Set-up Representative Office in Vietnam

Setting up company in Vietnam

A foreign business entity or a foreign trader is allowed to establish Representative Office in Vietnam.

Representative office of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “Representative Office”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to survey markets and to undertake a number of commercial enhancement activities permitted by the law of Vietnam.

Representative Office will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the representative office.

Representative Office is not allowed to directly conduct profit making activities in Vietnam (i.e: the execution of contracts, direct payment or receipt of funds, sale or purchase of goods, or provision of services), but the representative Office is permitted to

-To operate strictly in accordance with the purposes, scope and duration stated in the license for establishment of such representative office;

-To rent offices and to lease or purchase the equipment and facilities necessary for the operation of the Representative Office;

-To recruit Vietnamese and foreign employees to work for the Representative Office in accordance with the law of Vietnam;

-To open accounts in foreign currency and in Vietnamese Dong sourced from foreign currency at banks which are licensed to operate in Vietnam, and to use such accounts solely for the operation of the Representative Office.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Coastal Shipping in Vietnam

Shipping regulatory in Vietnam

1.Coastal shipping competition

According Maritime Bureau, in 2015, although business activities of coastal shipping enterprise still had some difficulty, the total output reached 118.7 million tons, increasing 9.5% compared to 2014.

A Deputy Director of Vietnam Maritime Bureau, Mr Bui Thien Thu said that domestic shipping had taken charge of 100% of the domestic demand of coastal shipping. The domestic container ships has increased to 39 ships, a total increase of freight load is 200% from 2013 to 2015. The coastal shipping routes has transported 6.1 million tons of cargo including coal, slag, stone, rock, metal, fertilizers, cement, ore, fuel oil …

In 2015, output of goods in Vietnam’s seaport system continues an impressive growth, estimated at 427.3 million tons, rising 14.6%, in which the container reached 12 million TEUs, rising 15.5% compared to 2014.

According to Deputy Director of Bureau Bui Thien Thu, cargo volumes through Vietnam’s seaport system in 2015 in accordance with the approved plan in Decision No. 1037 of the Prime Minister in 2014 was 410 million tons. Thus, the volume outperformed 4.1% in 2015 compared with the initial plan.

However, the goods have been misallocated between different domestic seaports. To resolve this situation, there is a need to improve connectivity transport infrastructure and supporting services to relocate goods in different seaports, while speeding up the relocation of the port on the Saigon River and Ba Son shipyard.

During the year, Vietnam Maritime Bureau has completed the review and adjustment of detailed planning of port group 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6, thus managing the system more effectively. The Ministry of Transportation approved this plan.

By 2016, the total output of goods through the port system is estimated to reach 470 million tons (increasing 10% compared to 2015), in which each container is expected to reach 13.3 million, increasing 11% TEUs.

2.Vietnam Government published policy on Coastal Shipping, particular container services

In late May 3/2013, the Ministry of Transport has issued Document No. 128 / TB – BGTVT decision to terminate the operation of foreign fleets in terms of container shipping service in domestic routes, consisting of 20 units with a total tonnage of 500,000 DWT.

The foreign ship owners are not able to disapprove this decision since prioritising domestic fleets is compatible with the Law of the customs, as well as commitments to the world Trade Organization (WTO) on the protection of the members.

From 2013 to 2015, the fleets of Vietnam were given good opportunity to win back market share in terms of the domestic container shipping, which used to belong to the foreign shipping companies (with an estimated value of 1,000 billion / year). There are various container shipping companies gaining loyal leads which ground stable roots for domestic fleets.

Also Vietnam Maritime Bureau in collaboration with Ministry of Transport, Vinalines, Vietnam Ship Owners Association and Vietnamese ship owners operating on domestic routes ensure the limitation of congestion at seaport.

Average freight rates of Vietnamese fleet are offering customer around 5.2 million / 20-foot container for the north – south journey. This price is equivalent to the unit price of the foreign shipping company in 2012.

