After nearly 40 years of attracting foreign investment, the FDI sector has become a vital component of Vietnam's economy, contributing to exports, job creation, economic restructuring, and the adoption of modern technologies and management practices.
At the seminar "Tax and Investment Policies for Foreign-Invested Enterprises – Partnership, Transparency, and Compliance," held on September 28, Mai Xuan Thanh, Director General of the General Department of Taxation, stated that the requirement for the new phase is not merely to attract more FDI capital but to enhance the quality, efficiency, and added value of these capital inflows.
Accordingly, tax policies, investment policies, and tax administration practices need to be further refined. Transparency is identified as a crucial factor in the relationship between tax authorities and enterprises. Businesses need to proactively manage compliance, ensuring that records, data, and information accurately reflect the nature of transactions, while engaging in early dialogue with tax authorities regarding complex or ambiguous issues. On the part of regulatory bodies, tax policies and procedures must be transparent, clearly guided, and implemented consistently and effectively. According to Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency, the Politburo’s Resolution No. 10-NQ/TW on the development of the foreign-invested economic sector mandates a shift in the approach to the FDI sector. The focus is moving from scale and quantity toward quality, efficiency, and value addition, prioritizing projects that feature advanced technology, modern management, innovation capabilities, and the potential for deep integration into global value chains.
Concurrently, Vietnam aims to strengthen linkages between FDI enterprises and domestic firms, fostering technology transfer as well as workforce training and development, thereby enhancing the economy's technology absorption capacity and competitiveness. Investment incentive policies are also being realigned to focus on actual outcomes, efficiency, and specific project contributions, rather than merely on capital scale. Furthermore, the investment attraction strategy is shifting from targeting individual projects toward building a competitive investment and business ecosystem.
From the perspective of international investors, a representative of the EU Delegation to Vietnam emphasized that stability and predictability are crucial factors for attracting and retaining FDI flows amidst the volatility of international trade.
Vietnam continues to possess advantages such as an expanding domestic market, export-oriented logistics infrastructure, and an extensive network of free trade agreements. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam reached a five-year high in 2025 and the early quarters of 2026. Specifically, EU direct investment in Vietnam totaled approximately US$30.5 billion by the end of 2025.
During the seminar, the General Department of Taxation introduced the "Vietnam Tax White Paper 2026" to the business community. This publication provides information on the tax policy system, tax administration, budget revenue results, and the direction of tax sector reforms, helping businesses access consistent information regarding Vietnam's tax and investment environment.
As investment and tax policies continue to be refined, staying updated on regulations and assessing the investment environment are crucial for businesses to formulate appropriate strategies. SDLINK operates in the fields of investment consulting and planning, partnering with businesses to research policies, evaluate investment opportunities, and guide project implementation, aiming for solutions that align with development needs and the prevailing business environment at each stage.
Source: Government News Portal