Worldwide transfer pricing reference guide 2014

Vietnam (continued)
Documentation deadlines
The documentation must exist at the time of the transaction. Taxpayers must provide documentation to the tax authorities within 30
working days of a written request. In case enterprises have plausible reasons, a one-time, 30 day extension may be granted. The transfer
pricing documentation must be submitted in Vietnamese.
Statute of limitations on transfer pricing assessments
There is no statute of limitations that specifically applies to transfer pricing in Vietnam. Hence, general principles on statutes of
limitations apply:
• For violations of tax procedures, administrative penalties can be imposed within two years from date of commission of the violation to
the date of discovery of the violation and recorded in writing.
• For acts constituting tax evasion or tax fraud not serious enough for penal liability examination, acts of late tax payment and declaration
of inadequate tax amounts, administrative penalties may be imposed only within five years from the date of commission of the violation
to the date of discovery of the violation and recorded in writing.
“Date of commission” is the statutory deadline for submission of the required tax return or the date the tax authority issues a tax refund,
exemption or reduction decision in case of tax refund, exemption or reduction. Note that beyond the above periods (two and five years),
a violator will no longer be subject to the imposition of the above-described administrative penalties, but will still be asked to pay the
insufficient, evaded or fraudulent tax amount. Hence, it can be said that the statute of limitations does not apply with respect to the
recovery or collection of taxes. Under the Amended Law on Tax Administration No. 21/2012/QH13, the statute of limitation applicable
for tax collection is limited to 10 years.
Return disclosures/related party disclosures
Taxpayers are required to file Form GCN-01/TNDN (under Circular 117) and Form GCN-01/QLT (under Circular 66) to disclose their
transactions with related parties, the details of these transactions and the transfer pricing methods used to calculate the prices in these
transactions. The disclosure form must be submitted together with the corporate income tax return, which must be filed within 90 days
of the close of the fiscal year.
Transfer pricing–specific returns
Please see discussion on return disclosures/related party disclosures above.
Frequency of tax audit and transfer pricing scrutiny by the tax authority
The risk of a general tax audit is characterized as high, while the risk that transfer pricing will be reviewed as a part of the general tax
audit is medium to high. The risk that the transfer pricing methodology will be challenged if transfer pricing is a subject of the general
audit is characterized as medium.
APA opportunity
Following the introduction of APA in the Amended Law on Tax Administration No.21/2012/QH3, the issuance of its implementation
regulations (Decree 83 dated 22 July 2013) and the release of the Draft APA Circular for public comments, the Ministry of Finance (MoF)
issued Circular No.201/2013/TT-BTC providing detailed guidance on the APA application process (Circular 201), which will take effect as
of 5 February 2014.
The guidance on APAs and standardized processes and procedures for APA application included in Circular 201 are generally in line with
the OECD’s APA guidelines and effective APA regimes in other taxing jurisdictions. Below is the summary of the key features of the APA
regime and application processes included in the Circular for your reference.
• APA definition: APA is a binding agreement between the taxpayer(s) and tax authority(s) that determines in advance the basis of tax
calculation, transfer pricing methods and arm’s length prices of the covered related party transactions for a specific period of time
• Scope of application: APA is available to corporate taxpayers who undertake domestic and/or overseas related party transactions
• Types of APA: Unilateral/bilateral/multilateral APA are all accepted
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