Reviewing tax incentives to avoid eroding tax facilities
At the discussion session on the draft Law on Corporate Income Tax (amended) on December 12, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that receiving the opinions of the National Assembly deputies, the drafting agency will adjust the effective time of the law to October 1, 2025 instead of on January 1, 2026 as previously proposed. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance will urgently develop guiding decrees to ensure the implementation as soon as the Law takes effect.
Minister Nguyen Van Thang clarified many contents of concern to delegates, especially the issue of reviewing the tax incentive system to comply with the policies and orientations of the Party and State.
At the 8th Session, based on reviewing the law on taxes, investment and international trends, the Government proposed many solutions to perfect preferential corporate income tax policies, including subjects, sectors and areas entitled to incentives.
The Minister emphasized that the rearrangement of incentives has been calculated reasonably, not affecting the overall current policies, while still creating outstanding policies to support businesses to expand investment in areas and areas that need to be encouraged.
The drafting agency also refers to international experience, especially in the context of implementing pillar 2 on global minimum tax, in order to build appropriate policies, continue to attract foreign investment and encourage the private economic sector.
Ensuring preferential policies in the legal system
Another important content raised by many delegates is the unity and synchronization in tax incentives. According to Minister Nguyen Van Thang, to overcome the situation of tax incentives being regulated in specialized laws, this draft has added clear regulations: in case other laws have other regulations on corporate income tax incentives, they will be applied according to the provisions of this law.
The Minister affirmed that in principle, tax incentives should only be stipulated in the tax law to ensure comprehensiveness and consistency. The Ministry of Finance will continue to review specialized laws, including those passed by the National Assembly at the end of 2024 and those to be submitted in the coming time, to adjust them to comply with the general preferential policies of this law.
Additional deductible expenses more reasonably compared to reality
Regarding the regulations on deductible expenses, the minister said that the draft law currently stipulates that expenses that do not correspond to taxable revenue will not be accepted unless taxable income is determined. However, in practice, there are many expenses such as bidding costs, market research, product research... that do not directly generate revenue but are essential for production and business activities.
If the regulations remain, businesses will not be able to count these items in reasonable expenses. In addition, there are non-profit expenses and contributions according to the law. Therefore, the draft law has added a number of expenses to be included in the expenses eligible for tax when determining taxable income. The Minister affirmed that he will continue to review to complete the list, ensuring accurate reflection of the actual business operations.
