According to US Supreme Court Justice Wendell Holmes, Jr, "Taxes are what we pay for civilised society”. And just like the societies we live in, tax laws must evolve and adapt to new circumstances and challenges in order to pay for the provision of government goods and services as well as the infrastructure we rely upon to lead our daily lives. 

On July 7, KPMG Vietnam in conjunction with Pharma Group organised a dialogue to discuss the potential and challenges of Vietnam in unlocking world-class healthcare.

The deductibility of intercompany expenses involving “non-tangible” goods transactions continues to be an area of focus by the tax authorities, particularly those expenses for payments relating to intellectual property or provision of services. Joseph Vu, partner of Transfer Pricing, and Nguyen Thanh Hoa, partner of Legal at KPMG Ltd., take a closer look and give insights on mitigating risks regarding deductibility of these expenses from a tax and transfer pricing perspective.

Vietnam’s leading brewer Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (SABECO) has announced the launch of its digital transformation project dubbed SABECO 4.0 during a contract signing ceremony with KPMG, the project management and consultancy firm engaged by the company for the project.

While the ongoing pandemic is taking a severe human and economic toll worldwide, deal-making activity in Vietnam is likely to maintain momentum as corporate leaders are being asked to make strategic decisions for hunting capital. However, experts have raised concerns that the virus has left local companies vulnerable to bids from overseas.

LONDON: The transfer value of players in 10 of Europe's top leagues could plummet by up to €10 billion (US$10.8 billion) due to the economic crash caused by coronavirus, a study from accounting firm KPMG said on Wednesday (May 6).

Under the strategic partnerships with Saigonchildren, Microsoft Vietnam, and Dariu Foundation in Vietnam, KPMG delivered the first round of 50 laptops donated from its staff across offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang to school students selected by Saigonchildren and Dariu Foundation.

COVID-19 has turned everyday life upside down. With the situation changing daily, businesses must act with integrity and empathy to navigate the current challenges and retain their customers when the crisis ends.

Vietnam-based e-commerce enabler OnPoint closed its Series A funding round with over $8 million to accelerate its revenue growth and develop an innovative e-commerce solution for its roster of blue-chip clients.

The new Labour Code No.45/2019/QH14 was passed by the National Assembly last November and will come into effect from January 2021, introducing some fundamental changes to the employer-employee relationship, particularly in respect of collective bargaining and corporate-level trade unions. Richard Stapley-Oh, KPMG partner, head of legal, provides a snapshot on some key changes in the new Labour Code.

Vietnam’s foreign investment picture in the first quarter of 2020 showed the hardest downtrend in over a decade since the 2003 SARS pandemic, as the current coronavirus continues to thrash manufacturing, real estate, retail, services, and tourism. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.    

The impacts of COVID-19 are gradually appearing in many economies as the disease rapidly spreads across the globe. International organisations like the IMF, World Bank, and many financial institutions in the world have critically lowered their forecasts for the global economy and many countries as the PMI (purchasing managers’ index) indicators of many countries are starting to show signs of an incoming recession.

The global economy is being impacted by a number of events and curtailing the ability to conduct business as usual, and many companies in Vietnam are rightly concerned about the impact this will have on their cashflows. Ross Macallister, managing partner and head of Consulting Services at KPMG, provides some useful advice to help companies prepare and manage efficiently.

Over the past year, several factors have influenced the need for changes to infrastructure planning and delivery, such as rising socio-political changes and fast-evolving tech innovations that create both opportunities and risks, as well as new difficulties associated with developed and emerging markets and new capital flow and investment models.

The pressure to increase capital and modernise governance are becoming a focus for many financial institutions. In this context, several organisations have actively implemented important requirements under Circular No.13/2018/TT-NHNN covering a broad range of critical aspects of governance, risk management, internal control, internal capital adequacy assessment procedure (ICAAP), and internal audit. As a leading international consulting & audit firm in Vietnam, KPMG closely follows this trend in the Vietnamese banking system. According to KPMG, TPBank has put serious effort and resources into complying with Circular 13’s ICAAP requirement and to have met ICAAP’s stringent international standards. Pham Do Nhat Vinh, director of Financial Risk Consulting Services at KPMG Vietnam, gives some exposure to TPBank’s case and local credit institutions’ movements in this regard.