There have been more Vietnamese fleet being able to operate on domestic routes such as Hai Phong and Cai Lan to HCMC, Ba Ria – Vung Tau and vice again.

3.Vietnam regulations establishing who can and who cannot provide coastal shipping services, particular containers.

To ensure sufficient capacity to meet the demand for domestic container market, in addition to 30 domestic container shipping companies, Vietnam Maritime Bureau has also allowed 8 foreign fleets owned by Vietnamese enterprises to operate on domestic routes.

The biggest difficulty for domestic container shipping companies is that market has not completely recovered. Currently the container shipping companies from the South to the North reach approximately 80% of capacity, while the reverse route only reaches 50% capacity.

In long term, this policy has enabled the Vietnamese fleet to gradually recover from difficult period when all the domestic container shipping belonged to foreign companies.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Tax Accounting Service

Background Check Service in Vietnam

Depending on type of enterprises, but generally, an operating enterprise must conduct procedures to pay taxes according to the provision of law.

These type of taxes can be mentioned as the follow:

-License Tax;

-Enterprise Income Tax is applicable to goods and services production and business organizations which have taxable income under the provision of Law on enterprise income tax;

-Value-added Tax is a tax imposed on the added value of goods or services arising in the process from production, circulation to consumption;

-Excise Tax is applicable to particular goods and services listed in Law on excise tax

-Import duty and Export duty is applicable to goods imported or exported through Vietnam’s border-gates or borders; goods sold, purchased or exchanged by border residents and other sold, purchased or exchanged goods, which are considered import or export goods;

-Personal income Tax is applicable to residents who earn taxable incomes inside and outside the Vietnamese territory and non-residents who earn taxable incomes inside the Vietnamese territory;

Tax calculation of different type of taxes is not the same. Namely, tax bases of type of taxes is different.

For license Tax, tax bases is registered capital of enterprise registration certificate.

For Enterprise Income Tax, tax bases include taxed income and tax rate.

For Value added Tax, tax bases consist of taxable price and tax rate.

For Excise Tax, tax base include taxed price of taxable goods or services and tax rate.

For import Tax and Export Tax, the bases for calculating import tax and export tax are the unit volume of each actually imported or exported goods item, inscribed in the customs declarations, tax calculation prices, and tax rates in percentage (%); for goods items subject to absolute tax, the tax calculation bases are the unit volume of each actually imported or exported goods item inscribed in the customs declarations, and the absolute tax rate provided for a goods unit.

For personal income tax,

According to Law on tax administration, taxpayers shall calculate by themselves payable tax amounts, except when the tax calculation is conducted by tax administration agencies according to the Government’s regulations. However, it can be said that tax calculation is a complicated and time – consuming task. The complication shows that tax accounting requires taxpayers to have professional knowledge and skills so that they can update relating factors in accounting tax as the requirement of law. Besides, accounting tax also requires taxpayers to be careful, detail to ensure tax obligations toward state agencies. Otherwise, enterprise will be handled according to the provisions of law. Moreover, the practice shows that both law on tax and relating tax regulations of Vietnam have not the consistency and stability that leading to difficulties for enterprises to update and flexibly apply tax policy, especially small and medium enterprise. As a consequence, infringements on tax will occurs and then, it will effects to the business operation of enterprises.

One of the best way for the above – mentioned enterprises is to outsource tax accounting service. With a team of specialists full of professional and practical skills, tax accounting service companies provide clients services related tax with many advantages. Outsourcing accounting tax have proved its advantages as the follow

-Help clients save time and money;

-Help clients ensure safety in business and conducting the obligation toward state agencies;

-Help clients focus on core business;

-…

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Bloomberg Considers Vietnam as “New Tiger” in Asia

Business consultants in Vietnam

After several disappointing years, Bloomberg said that Vietnam’s economy is continuously emerging in Asia, with the advantage of a young workforce and impressive growth.

