Meeting of Korea-Vietnam National Tax Service Chiefs in Hanoi: "Active Tax Support for Korean Companies Entering Vietnam"

The 24th Korea-Vietnam National Tax Service Chiefs Meeting

On the 11th, the National Tax Service (NTS) announced on the 12th that it held the 24th Korea-Vietnam National Tax Service Chiefs Meeting with the Vietnam General Department of Taxation in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Vietnam, which has a comprehensive strategic partnership with Korea, ranked as the third largest trading partner with a trade volume of $86.8 billion (approximately 119 trillion KRW) in 2024. With the global supply chain restructuring and growing attention as an investment destination for multinational corporations, Korean companies’ investments in Vietnam are also expanding.

Additionally, there are a total of 410,000 mutual overseas Koreans and Vietnamese (as of 2023, 178,000 Koreans residing in Vietnam and 228,000 Vietnamese residing in Korea), establishing deep social and cultural ties between the two countries.

This meeting was held as part of the Korea-Vietnam National Tax Service Chiefs Meetings, which have been ongoing since 2003, to deepen tax administration cooperation between the two countries and discuss the latest issues in tax administration. An NTS official stated, "This meeting was especially significant as the two chiefs met face-to-face again after five months since strengthening their friendship at the 53rd SUGATA General Assembly held in Seoul last October," adding, "It served as an opportunity to further enhance cooperation between the tax authorities based on trust and friendly relations between the heads of tax administrations."

During the meeting, the two chiefs discussed the advancement of tax administration through digital transformation and tax support measures for companies operating in Vietnam. They also agreed to renew the Korea-Vietnam National Tax Service Mutual Agreement (MOU) to activate exchanges between the tax authorities.

The two chiefs agreed on the necessity of advancing electronic tax administration for efficient national tax operations and shared best practices in digital transformation. Kang Min-su, Commissioner of the NTS, introduced cases of digital tax innovation utilizing advanced technologies such as AI Hometax and AI telephone consultation services, sharing Korea’s experience and know-how in digital transformation of tax administration.

In addition, prior to the meeting, Commissioner Kang held a "Local Tax Administration Roundtable" to listen to major tax difficulties faced by Korean companies operating in Vietnam. He conveyed these issues to Commissioner Mai Xuan Thang and discussed practical support measures such as activating the mutual agreement procedure under tax treaties to resolve double taxation for companies. He also requested active tax support for Korean companies, including prompt and smooth refund processing of Vietnam’s domestic value-added tax related to export transactions.

The NTS plans to continue strengthening tax cooperation with major economic partner countries through ongoing exchanges between tax authorities and actively support Korean companies operating overseas to focus on their business in a more stable tax environment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.