Air conditioners from 24,000 BTU or less will not be subject to special consumption tax.

On the morning of June 4, continuing the 46th session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on receiving, explaining, and revising the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).

Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan spoke to clarify some issues at the meeting. *Photo: media.quochoi.vn*

Reporting at the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai said that regarding the scope of taxable air conditioners, taking into account the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the Standing Committee of the Economic and Financial Committee agreed with the proposal of the drafting agency to stipulate that air conditioners with a capacity of over 24,000 BTU to 90,000 BTU are subject to tax (no tax is collected for air conditioners with a capacity of 24,000 BTU or less and those with a capacity of over 90,000 BTU).

Clarifying this issue, Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan said that air conditioners with a capacity of 90,000 BTU or more are commonly used, consume a lot of electricity, are one of the factors causing global warming, and are harmful to the ozone layer due to the cooling solvents in the air conditioner. However, accepting the opinions of National Assembly delegates, the Government only imposes special consumption tax on air conditioners with a capacity of over 24,000 BTU to 90,000 BTU.

Regarding this issue, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai suggested that in the long term, the Government needs to study and comprehensively amend the special consumption tax and environmental protection tax on air conditioners in a reasonable manner, in accordance with international practices.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai reports at the meeting. *Photo: media.quochoi.vn*

Also in the report on receiving, explaining and revising the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended), regarding the scope of sugary soft drinks subject to tax and additional taxable subjects, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that according to the provisions of the draft Law, sugary soft drinks subject to tax are products within the concept of soft drinks according to Vietnamese Standards with a sugar content of over 5g/100ml, excluding beverages such as milk and dairy products; liquid foods used for nutritional purposes; natural mineral water and bottled water; pure vegetable and fruit juices and nectars (molasses) of vegetables, fruits and cocoa products. Accordingly, products such as natural fruit juices, coconut water, dairy products, liquid foods used for nutritional purposes, etc. are not subject to special consumption tax.

“These contents will continue to be carefully studied and evaluated, taking into account the goals of restoring production and business of enterprises, and will be reported to the National Assembly at the appropriate time. Therefore, I would like to ask the National Assembly to allow keeping the draft Law,” said Mr. Phan Van Mai.

Regarding the collection of special consumption tax on gasoline, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee said that in the long term, it is necessary to study a plan to synchronously amend both special consumption tax and environmental protection tax in order to tax this item reasonably and in accordance with international practices. In the context of the need to synchronously deploy solutions to effectively implement the commitments of the Vietnamese Government at the COP26 Conference, along with regulations on collecting environmental protection tax, the collection of special consumption tax on gasoline in the current period is still necessary.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/dieu-hoa-tu-24-000-btu-tro-xuong-se-khong-chiu-thue-tieu-thu-dac-biet-704474.html