuation organization with delegated authority to re-fix the transfer price at
the transferring time in accordance with regulations for the purpose of
calculating and re-identify the amount of tax payable as agreed upon in this
capital transfer contract.
In order to strictly manage
capital transfer operations in the upcoming time, after considering opinions
from the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh city, the Ministry of Finance shall
study any supplementation to regulations laid down in the draft Circular on
corporate income tax that may come into force from the fiscal year 2014,
including the following information: If an enterprise transfers capital to
other organization or individual, the portion of transferable capital value as
agreed upon in the transfer contract which is worth twenty million Vietnamese
dong or more must be supported by documents indicating non-cash payments. In
case the capital transfer is not supported by documents indicating non-cash
payments, the tax authority shall have the right to fix the transfer price and
cost price.
3. Personal income tax:
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“4. Declaring tax levied on
incomes earned from the capital transfer operations (except for securities
transfer)
a) Residents transferring
contributed capital shall make tax declarations for each of capital transfer
irrespective of incomes that may arise.
b) Non-residents earning incomes
from transferring contributed capital in Vietnam are not required to directly
make tax declarations with the tax authority but organizations or individuals
receiving transferred capital must complete the tax withholding process in accordance
with guidance provided in Point e, Clause 1, Article 25 of this Circular and
declare tax levied on each income that may arise.
c) With regard to capital transfer
supported by none of documents stating that capital transferers have fulfilled
their tax obligations, if enterprises follow procedures for change made to the
list of capital-contributing members, the enterprise where an individual
transfers capital shall take responsibility to declare and pay tax on behalf of
that individual.”
- Point a, Clause 4, Article 16
laid down in the Circular No. 156/2013/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance dated
November 6, 2013 stipulates (that):
“a) Tax declaration principles
a.1) Residents transferring
contributed capital shall make tax declarations for each of their capital
transfer irrespective of incomes that may arise.
a.2) Non-residents earning incomes
from transferring contributed capital in Vietnam are not required to directly
make tax declarations with the tax authority but organizations or individuals
receiving transferred capital must complete the tax withholding process and
make tax declarations in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article. If the
capital transferee is an individual, tax declaration shall be made for each of
income that may arise without final tax declarations applied to the tax
withholding obligations.
a.3) With regard to capital
transfer supported by none of documents stating that capital transferers have
fulfilled their tax obligations, if enterprises follow procedures for change
made to the list of capital-contributing members, the enterprise where an
individual transfers capital shall take responsibility to declare and pay tax
on behalf of that individual.”
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“Contents of tax administration
specified in regulations laid down in the Law on the amendments to the Law on
Tax Administration and the Decree No. 83/2013/NĐ-CP on which guidance is
provided shall come into force from July 1, 2013.
Tax declaration documentation
stipulated in this Circular shall begin applying to all of fiscal periods from
January 1, 2014.”
Based on the abovementioned
guidance,
- Individuals transferring capital
shall make tax declarations for each of their capital transfer irrespective of
incomes that may arise.
- With regard to capital transfer
supported by none of documents stating that capital transferers have fulfilled
their tax obligations, if enterprises follow procedures for change made to the
list of capital-contributing members, the enterprises where an individual
transfers capital shall take responsibility to declare and pay tax on behalf of
that individual.
- Principles of declaration of tax
levied on the capital transfer shall be applied from July 1, 2013. In
particular, tax declaration documentation in accordance with the Circular No.
156/2013/TT-BTC shall be in effect from January 1, 2014.
II. In addition, in the official dispatch, the People’s Committee of Ho
Chi Minh city lists out several suspected tax avoidance or evasion cases that
may occur during the capital transferring process.
In the case of Intel Product
Vietnam company, they are one of the largest technological companies in Vietnam
with all of their products manufactured for export. Over the establishment and
development period, Intel Product Vietnam company always adheres to their
commitment on long-term investment in Vietnam and has shown their considerable
social responsibility. Continual growth in revenues earned from the company’s
business operations have been recorded over years (VND 2,292.5 billion in 2010,
VND 2,875.1 billion in 2011, VND 5.612,9 billion in 2012 and VND 3,601 billion
in 9 first months of 2013). The company employs a total of nearly 1,000 persons
with average monthly income of VND 18.3 million paid to Vietnamese employees.
In the afternoon of December 18,
2013, the Ministry of Finance held a meeting with the representative of the
Intel Product Vietnam company. The Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh city (directly
supervisory tax authority) reported that the Company has fully adhered to the
principles of tax self assessment, self declaration for their business
operations in general and capital transfer transactions in particular. In terms
of the contributed capital transfer transactions that take place at the Intel
Product Vietnam company so as to serve the purpose of restructuring and
satisfying the managerial requirements of the Intel company, the Ministry of
Finance will consider documentation and confer with competent authorities to
verify the compliance of their tax assessment with Vietnamese laws. At first
sight, the Ministry of Finance has not found any signs of tax evasion or
avoidance for contributed capital transfer transactions that take place at the
Intel Product Vietnam company.
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- Concerning other cases mentioned
in the official dispatch of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh city, it is
advised that the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh city shall perform their
assigned functions and duties to review, examine and inspect capital transfer
operations in order to ensure that tax is sufficiently and appropriately
collected in accordance with regulations laid down in legislative documents
about taxation.
The Ministry of Finance hereby
notifies and looks forward to any feedbacks or responses from the People's
Committee of Ho Chi Minh city./.
PP. THE MINISTER
THE DEPUTY MINISTER
Do Hoang Anh Tuan