VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS DECEMBER 7  16:34                                  Apartment lessors earning below VND100 million not subject to VAT, PIT Apartment owners who have annual income of less than VND100 million each from leasing their properties will not be subject to value added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT) from January 1 next year, according to a newly-issued circular of the Ministry of Finance. Accordingly, if lessees pay the rentals in advance for many years, the lessors’ annual incomes will be determined as their average income each year. In addition, the Ministry of Finance has regulated that the owners of ecommerce platforms must file and pay tax on behalf of individual traders in line with civil laws, instead of with tax agencies’ roadmaps. Special consumption tax payment on domestic automobiles extended The Government has issued Decree No.104/2021/ND-CP on the extension of the deadline for special consumption tax payment on domestically-manufactured or assembled automobiles. Accordingly, the payment of special consumption tax for October will be extended to no later than December 20, 2021 and that for November will be delayed till December 30, 2021. The Decree took effect on December 4, 2021. Following the extension, the payment of special consumption tax on domestically-manufactured or assembled automobiles will be conducted in line with existing legal regulations./. VN-Index loses nearly 30 points on Dec. 6 On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the market benchmark VN-Index dropped another 29.74 points, or 2.06 per cent, to 1,413.58 points after losing 38.73 points in the previous session. The market's breadth remained negative, while the liquidity was lower than last Friday's session. Of which, more than 1 billion shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth nearly VND31.4 trillion (US$1.4 billion). The index extended losses as investors' risk appetite fell. The VN30-Index, tracking 30 biggest stocks on HoSE, fell 23.06 points, or 1.53 per cent, to end Monday's trade at 1,480.92 points. Only five out of 30 stocks in the VN30 basket posted gains, while 22 declined and three ended flat. On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), the HNX-Index slid by 13.42 points, or 2.99 per cent, to 435.85 points. During the session, investors poured over VND4.09 trillion into the market, equivalent to a trading volume of 155.7 million shares. Meanwhile, foreign investors returned to the market after net buying a value of VND305.72 billion. Of which, they net bought a value of VND308.83 billion on HoSE, while net sold a value of VND3.11 billion on HNX. Official confirms Government's support for Samsung’s long-term business strategy in Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai has confirmed that the Government backs Samsung's long-term business strategy in Vietnam, during a reception for business executives attended by Director-General of Samsung VN Complex Choi Joo-ho on December 6. Samsung is a big investor in Vietnam and the Vietnamese Government wants to listen to its opinions in order to discuss with the RoK side how to create more favourable conditions for the firm to operate effectively, the Deputy PM said. Samsung currently has six production factories, one research centre and one sales entity in Vietnam. The firm currently employs 110,000 people. So far, Samsung has disbursed 100 per cent of its registered capital of US$17.7 billion in Vietnam. Last year, Samsung’s revenue reached $56.7 billion. This figure is expected to rise 15 per cent this year, according to Choi Joo-ho. VN continues to meet US Treasury criteria for not being labelled a currency manipulator In its latest report on forex and macro-economic policies of big trade partners of the US, the US Treasury found that Vietnam has met all three criteria on trade and current account surpluses and foreign exchange market interventions. However, the department said it would continue to work with Vietnam to address US concerns. The Treasury said it was "satisfied with the progress made by Vietnam to date". Earlier in April, the US Treasury announced in a similar report that the US had removed VN from the list of economies it considered currency manipulators as there was insufficient evidence to conclude the country was manipulating its exchange rate in the reviewed period in line with the Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Int'l industrial machinery expo to open in HCM City  The Viet Nam International Exhibition on Industrial Machinery Equipment, Technology and Products, or VINAMAC Expo 2021, will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre from December 15 to 18. The exhibition with the theme ‘Moving forward together’ will have more than 300 booths set up by 200 Vietnamese firms and foreign companies and international organisations from the Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, South Korea, mainland China, Japan, China's Taiwan, ASEAN member countries and others with a presence in Viet Nam. Besides showcasing industrial machinery and equipment, technology and products, the expo will also feature a seminar on ‘Safe adaptation - Economic recovery after the pandemic towards green development and suitable for circular economy,’ a business forum on control and automation, a welding competition, business matchings, and technology and product introduction by associations and exhibitors. Reference exchange rate up VND50 on Dec. 6 The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,120 VND/USD on December 7, up 50 VND from the previous day. With the current trading band of + /-3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,906 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,513 VND/USD. Two new co-working spaces to open in HCM City Co-working space provider Toong has introduced two new co-working projects in the city, which are located at 18E Cong Hoa street in Tan Binh district and 186 Vo Thi Sau street in District 3. Toong also announced cooperation to develop a new working space with the investors of IPH shopping center, one of the landmark buildings in the West of the capital city of Hanoi. Vietnam's top 1,000 corporate income taxpayers (V1000) in 2020 announced According to the General Department of Taxation's statistics, enterprises in the list contributed over $6.31 billion to the State budget, accounting for 62.4 percent of the total State revenue from corporate income taxes and equivalent to 103.74 percent of that paid by those in the 2019 V1000 list. It has been the fifth consecutive year the agency has announced the list. During 2016-2020, 423 firms were named in the list. