Representing the business community, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association - emphasized the requirement to implement two tasks in parallel: institutional reform and improving policy implementation capacity. He believes that if we only stop at building breakthrough policies and guidelines but the implementation stage is still slow, lacks decisiveness or there is a psychology of hesitation and fear of responsibility, the effectiveness of reform will be significantly limited.
The business community is very hopeful that breakthrough institutional reforms will be put into life faster and more effectively in the coming time," Mr. Hoa said, while emphasizing that the human factor and implementation responsibility play a key role in this process.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Viet Quan - CEO of Tanca.io digital transformation platform said: "Resolution 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation is a clear and encouraging policy signal. However, looking from the perspective of a SaaS enterprise actually operating in Ho Chi Minh City, I see a very large gap hindering startups from accessing incentives: Lack of specific guiding circulars. The first issue is that the definition of "technology enterprise" is currently inconsistent. There are at least four concepts existing in parallel in different legal documents: Science and technology enterprises (S&T), digital technology enterprises, information technology enterprises (IT) and innovative enterprises.
A SaaS company (software in the form of services) can belong to all four groups or not belong to any group - depending on the interpretation. This creates real legal risks when tax inspection, causing many startups not to dare to declare enjoying incentives even if they meet the conditions.
I propose three things to do immediately: One is to issue a circular defining the standardization of "technology businesses" with a clear list of industries; two is to issue detailed guidance on tax incentives with specific forms for businesses to self-declare; three is to build a single information portal summarizing all incentives for technology businesses in Ho Chi Minh City" - Mr. Quan shared.
