Clarifying legal gaps in value-added tax refund management

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the meeting.

Omit the provision in Clause 9, Article 15 on tax refund conditions

Briefly presenting the Government's Submission, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that in order to contribute to overcoming the consequences of storms and floods, quickly restoring production and business activities, especially in the agricultural sector, removing "bottlenecks" in value-added tax refunds, implementing the provisions of Clause 2, Article 26 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents on promulgating laws at the ongoing National Assembly session "to immediately resolve urgent issues, difficulties and inadequacies arising from practice", the Government has submitted Submission No. 1090/TTr-CP on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Value-Added Tax.

Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Do Van Chien speaks

Specifically, the Government proposed to supplement Clause 1, Article 5 on non-taxable subjects including: products of crops, planted forests, livestock, aquaculture, and fishing that have not been processed into other products or have only undergone normal preliminary processing by organizations and individuals that produce, catch, and sell them themselves, and at the import stage.

Enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions that purchase unprocessed crops, planted forests, livestock, and aquaculture products or fishery products that have only undergone normal preliminary processing and sell them to other enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions will not have to calculate value added tax according to regulations of the Minister of Finance.

At the same time, to ensure clarity, transparency, and avoid different interpretations, the draft Law has revised Clause 2, Article 1 on the principle of applying tax rates to waste products, by-products, and scrap as follows: "Waste products, by-products, and scrap recovered during the production process shall be subject to the tax rate of that waste product, by-product, and scrap."

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented a summary of the Government's submission.

The Government also proposed to remove the provisions on tax refund conditions at Point c, Clause 9, Article 15 of the Law on Value Added Tax No. 48/2024/QH15. That is, remove the provision that one of the conditions for tax refund is "the seller has declared and paid value added tax on invoices issued to the business establishment requesting a tax refund".

At the same time, it is proposed to stipulate that the draft Law takes effect from January 1, 2026 to ensure the timeliness of policies and immediate support for the agricultural sector.

Regarding the preliminary examination of the draft Law, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai said that the proposed amendments were all contents that had just been carefully considered before passing the Law on Value Added Tax 2024. With the current urgent time, it is impossible to conduct a full and comprehensive summary and assessment of the impact according to the process of promulgating legal documents before prescribing the contents of the Law amendments.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai presented the preliminary review of the draft Law.

To immediately address bottlenecks and ensure flexibility, depending on the specific content, it is recommended that the Government consider handling them in sub-law documents or proactively issue a Resolution under the authority assigned in Article 4 of Resolution No. 206/2025/QH15 on special mechanisms for handling difficulties and obstacles due to legal provisions. After a period of time, the Government will summarize and evaluate the implementation of the provisions of the Law to clearly identify obstacles and shortcomings arising from the provisions of the Law (if any) to propose amendments and supplements before March 2027 if necessary.

In the case of submitting to the National Assembly to amend the current Law at the Tenth Session, the Standing Committee of the Economic and Financial Committee requests the Government to supplement the explanation of the reasons for amendments to the new contents proposed by the Government to be amended and supplemented at the Eighth Session; assess and clarify the risks and legal gaps in the management of value-added tax refunds that may occur; measures to manage risks and responsibilities of state management agencies in case of fraudulent tax refund invoices causing loss of state budget revenue...; not to create new difficulties and problems for taxpayers and other related subjects.

There will be a more sustainable, complete decision

Speaking at the meeting, Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Do Van Chien said that on behalf of the National Assembly Standing Committee, he signed a document to send to the Government to include a number of contents that can be handled according to Resolution No. 206/2025/QH15. However, after the discussion and realizing that the time limit of the Tenth Session still allowed, the Government developed and had Submission No. 1090/TTr-CP and documents on the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Value Added Tax.

“The 2024 Law on Value Added Tax has basically resolved the requirements that are being raised in practice, but has not yet stipulated that value added tax will not be applied to some agricultural and forestry products. Therefore, we submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of this Law on Value Added Tax for full implementation,” the Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly emphasized.

Chairman of the Committee on Law and Justice Hoang Thanh Tung speaks

Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung also said that if the case is handled according to Resolution No. 206/2025/QH15, it will only be implemented until 2027, after which it will still be necessary to return to amend the Law on Value Added Tax. Therefore, during the time the National Assembly is in session, the Economic and Financial Committee, as well as the National Assembly's agencies, "should try a little harder, even though it will be more difficult, to be able to complete the draft Law dossier, submit it to the National Assembly for consideration to have a sustainable decision, and then not have to amend the law".

Concluding on this content, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai said that the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Value Added Tax according to shortened procedures.

The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly also noted that the proposed amendments this time have also been recently amended in the Law on Value Added Tax passed by the National Assembly at the Eighth Session, including the content of asking for votes from National Assembly deputies to accept by majority. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully review and evaluate, ensuring that the converted contents do not create new difficulties and obstacles, do not create legal loopholes that cause loss of revenue; have management mechanisms and measures to avoid loss of state budget revenue, and at the same time ensure the nature and basic principles of value added tax.

The National Assembly Standing Committee also assigned the Secretary General of the National Assembly to coordinate with relevant agencies to carry out procedures according to regulations to add the draft Law to the agenda of the 10th Session for consideration and decision.

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