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The webinar “Business Support amid Covid-19 pandemic: From policies to practice” on October 1, 2021.

An important resource for businesses

The Covid-19 pandemic has lasted for a year and a half and has profoundly affected the life, economy and society of our country.

Speaking at a webinar “Business Support amid Covid-19 pandemic: From policies to practice” organized by Customs News on the morning of October 1, Ms. Vu Thi Anh Hong, Editor in Chief of Customs News, said Vietnamese enterprises have made efforts to overcome difficulties to maintain production and business activities amid the pandemic.

However, the pandemic has been increasingly dangerous and complicated not only in Vietnam but also in other countries around the world, disrupting supply chains, production and reducing orders, the resilience of enterprises is reaching the limit, the number of enterprises leaving the market is rising day by day.

The Government and ministries and governmental agencies have issued many solutions and policies to help enterprises restore and maintain production and business activities. However, the problem is how to quickly put these solutions and policies into practice and meeting the right beneficiaries and promote their effectiveness.

At the webinar, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Director of the Propagation and Taxpayer Service Department under the General Department of Taxation, spoke about the support policies that the Ministry of Finance issued and proposed.

In 2020, two main groups of policies were launched: policies on extension of payment deadline of tax and land rent and policies on reduction, exemption from taxes, fees and other contributions to the budget. The State spent VND129 trillion to support people and enterprises.

The timely issuance of measures to support taxpayers in 2020 partly helped people and businesses overcome difficulties in 2020.

However, in 2021, due to unpredictable development of the disease, especially the third wave of the pandemic in industrial clusters and zones in the North such as Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Duong and the fourth wave in the Southern region, "The Ministry of Finance, as an advisory body, has directly introduced financial solutions for enterprises. From the beginning of 2021, the ministry proposed to the Government to maintain the policy of exemption and reduction for about 30 types of fees and charges impacting on business operations and people's lives, and reduction in import tax rates for imported necessities," said Nguyen Thi Thu Ha.

Ms. Ha said under Decree 52/2021/ND-CP, the Ministry of Finance estimated the deferred amount of tax and land rent for businesses is about VND115 trillion. So far, the total deferred tax and land rent recorded VND78,501 billion. Of which, the support for value added tax accounted for 60% of the total support.

These policies have partly reduced the pressure on the amount of money to be paid into the state budget and also create conditions for businesses to have financial resources for production, capital as well as payment for other inputs. They have helped businesses maintain their production process, said Ms. Ha.

The Government has recently submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee to issue a resolution on a number of solutions to support businesses and people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with funds of about VND21.3 trillion.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, this support package aims to exempt and reduce tax payable meanwhile the previous support packages are just an extension of the tax payment deadline and are like State lending without interest. Many taxes are supported such as: corporate income tax, value added tax, personal income tax and late payment interest.

For business households, this is the most vulnerable group in society because they are even smaller than micro enterprises. The number of business households that have to close or temporarily suspend operations is significant, especially from April onwards. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has proposed a complete tax exemption for business households in the third and fourth quarters.

Most recently, the Government has also issued a Decision to reduce land rent by 30% for all land tenants directly with the State through contracts. The package is valid from September 25 to December 31, 2021. To benefit, taxpayers only need to submit an application for land rent reduction. The tax authority has also updated this form on the taxpayer service application. The tax authority will also review databases so that the issued support policies go to the right beneficiaries.

Support for all subjects

In order for taxpayers to enjoy the State's support policies, the tax authority has implemented communication programs for taxpayers to learn about issued policies.

For example, after Decree 41/2020/ND-CP and Decree No. 52/2021/ND-CP was issued, the General Department of Taxation immediately issued a document directing the whole industry to inform the scope and conditions of beneficiaries for taxpayers to quickly access information.

Currently, the tax sector has a wide communication network thanks to cooperation with media agencies that opens social media accounts to deliver messages and instructions quickly and effectively.

Even for small and micro enterprises struggling to access policies or initial tax procedures, the tax sector also has a private channel associated with business registration agencies to support start-ups. At the district and city levels, the tax sector has a unit to help taxpayers as well as continuously organizes forums to support taxpayers. All subjects and taxpayers can participate in the forums and receive support.

"When the Ministry of Finance develops or proposes any support policies, the tax authority has been involved from the very beginning to determine the support target, beneficiaries and policies under different support mechanisms. For each beneficiary, the tax authority will develop the most appropriate and accessible way. The tax authority will introduce different support measures so that no taxpayer is missed," the representative of the General Department of Taxation said.