According to the news, the large corporations as Samsung, Intel have poured money into the factories in Vietnam leading Southeast Asian countries to emerge as new tiger in Asia. After renovation in the 1980s, Vietnam’s economy has grown rapidly, exceeding 7% before leveling off in recent years due to the increase in bad debt from the state sector.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP accounting firm, from now to 2050, Vietnam has become one of the largest growing economies in the world. Vietnam not only has the advantage of cheaper labor costs than China’s, but also become an ideal destination for Japanese corporations.

Mr. Vikram Nehru – senior research specialist on Southeast Asia of Carnegie Endowment commented: “Vietnam is possible to become the fastest growing economy in Asia. Just solve problems in state sector, the country can afford to develop strongly”.

Bloomberg also outlined a series of indicators showing that Vietnam’s economy is growing rapidly. In 2014, Vietnam has become one of the largest export customers to the US market in ASEAN, surpassing competitors having a long tradition as Thailand, Malaysia.

Disbursement of foreign direct investment has also increased for 14 years, particularly in 2014 reached 12.35 billion US dollars, an increase of 7.4% compared to 2013 and higher than the $ 2.4 billion of 2000. Operation of Samsung in Vietnam is so strong that the government has allowed the group to have a separate air transportation port in Noi Bai International Airport.

Not only that, many other large companies are moving factories from China to Vietnam. Japan Kyocera Document Solutions Company which specialized in producing printer machine is making plan to increase 4 times of quantity, hence, increasing production up to 2 million units from now to May 3rd 2018. The company also said that the rest of this company will be transfered from China to Hai Phong and make plan to build a new factory here. This move also leads Vietnam to become the largest printer manufacturers for this business.

Frederic Neumann, HSBC Holdings Professionals recognizes Vietnam’s market is the market geting the most benefits when China was less competitive due to rising costs and the appreciation of the domestic currency. “Vietnam has emerged as the first alternative market for China and could benefit from this,” he said. Specifically, Bloomberg data also showed that the yuan rose 13% in the four years prior to 2014. According to the news agency, yuan rose strongest among 24 emerging economies.

This year, the VN-Index was up to 5.5% while the indices of the market such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand only increased 4.1%, 2.4% and 2.2% respectively.

In addition, growth in GDP of Vietnam during 2014-2050 is expected to reach 5.3%. According to PwC, the growth ranks at the second position only after Nigeria. In contrast, China’s GDP growth is forecasted to drop below 4%.

According to Bloomberg, the new labor force is a strong support for Vietnam’s economy, compared to China. According to the United Nations, by 2012, 13% of China’s population has more than 60 years old, while only 9% of Vietnam at that age. By 2013, more than 40% of Vietnam’s population, equivalent to 90 million people, aged between 15 and 49.

In addition, cheap labor is also a big advantage for Vietnam. The average monthly wage in the country in 2013 was 197 USD, compared to Thailand (391 USD), China (613 USD). This difference will continues to widen. According to estimates by the Economist Intelligence Unit, from now to 2019, labor costs per hour of production in China will be higher than 177% compared to Vietnam when the figure was 147% in 2012.

“I still remember a few years ago, pair of shoes I bought in China manufactured in Vietnam,” John Hawksworth, expert of PwC said..

However, the bad debt and labor productivity are still the weakness of the economy that Bloomberg called “tiger-second”. While banks are still struggling to deal with subprime loans, the government itself is also confronted with the problem of state and enterprises with inffective operation. Not only that, the issues of infrastructure, corruption still exist. Vietnam ranks 119 out of 175 countries on the index chart of corruption in 2014. Besides, the pressure from the competition for the manufacturing contracts with the large corporations from neighboring countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia also create many difficulties to Vietnam.

“Knowing that a lot of potential but not sure that Vietnam took advantage of all to develop,” said John Hawksworth.

