Strictly handling cases of not reducing VAT

Mrs. Pham Thi Minh Hien, Deputy Director of Department of Tax Policy, General Department of Taxation

On 28 January, 2022, the Government issued Decree No 15/2022/NĐ-CP (Decree 15) stipulating the policy of tax exemption and tax reduction. Accordingly, from February 1, 2022, the value-added tax (VAT) will be reduced from 10% to 8% for some goods and services currently subject to the 10% tax rate. Decree 15 also excludes a number of goods that are not eligible for tax reduction and are specified in the appendices issued together with this Decree.

The Decree also stipulates that the benefits of this policy are accessible to consumers. When selling tax-reduced goods, a business establishment needs to issue an invoice with a tax rate of 8% and deliver it to the buyer.

In case the invoice is not according to the reduced tax rate, the two parties must adjust the invoice in accordance with regulations. The Decree also stipulates that for goods eligible for tax reduction, business establishments need to issue separate invoices to deliver to consumers in accordance with regulations.

According to Ms. Pham Thi Minh Hien, due to the time of promulgation of the Decree being close to the Lunar New Year, the content of the Decree has not been fully received by people and businesses. Therefore, the General Department of Taxation has issued an Official Dispatch requesting the heads of tax departments to direct tax departments and branches to further promote communication and dissemination to people and businesses in the management area; closely follow localities and taxpayers to guide, support, inspect and supervise the implementation of guidelines and policies of the National Assembly and the Government, especially businesses, organizations, households and individuals trading groups of goods and services subject to VAT reduction in the area in order to strictly comply with regulations on reducing 2% of VAT in 2022 as prescribed in regulations.

Ms. Pham Thi Minh Hien affirmed that the purpose of Decree 15 of the Government was to reduce VAT in order to reduce prices of goods and stimulate consumer demand. Therefore, the Decree stipulated that ministries and people’s committees of provinces and centrally-run cities should direct relevant agencies to communicate, guide, inspect and supervise so that consumers can understand and benefit from the reduction of value-added tax. In particular, focusing on solutions to stabilize the supply and demand of goods and services subject to value-added tax reduction in order to stabilize the market price level (price excluding VAT) from February 1, 2022 to the end of December 31, 2022.

In the process of implementing Resolutions and Decrees, in the spirit of facilitating businesses, organizations and people, tax authorities at all levels will inspect and supervise the prices of goods and services of local businesses and organizations. In case of detecting the phenomenon of taking advantage of the State’s policies to increase the selling price of goods and services eligible for VAT reduction, the tax authority will advise on handling measures with the competent authority.