Vietnam to delay $3.4 bln tax payment to epidemic-hit businesses

The package, which is subject to approval by the prime minister, is an extended version of a VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion) plan the ministry announced early this month.

Under the new plan, Vietnam will push back the tax payment deadline for more sectors and add more tax categories. Payments of individual income tax and land-use fees will be deferred.

More than 20 sectors will benefit, including agriculture, auto manufacturing, food services, seafood, transport, textiles, and tourism.

They have all reported extensive damage losses due to the pandemic, which is set to cost the tourism industry $7 billion and the textile industry VND11 trillion ($469 million).

Seafood exporters have seen contracts canceled by major buyers in the E.U. and China, while most restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been ordered to close.

They will be allowed to pay their first and second quarter value-added tax in the third and fourth quarters, according to the proposal.

It is part of government efforts to mitigate economic losses, which are set to drag GDP growth this year down to a seven-year low of 5.96 percent.

Last year growth hit 7.02 percent, the second highest in a decade.