Foreign firms gain from lowest Vietnam taxes

FDI enterprises have achieved the highest profit growth among the economic sectors, generating 327.4 trillion dong (Bt457 billion) in pre-tax profits in 2016, an increase of 17.3 per cent on average in the 2010-16 period, according to the latest report by the General Statistics Office (GSO).
This amount accounted for 45.9 per cent of the total profits earned by businesses across all sectors in 2016. 
However, they paid the lowest taxes to the state budget, amounting to only 250.9 trillion dong in 2016.
State-owned enterprises, comprising the largest number of companies and employees, earned 197.4 trillion dong in 2016, amounting to 27.7 per cent of profits earned by all businesses, marking a 9.4 per cent rise per year from 2010 to 2016.
The state-owned sector contributed 277.3 trillion dong to the state budget in 2016, an increase of 10.4 per cent per year in the five years leading up to 2016.
Meanwhile, non-state enterprises reported the lowest pre-tax profits of 188.1 trillion dong in 2016 but paid the highest taxes to the state budget, at 434.7 trillion dong, an increase of 17 per cent in the 2010-16 period.
“The FDI sector earns a large profit for the economy, more than the other economic sectors, including state-owned and private enterprises, but its contribution to the state budget is lower,” said Pham Dinh Thuy, director of the GSO’s Industrial Statistics Department.
Thuy said FDI businesses were involved in industry and the hi-tech sector, which enjoyed many types of tax incentives, including those regarding corporate income.
He cited examples of Samsung Thai Nguyen and Samsung Bac Ninh, which are exempt from corporate income tax for the first four years of operation and must pay some 10 per cent in corporate income tax in the following 27 years, half the amount domestic companies must pay.