If looking at from other aspects, many experts believe that most of the operations shifted from China to Vietnam has low value. In contrast, China is aspiring to raise the value of their production chain.

According to Karel Eloot, director of Shanghai branch of McKinsey & Co, the labor productivity of Vietnam is very low and may be the largest obstacle to the economic development of this country.

Not only that, according to a expert of ING Groep NV, Tim Condon,Vietnam is also believe to become the star of the Mekong region (including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan province of China). Thailand used to be seen as a “tiger” before the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, but the last two years, exports have declined strongly. In contrast, Vietnam’s exports in 2014 increased up to 14%.

ANZ Bank forecasts Vietnam’s GDP from 2014 to 2015 will increase by 6.5% due to the increase in retail sales, industrial production and the recovery of the construction industry.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Vietnam Supports Australian Enterprises Investing and Setting-up Business in Vietnam

set-up business in Vietnam

During an official visit to Australia, in the morning of March 17th (local time), in Sydney, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and high-level delegation to the Government of Vietnam had the dialogue with the businesses of Vietnam and Australia’s on the development of Vietnam’s economy as well as the opportunities, prospects for cooperation between the two countries.

The dialogue of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has attracted the participation of hundreds of large enterprises of Vietnam and Australia in the areas of banking, finance, energy, oil and gas, mining. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has directly answered many questions of the businesses, Australian investors relating to prospects, opportunities to promote and enhance the intrinsic comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Australia.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has generalized the development of Vietnam’s economy from an underdeveloped country with a closed economy and until now Vietnam has become a middle-income country with a dynamic economy, enter into the regional economy and the world’s.

Vietnam achieved GDP growth of nearly 6% in 2014. Until now, registered aboard direct investment capital is up to nearly $ 300 billion, with nearly 18,000 projects from more than 100 countries and territories. Currently, there are over 100 leading corporations investing and set-up company in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister stressed: “To attract more powerful, more efficient foreign investment, the Government of Vietnam will continue to fulfill its smooth operation and economic institutions in Vietnam market, compete equally between domestic firms and foreign firms as committed international integration of Vietnam.

Vietnam confirms continuing international economic integration deeper through the full implementation of its commitments in the WTO and bilateral free trade agreements as well as other multilateral ones. Currently we are implementing 8 free trade agreements and negotiations and will continue to expand the market, open market with other free trade agreements, especially the new generation FTA with high requirements to create competitive business environment in the ASEAN region and create a legal framework consistent with international business practice in the market of Vietnam … “

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also said that Vietnam is focusing on the three breakthrough strategies to facilitate the attraction of investment and development, business and promote economic development, which is perfect institutional market economy as well as investment in infrastructure development and training human resources, especially human resources quality.

Vietnam also continues to ensure political and social stability and protects the legitimate rights and legality of investors, including domestic and foreign; and continue to improve the rule of law, ensure and promote strong democratic liberties of the people, both economically and politically.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has listened and directly answered many of the questions of businesses, Australian investors relating to prospects, opportunities to promote and strengthen comprehensive partnerships between Vietnam and Australia especially to promote cooperation in the field of competitive advantage, such as mining, energy, chemicals, agriculture, finance, banking, education and high quality services.

Government of Vietnam also supports Australian businesses involved in the process of restructuring the economy of Vietnam, especially in the strong field of Australia such as energy, telecommunications infrastructure, education – training, agricultural business and finance.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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Investment Waves from Japan Continue to Rise

Business consultants in Vietnam

It has been observed that Vietnam continues to receive foreign investment switched from from China, Thailand into Vietnam to acquire shares or set-up business in Vietnam in real estate, manufacturing, and other services, especially from Japan investors.

On July 31st, 2015 Forval Group has partnered with Tin Nghia Corporation and Dong Nai Container Port JSC to announce the establishment of Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises Development JSC (JSC) with an investment capital of 772 billion VND.

Accordingly, the JSC will build the infrastructure of workshops dedicated to the small and medium Japanese enterprises in Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Zone on 18,2ha area.