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City took the lead with 109 and 134 taxpayers, respectively. Their tax contributions accounted for 43.26 percent and 29.81 percent of the total. It was followed by the provinces of Dong Nai, Vinh Phuc and Binh Duong. Among 423 firms named in the list for five years, 267 are non-State enterprises with tax payment making up 60.2 percent. State-owned enterprises came second with 71 whose State budget contribution accounted for 25.64 percent, and 77 foreign enterprises’ tax payment made up 13.32 percent. Vietnam's cashew nut exports rise  Vietnam exported 531,000 tonnes of cashew nuts worth US$3.34 billion during the opening 11 months of the year, representing a year-on-year rise of 14.3% in volume and 14.6% in value. The average export price during the 11-month period is estimated to stand at US$6,290 per tonne, up 0.2% against last year’s corresponding period. China remains a major export market for Vietnamese W180 cashew nuts with 7,740 tonnes worth US$61.21 million, an increase of 33.7% in volume and 53.2% in value, followed by Israel with of 1,610 tonnes worth US$15.3 million, up 65.5% in volume and 59.3% in value. Germany expected to import more Vietnamese cashew next year Vietnam is forecast to see positive prospects for its cashew exports to Germany in 2022 thanks to higher demand in the market and advantages brought about by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. In the first nine months of 2021, Germany imported from Vietnam 28,230 tonnes of cashew worth 201.21 million USD, down 1.7 percent in volume and 7 percent in value on-year. However, Vietnam's market share of the nut in Germany's total imports still increased to 62.46 percent, compared to 57.51 percent recorded in the same period last year. Germany is the largest cashew importer in the EU. Its demand for cashew continuously increases due to high demand from the local food processing industry and final consumers. Online Korean goods fair to open  An online fair of Korean goods will be held from December 7 to 10, with the participation of more than 50 companies, who will display food and beverage, consumer, decorative, furniture, health care, cosmetic, toy, gift and children’s goods. Visitors can directly send messages to exhibitors or place orders online on their websites. They can also explore business opportunities and distribution co-operation through an online business matching programme. Participants can register to attend the fair at register.kgoodsfair.adpex.vn/. Castrol, BP renew joint-venture contract with Petrolimex The Castrol, BP and Vietnam Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) signed an agreement extending their joint-venture contract for the next 20 years, starting from 2022, during an online ceremony on December 6. The joint-venture will continue operating under the name Castrol BP Petco Co. Ltd. Over the past three decades, the joint venture has generated stable jobs for workers in localities, service suppliers and retailers in Vietnam. Since 2012, it has been named among top 100 foreign contributors to the State budget.  Vietnamese goods week 2021 held in Singapore A week of Vietnamese goods kicked off on December 6 in Singapore, aiming at promoting Vietnamese products and brands during the peak consumption season in the Singapore market. As many as 38 agricultural products and processed foods have been put into the retail system, including such new products of Vietnamese enterprises as fruit-flavoured coffee, instance yogurt and herbal tea. Tran Thu Quynh, head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, said that most of the items put on sale at the supermarket system this time are the direct results of the Trade Office's efforts in supporting businesses during the year, including the success of the Vietnam National Brands Week 2021 – Hybrid Expo on Halal and Processed Food Products held in Singapore in August. Russian firm Miratorg is Vietnam's largest pork supplier Russian food supplier Miratorg announced that it has exported 40,000 tonnes of pork to Vietnam so far this year and has won 33 percent of the pork market share in Vietnam. Miratorg has signed a cooperation agreement with Vietnam’s An Binh Trading Development and Import-Export JSC, a subsidiary of TNT Group, on increasing fresh meat supply.  Vietnam’s 2021 GDP estimated at 2%-2.5% As the trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic remains unpredictable, Vietnam’s economic expansion this year is projected to slow to 2%-2.5%, said Tran Tuan Anh, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission at the Industry 4.0 Summit 2021 With the appearance of the heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the world’s GDP growth may lose 0.2%-0.4% next year, he said, adding that Vietnam had also felt the severe impact of the pandemic. Last quarter, its GDP fell 6.17%, the sharpest fall since the country calculated and announced the quarterly GDP. Acceleration of public investment disbursement urged Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has asked ministries, sectors and localities to strictly follow the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister to achieve the highest disbursement rate in the remaining time of 2021 while ensuring the effectiveness of public investment projects. He made the request at a conference on December 6 to discuss measures to remove bottlenecks and accelerate the disbursement of public investment for 2021. As of November 30, the disbursement rate of public investment remained modest at 295 trillion VND (12.7 billion USD), reaching 63.86 percent of the set plan. Of which, domestic capital made up 39.19 percent and foreign capital reached 21.51 percent. Both of them were lowered than the rate recorded in the same period last year. Minh requested reviewing the responsibilities of leaders in directing and dealing with bottlenecks in the disbursement of public investment at each ministry, agency and locality and enhancing the capacity of the projects' management board. The administrative procedure preparations for the projects should be streamlined to save time and costs, he said. VNN