Fewer than 200 FDI firms in Vietnam liable for global minimum tax payment

Dang Ngoc Minh, deputy director of the Department of Taxation, gave the figures at a tax policy conference for foreign-invested enterprises in Hanoi.

Of around 45,000 foreign-invested projects in Vietnam, about 1,500 have annual revenue of more than 750 million euros (US$852 million) and are subject to global minimum tax reporting requirements, Minh said.

These are mainly large corporations and multinational groups.

Vietnam applies a global minimum tax rate of 15 percent to companies that previously enjoyed preferential rates of 5 percent or 10 percent or received tax deductions, he said.

Vietnam collected around VND16.5 trillion ($625 million) in global minimum tax revenue in 2025.

The revenue contributes to socio-economic development while also offsetting part of the tax incentives previously granted to businesses.

FDI attraction goes beyond capital

Speaking at the conference, director of the Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh said that after nearly 40 years of attracting foreign investment, the foreign-invested sector had become an important part of Vietnam’s economy, contributing to growth, exports, employment, and technology transfer.

However, as Vietnam enters a new stage of development, the focus should not only be on how much investment is attracted, but also on the nature of the investment, the value it creates and its contribution to the economy’s long-term sustainable development, Thanh said.

Changing investment quality requirements call for continued improvements in policies and state management, with tax policy, investment policy and tax administration playing important roles, he said.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Finance, said Vietnam faces the need to improve productivity, growth quality, competitiveness and economic self-reliance.

Continuing to attract FDI remains necessary, but the goal should not simply be to attract more capital or projects.

More importantly, Vietnam needs to improve the quality, efficiency and sustainability of FDI while strengthening links between the foreign-invested sector and domestic economic capacity and long-term development goals, he said.

Roux Eloïse, a representative of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said Vietnam was a long-standing partner of the European Union, with increasingly close economic ties.

Vietnam remains attractive to investors thanks to its economic growth, expanding domestic market, infrastructure, logistics, export orientation and broad network of free trade agreements, she said.

FDI in Vietnam reached a five-year high in 2025 and remained high in the first quarters of 2026.

The EU’s investment in Vietnam totaled around $30.5 billion as of the end of 2025, although there remains considerable potential for further investment between the two sides, she said.

FDI incentives to shift from tax breaks to cost support

Foreign investors’ decisions to choose Vietnam as an investment destination are no longer as heavily dependent on preferential policies as they once were, according to deputy director of the Department of Taxation Dang Ngoc Minh.

Vietnam’s strategic position in global production chains, infrastructure, trade relations and workforce provide favorable conditions for businesses to participate more deeply in production networks, he said.

Going forward, income-based incentives will no longer be appropriate, Minh said.

Instead, FDI attraction policies will shift toward cost support, including support for technology, technology transfer and workforce training in industrial and high-tech sectors.

The government will also invest in industrial infrastructure to help businesses build ecosystems and encourage Vietnamese companies to join supply chains through training, support for business establishment and ecosystem development.

Future incentives will be linked to businesses’ output, reflected in results such as technology transfer and workforce training.

Such incentives must be disclosed in the investment licenses issued to businesses, Minh said.

Tax authorities will monitor businesses’ fulfillment of these commitments in advance, he said.

To do so, Vietnam needs to develop a shared data platform. Tax authorities will share business and population data to coordinate with other agencies under the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies.

The goal is for businesses to provide information and make commitments through declarations, allowing tax authorities to conduct indirect monitoring.

Vietnam attracted $40.63 billion in registered FDI in January-August, up 55.4 percent year on year, according to the National Statistics Office under the Ministry of Finance.

The figure includes $21.72 billion in capital from 2,771 newly licensed projects.

Meanwhile, 819 existing projects increased their investment capital by a combined $12.21 billion, up 14.7 percent.

During the eight months, there were 2,062 capital contribution and share purchase transactions worth $6.7 billion, up 50.1 percent.