The Ministry of Finance is drafting a proposal on corporate income tax applicable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the next five years. — Photo cafef.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Finance is drafting a proposal on corporate income tax applicable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the next five years.

The proposal is in response to Government's Resolution 35 on supporting and developing enterprises until 2020.

According to local website cafef.vn, the ministry will propose two levels of corporate income tax — 17 per cent and 15 per cent — which will be imposed on SMEs from January 1, 2016, to 2020. The current level is 20 per cent.

Startup companies, which develop projects in disadvantaged, rural and remote areas, will be exempt from tax in the first four years and will have to pay corporate income tax of 10 per cent in 15 years.

The tax reduction will likely have a negative impact on the State budget collection in the period, but the ministry expects that the budget will be offset by the increase in indirect tax and personal income tax as enterprises will have more financial sources to re-invest and expand production.

In addition, the ministry was taking drastic measures to reform administrative procedures related to tax and land to facilitate enterprises in accordance with Government's Resolution 19 on improving the business environment, Ngo Huu Loi, head of the ministry's Department of Legal Affairs, said.

The measures were aimed at reducing business costs incurred by enterprises, Loi affirmed.

Resolution 19 aims to put Viet Nam on par with the average performance of ASEAN's top four countries in the implementation of tax procedures and tax compliance by 2020.

Specific targets include 90 per cent of businesses must use an online tax service; 65 per cent of businesses must register and make their tax payments online; and 80 per cent of tax payers should be satisfied with the services provided by their tax authorities.

At a recent workshop on improving the business environment through tax reform held in the city earlier this week, Nguyen Thi Cuc, chairwoman of the Tax Consultancy Association, recognised the tax sector's efforts to reform tax procedures.

However, she said taxpayers were still facing many problems in observing tax laws, partly due to the failure of infrastructure and database to catch up with the rapid reform of policy.

In particular, SMEs have yet to gain timely access to favourable revised tax policies.

Loi, from the finance ministry, said the authority was striving to simplify tax procedures so that time spent in paying tax would be a maximum of 110 hours per year.

Loi also said regulations on land as well as financial obligation in the field were under scrutiny so that the ministry could propose solutions to cut charges for leasing of land or for changes in land use purposes.

The ministry was working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on plans to allow enterprises access to land in industrial zones and complexes and to allow them to pay land lease in a flexible manner. — VNS