Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a decision which will deduct tax charged for foreign individuals who work for foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Vietnam. Beneficiaries would be those directly carrying out programs or projects in Vietnam that receive foreign aid, state media reported, citing the government. Experts are subject to personal exemption including those having foreign citizenship, contracts signed between foreign NGOs and Vietnamese authorities, and term of reference (ToR). The decision will enter into force on May 1st, 2016. The decision will also stipulate the personal exemption to Vietnamese people who work for the United Nations in Vietnam. Statistics from Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) showed that there are 493 foreign NGOs working in Vietnam, including 14 organizations present in the Southeast Asian country for more than 30 years. The number of foreign NGOs has doubled in the past decade. They have disbursed roughly $2.4 billion in 28,000 projects in the country for the last ten years. Foreign NGOs have provided approximately $300 million in aid per year to Vietnam in the past five years. Foreign NGOs in Vietnam gear their special focuses on hunger elimination and poverty reduction and sustainable development with an aim to improve livelihood in the country where many parts having income of less than $2 dollar per day. The organizations’ support has mostly gone to solving social issues, including bettering healthcare and education and environmental protection. (Baodautu.vn Feb 24, Baochinhphu.vn)
