The government expects the 15th National Assembly (NA) to offer comments on the Law on Value Added Tax (amended) at its 7th session next May and pass it at its 8th session in October next year.

Under a Resolution from the legislature in July, the government basically agrees with five groups of policies as prescribed in the proposal to build the Law on Value Added Tax (amended), including the completion of regulations on non-VAT subjects, base prices for VAT calculations, VAT rates, deduction of input VAT, and VAT refunds.

The government assigned the Ministry of Finance to complete policies on non-subjects of VAT to narrow the scope of application and ensure the continuity of the tax type and close loopholes.

To support exports, the government requested the drafting body of the Law to use existing regulations on tax rates applied to exported services and provide specific regulations on exported services that are eligible for a zero per cent rate.

The government also seeks the perfection of policies on VAT rates towards keeping the current tax rates and continued study to narrow the group of goods and services subject to the 5 per cent tax rate in order to ensure equality between business activities and transparency.