“Energy dose” for businesses and business households
For nearly two years, the whole political system of Vietnam has been engaged in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic. To date, the situation has been basically put under control and the whole country has transitioned to a new normal situation with the strategy policy "Safe and flexible adaptation and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic".
In order to restore production and business in order to compensate for the huge losses in recent time and accelerate development even more strongly, including in the real estate market, the State has promoted the most decisive role, through the issuance of special solutions to support for businesses and people in overcoming difficulties; and at the same time, the State also has created a transparent and open business investment environment, coupled with the promotion of public investment in infrastructure projects as a lever for economic recovery and sustainable development.
The National Assembly Standing Committee has issued many specific mechanisms and policies, such as Resolution No. 268/NQ-UBTVQH15, dated August 6, 2021, on allowing the Government to issue resolutions with a number of contents different from the provisions of the law to meet the requirements of Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control, and especially Resolution No. 406/NQ-UBTVQH15, dated October 19, 2021, on promulgating a number of solutions to support businesses and people to impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Accordingly, Resolution No. 406/NQ-UBTVQH15 allows 30% reduction of the enterprise income tax payable in 2021 for taxpayers whose total revenue in 2021 does not exceed VND 200 billion and has decreased compared to that in 2019; exemption from personal income tax, value added tax and other payable taxes arising in the third and fourth quarter of 2021 for households and individuals in the district-level area affected by the Covid-19 epidemic; reduction of value-added tax for two months (November and December 2021), with the reduction depending on the tax calculation method, for many types of service activities, including related accommodation and catering services to buy and sell small items of individuals and households; on the other hand, exempting enterprises incurring losses in 2020 from late payment interest arising in 2020 and 2021 from tax debts, land use levies and land rent.
With the above policies, the State reduced revenue by more than VND 20,000 billion, but many businesses and people benefited from having more capital to invest in business while the Covid-19 epidemic has exhausted their finances. This decision shows that the National Assembly always understands, shares and accompanies the business community and people and acts as an "energy dose" to help businesses and individuals and business households become "healthier" due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mechanisms, policies and solutions of the National Assembly and the Government strengthen the confidence of the people, the business community, and domestic and foreign investors in realising the dual goals, especially in the current period when the whole country is transitioning to a new normal, proactively and flexibly adapting safely to the Covid-19 epidemic.
In order for the resolution to soon be brought to life, the business community and the people asked the authorities to quickly issue a simple implementation guide. However, the implementation time of the resolution is only applicable until the end of 2021, that is not long. It is proposed that the National Assembly Standing Committee consider extending the application period of the resolution until the end of June 30, 2022, ensuring the consistency and synchronisation with the support solutions of the Government just promulgated.
In fact, the mechanisms and policies of Resolution No. 406/NQ-UBTVQH15 are almost not applied to real estate businesses. Through listening to the opinions and recommendations of the real estate business community, the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association asked the State to remove obstacles in legal institutions, especially in accessing land resources and credit. At the same time, the association also suggested that local authorities improve the quality and efficiency of law enforcement, reform administrative procedures in a substantive way to quickly handle records and requests of businesses and citizens.
In the spirit of drastically removing difficulties for production and business, the real estate business community expects that 15th National Assembly will study, consider and approve the law amending and supplementing some articles of the 10 laws during its second session, with the aim to create a transparent, fair, competitive, and sustainable business and investment environment.
