Vietnam’s 1,000 biggest tax payers announced

The information was released by Nguyen Dai Tri, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance, at the ceremony to announce the list of the 1,000 biggest tax payers in Vietnam held in Hanoi on August 3.

Tri said this was the second year that the ranking had been announced. The list this year includes 703 firms from the rankings of 2016, and 297 new companies.

The processing and manufacturing sector continued to top the list of biggest tax payers, accounting for 36% of total tax payment among the 1,000 companies. It was followed by the finance, banking and insurance industry with 14.8%; and telecommunications with 9.3%.

The capital city of Hanoi and the southern largest economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City continued to take the lead in terms of the number of businesses and tax contribution in the ranking, with 36% and 32.5% respectively. Southern Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces, with high numbers of enterprises each, followed with 5.8% and 4.4% respectively.

The ranking this year included 117 State-owned enterprises, contributing 27.7% of the total tax payment.

Notably, the private sector made up 45.8% of the total number of businesses on the list with 458 firms, and contributing 34.1% of the total tax payment. This demonstrates that private companies have performed their key role in the economy.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) companies accounted for 40.4% in term of number of businesses, with 404, and contributing 36.7% on the list.

Bui Van Nam, General Director of the General Department of Taxation, said the department had taken drastic measures to facilitate businesses’ operation, thus improving the economy’s competitiveness in recent years. The reduction of administrative procedures had received a positive response from the business community, society and international organisations.

Nam said corporate income tax had been an important part of the tax policy system as it accounted for a big portion of total State budget collection.

The ranking aims to honour businesses which have striven to overcome difficulties, developing their production and contributing to the State budget.

The information of the top 1,000 biggest tax payers has also helped the Government review businesses’ operation, thus developing more effective tax policies.

Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said last year, there were 26,000 newly established firms. However, around 60,000 companies closed down so far this year.

This had shown that the economy faces difficulties. This was also a reason to honour businesses which had made a profit and contributed to the State budget, Loc said.

“Vietnam had more than 250,000 out of 600,000 businesses paying corporate income tax in 2017. The top 1,000 biggest taxpayers contributed 63% of the total. This is a meaningful figure,” he added.

The top 10 biggest tax payers are Viettel Group; Honda Vietnam; PetroVietnam Gas JSC (PV Gas), Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk); Heineken Vietnam Brewery Limited Company; Samsung Electronics Vietnam; Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank); Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and Siam City Cement Vietnam Company Limited.