New decree to prevent transfer pricing, limit thin capitalisation

New decree to prevent transfer pricing, limit thin capitalisation

HÀ NỘI — The Government’s recently-issued Decree  一 三 二/ 二0 二0/NĐ-CP would help prevent transfer pricing and limit thin capitalisation to develop a healthy investment market, Deputy Director of the General Department of Taxation Đặng Nọc Minh said.

Minh spoke at a press conference on Monday to introduce new points of the decree dated November  五 about tax management for enterprises with related-party transactions, saying the interest expense deduction limit was raised from  二0 per cent to  三0 per cent – the highest ratio reco妹妹ended by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Increasing the cap to  三0 per cent would help enterprises have more capital for investment in the context that most firms in Việt Nam were thinly-capitalised with the level of debt much greater than equity capital, he said.

Minh said that the Decree  一 三 二 did not differentiate foreign-invested companies and domestic companies in fighting transfer pricing to ensure fairness and transparency.

“This regulation does not mean to cause more difficulties for enterprises because any companies, foreign-invested or domestic, could use the transfer pricing method.”

The Ministry of Finance’s statistics showed that there were about  一 六, 五00 enterprises with related-party relations,  八,000 of which had related-party transactions and  七0 per cent were foreign-invested.

According to Nguyễn Thu Hương from international non-governmental organisation Oxfam in Việt Nam, it was necessary to terminate corporate income tax (CIT) incentives and reductions to minimise transfer pricing.

The preferential value was estimated at about seven per cent of the total CIT revenue annually, a considerable sum, Hương said. However, she pointed that there was an unfairness because the preferential tax mostly applied to FDI companies.

Preferential CIT policies to encourage investment led to a race to the bottom among localities in the country and among countries in the region, which was not only causing losses to budget revenue but also creating loopholes for transfer pricing, Hương said.

Deputy Director of the finance ministry’s Department of State Budget Nguyễn Minh Tân said that transfer pricing often occurred when there were tax incentives.

However, tax incentives were an important factor to attract foreign investment in the context of a global production shift triggered by the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, Tân said.

Việt Nam was regarded as an attractive destination for investment but not the only choice, Tân said, adding that it was necessary at the same time to offer tax incentives to attract investment and to fight transfer pricing.

Decree  一 三 二 implemented regulations which were appropriate to international practices and the condition of Việt Nam to enhance the prevention against transfer pricing, Tân stressed.

The tax watchdog inspected  二 六 三 enterprises with related-party transactions in the first  一0 months of this year, collecting more than VNĐ 五 二 五 billion (US$ 二 二. 六 million) in fines and arrears, reducing losses by more than VNĐ 九 trillion and increasing taxable income by VNĐ 四. 一 九 trillion.

Last year,  五 九 七 enterprises with related party transactions were inspected to collect VNĐ 一. 一 trillion in fines, reducing losses by VNĐ 五. 八 trillion and increasing taxable income by VNĐ 五. 九 trillion. — VNS