The community of Japanese SMEs tends to invest abroad but there is no need to rent vacant land but to rent factory space to shorten the time of initial investment. Therefore, the construction of the factory infrastructure to attract Japanese SMEs is efficient model.

Earlier, on July 26th, 2015, Creed Group Investment Funds (under the Creed Group – Japan) signed a 200 million USD investment project in An Gia Investment and Property Development JSC. Besides, Creed Group also provides loans for An Gia to buy project, building high quality Japan housing projects in HCMC. In addition to financial investment, Creed Group has also transfer the real estate development technology for An Gia. But this is only the first step in the strategic partnership between the two sides. Creed Group will continue to increase investment if real estate market developed well.

Another Japanese corporation that is Kyocera Mita in May has also invested in building a factory in Hai Phong with capital of 200 million USD. The project was built in Vietnam – Singapore Urban, Industrial and Services Area (VSIP Haiphong) with an area of 20ha, specializes in manufacturing all types of printers, copiers for export to 140 countries around the world.

According to data from the Foreign Investment Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment), by the end of Quarter II/2015, Vietnam has attracted 2,551 projects with a total investment capital of up to 37.7 billion USD. Particularly in HCMC, there are 787 Japanese companies are operating in many sectors from retail, real estate, manufacturing, science and technology…

Early of June 2015, the delegation led by Mr. Iwasaki Yasuo, Vice Governor of Saitama City is visiting HCMC to exchange the cooperation opportunities. Continued with the investment trend, during the connection day between Japan and Vietnam companies in the field of agricultural, food, held in HCMC on July 31st 2015, 25 Japanese companies have also met with 100 Vietnam companies to explore business opportunities. Since last year there have been over 6,000 Japanese businessmen came to find out information about Vietnam market with the desire to invest and expand their business here.

In particular, 60% of enterprises are interested in service fields such as restaurants, hotels, wholesalers, retailers, the remaining opportunities are in the field of manufacturing and processing.

With the advantages of labor and investment environment have increasingly been improved, some Japanese companies that are investing in Thailand and China have decided to choose Vietnam as next destination. Jetro’s survey showed that as many as 25% of enterprises operating in China said they would move to Vietnam in the coming years.

Because of labor costs are increasing but limited workforce, many Japanese companies have tended to move abroad and Vietnam is the preferred destination. The wave of investment into Vietnam will continue to increase in the future, including commissioned production form.

The wave of companies shifting from China to 3rd country has occurred for some years, however, at the present, this trend is growing fast. The reason is that labor costs in China rising, and many other obstacles. While Vietnam has favorable conditions for investment and development through young labor force and low labor costs. With over 90 million people, Vietnam is the 3rd largest market of South East Asian region and this market is continuing to open when the ASEAN Economic Community was established by the end of this year. In addition, the investment environment in Vietnam is increasingly improved and the performance of businesses has developed.

The survey conducted by JETRO in 2014 showed that there are 66% of Japanese companies in Vietnam want to expand operations in the next few years because of good business performance. Up to 84.4% of Japanese companies participating in the survey said that they have higher revenue in 2014 than in 2013, with production sector, up to 70% enterprises see high potential in Vietnam market. Besides the favorable conditions to attract investment, the support from the Bank of Japan also help Japanese companies expand business strongly. One of the “synergy” of Japan investors is Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, the country’s largest bank with market capitalization of up to 170 billion USD.

Mr. Nobuyuki Hirano, President of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Bank in the meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in April 2015 said they would continue to support capital for the Japanese businesses to invest in Vietnam, as well as support Vietnam in the development of supporting industry, high technology industry, infrastructure and agricultural development.

ANT Consulting assists clients with Market Entry, Legal Advice, Tax Advice and Outsourcing Services in Vietnam.

We are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Talk to our consultants at +84 28 3520 2779 or email us ant@antconsult.vn

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