The draft Decree on the establishment, management and use of the Investment Support Fund has just been released by the Ministry of Planning and Investment for public consultation. Regarding this draft, one of the issues that has received deep attention from the business community is the scope and subjects eligible for support.
According to the draft, the subjects receiving support from the Investment Support Fund are enterprises with investment projects in the field of high-tech product manufacturing; high-tech enterprises; enterprises with investment projects in R&D centers (research and development). Enterprises must also meet one of the following criteria: reaching an investment capital scale of over VND 12,000 billion, achieving revenue of over VND 20,000 billion/year, or completing a minimum disbursement of VND 12,000 billion within 3 years. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc affirmed that there is no discrimination, all domestic or foreign enterprises, operating or newly investing, if meeting the set criteria, will be supported, not just targeting enterprises affected by the application of global minimum tax according to OECD regulations. Once approved, the policies will be applied stably and permanently.
Through studying the provisions in the draft, Ms. Virginia B. Foote, Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) commented that if only supporting enterprises in the high-tech sector is too narrow. In addition, the criteria of “enterprises with R&D center investment projects” to be supported is “not clear enough”, because there are enterprises investing in R&D activities, but not building a separate R&D center.
Representatives of enterprises with many subsidiaries with large-scale investments in different locations also said that it is necessary to consider the decision to support based on the total investment scale of the entire group instead of considering each subsidiary, or calculating each project separately. Mr. Hong Sun, Chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (KoCham), said that the conditions for receiving support are still limited, and should be expanded and loosened so that more enterprises can receive support. There was also concern from a representative of a biotechnology enterprise about the regulation that "the project must disburse at least 12,000 billion VND within 3 years". For this sector, due to both investment and research, "feeling the waters", it may take businesses more than 3 years to disburse all the resources of 12,000 billion VND... It is not without reason that some multinational enterprises are concerned that the "mother" country may consider the support for businesses in Vietnam as a form of tax reduction and continue to collect additional taxes to meet the minimum level of 15%...
It is understandable that businesses always want more support with easier conditions. In fact, Vietnam has never applied a direct cash support policy, while the OECD has introduced a global minimum tax policy, but has not yet provided specific guidance, so in the process of developing policies, it is necessary to consult the OECD to ensure that it does not violate the principles.
In short, when stipulating the conditions for supported subjects, the level of support, as well as building an implementation roadmap, it is necessary to calculate very carefully, especially in the context of limited budget. Only when ensuring publicity, transparency and feasibility will the investment environment be stable and highly competitive, encouraging investors to invest in long-term production and business in Vietnam.
ANH THU
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