Hanoi-Vietnam: 06 new and highlight policies effective from mid-November

1. Guidance on exemption of land rent and land use levy for social housing projects in Vietnam

From November 15, 2016, the exemption of land rent and land use levy for investors of social housing construction projects in Vietnam is implemented according to the guidance in Circular 139/2016/TT-BTC.

The exemption of land rent and land use levy for social housing projects not using State Budget funds is implemented as follows:

- Exemption of land rent and land use levy for the entire land area allocated by the State for the construction of social housing (including the land area for constructing commercial business structures approved by the competent authority within the scope of social housing construction projects);

- Exemption of land rent and land use levy for the entire land area for constructing social housing using the 20% land fund of commercial housing development projects, and urban development projects.

2. Circular 147 amending Circular 45/2013 on the depreciation of fixed assets

Circular 147/2016/TT-BTC (effective from November 28, 2016) amends Circular 45/2013/TT-BTC guiding policies on the management, use, and depreciation of fixed assets with several new contents as follows:

- Guidance on the depreciation for mixed-use fixed assets: Not allowed to account for the fixed assets and depreciation if the sale or lease area is not separated;

- Classification of tangible fixed assets into 07 categories (the old regulation classified into 06 categories);

- For category 6 tangible fixed assets:

+ When selling or liquidating, written consent from the state owner's representative agency is required, and accounting for the reduction of the enterprise's business capital must be made.

+ Depreciation is not required, only detailed monitoring of the annual depreciation value for each asset is necessary, and there should be no reduction in the source of capital forming the asset.

3. Rules of origin of goods under the ATIGA Agreement

Issued together with Circular 22/2016/TT-BCT implementing the Rules of Origin of Goods in the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) are Appendices guiding the implementation of Chapter 3 - Rules of Origin and Procedures for Issuing and Inspecting C/O in the ATIGA Agreement. To be specific:

- Rules of Origin (Appendix I).

- Specific Product Rules (Appendix II).

- Fundamental conversion criteria for textile products (Appendix III).

- List of Information Technology Products (ITA) (Appendix IV).

- Principles and guidelines for calculating regional value content (Appendix V).

- Guidance on partial aggregation (Appendix VI).

- Issuance and inspection of C/O (Appendix VII).

- C/O form D (Appendix VIII).- Guidance on C/O declaration (Appendix IX).

- List of C/O Issuing Organizations (Appendix X).

4. Additional regulations on exemption and reduction of land rent and land use levy

According to Decree 135/2016/ND-CP amending decrees related to the collection of land use levy, land rent, and water surface rent, several new regulations are added as follows:

- Exemption and reduction of land use levy are not applied in cases where the right to use land is auctioned to allocate land with a land use levy for auction winners who are eligible for exemption and reduction of land use levy;

- Exemption and reduction of land rent are not applied in cases where the right to use land is auctioned for lease purposes.

Decree 135/2016/ND-CP takes effect from November 15, 2016.

5. Additional provisions on force majeure in card issuance and usage activities

This is a new content mentioned in Circular 30/2016/TT-NHNN amending the Circular on regulations on the provision of payment services and intermediary payment services issued by the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (effective from November 28, 2016).

6. Application of special allowance levels of 15% and 10% for judicial and inspection officers in the Military

Decision 42/2016/QD-TTg takes effect from November 25, 2016. However, the special allowances specified in this Decision are calculated and enjoyed from January 1, 2016. Judicial and inspection officers in the Military shall be entitled to allowance levels of 15% and 10%.

Details about judicial and inspection officers in the Military eligible for the above allowance levels may be found in Decision 42/2016/QD-TTg.

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