Workers at a wood workshop in northern Bac Ninh province. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - A policy that may grant up to 30 percent tax exemption forsmall-to-medium-sized business (SMEs) to mitigate the adverse effects ofCOVID-19 was discussed by National Assembly deputies during a meeting in Hanoion June 16.
Whiledeputies agreed the policy was needed to support SMEs, and by extension workersemployed by them, some have voiced concerns over the direction of theGovernment's tax exemption policies.
Deputy Nguyen Van Than from northern Thai Binh province and chairman of theVietnam Small and Medium Enterprises Association said it should includemedium-sized, not just small and micro-sized businesses.
Vietnam has over 760,000 businesses, of which small-sized businesses accountfor 93 percent and medium-sized 4 percent. Together, they employ a large numberof workers and actively contribute to socio-economic development and socialsecurity.
"The proposed policy stipulated small-sized businesses with annual salesunder 50 billion VND (2.2 million USD) are eligible for tax exemption.Meanwhile, the official definition for small-sized businesses are those withincome under 100 billion VND and employ less than 50 workers. As it stands,only around half the number of small-sized businesses could qualify under thepolicy," said Than.
In addition, he said a 30 percent tax exemption for businesses for the year2020 won't be much help compared to tax exemption for the year 2019.
"Most businesses likely will struggle this year. It would be a miracle forsome of them to survive, let alone making a profit. It's my opinion that a taxexemption for 2019 would be much more relevant and helpful to businesses,"he said.
Deputy Phung Van Hung from northern Cao Bang province showed support for apolicy that includes medium-sized businesses.
"Should businesses make no or very little profit for the year 2020, thetax exemption amount won't account for much," he said.
Deputy Nguyen Hoang Mai from southern Tien Giang province urged the Governmentto reconsider and include businesses that employ more than 100 workers, sayingduring this difficult time, it's important to encourage businesses to keepworkers on payroll.
Deputy Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry,said the Government's tax exemption policy was designed to support workers andit's important that its implementation would cover as many workers as possible.
Aside from the size of businesses, Loc said the Government must also focus onhelping businesses at the core of the economy for their importance to economicsecurity and sustainable development such as airlines and tourism.
Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said along with tax exemption other measureswere being implemented to support businesses, saying the Government hadreduced, and in some instances removed, numerous expenses for businesses suchas land use and some 18 other administrative fees.
Meanwhile, businesses owners might still apply for other forms of tax reductionincluding income tax and qualified dependents as stipulated in a decision bythe NA's Standing Committee.
Dung said his ministry was working on a plan to cut by half the carregistration fee to encourage domestic car production and to reduce environmentfees for the airline industry./.
