On the morning of April 22, the Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry (HUFI) held a Seminar on "Tax and fee policies in university autonomy: Current situation and recommendations”. At the discussion, representatives from many universities shared different difficulties and proposed recommendations around tax and fee policies for better implementation of university autonomy.

Seminar on "Tax and fee policies in university autonomy: Current situation and recommendations"

According to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ho Thuy Tien – Chairman of the University of Finance and Marketing, current regulations in Vietnam require public colleges and universities to only pay corporate income tax for service activities, such as in-service training and high-quality training. In fact today, universities determine their tuition fees base on the pricing competitiveness with other universities, and the economic-technical norms, thus the tuition fee is collected mostly just to offset the expenses.

“During the past two years, because of the Covid-19 epidemic, most schools, including the University of Finance and Marketing, have reduced the tuition fee by 5% for all students. Therefore, in order to support schools and mainly to support students, the Government should consider exempting corporate income tax for in-service and high-quality training programs temporarily", said Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ho Thuy Tien.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ho Thuy Tien – Chairman of the University of Finance and Marketing, presented at the panel discussion

Based on the true situation at HUFI, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan – President of Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry, pointed out a few problems the university is facing with the current taxation regulations, and made a number of suggestions for the Government and the National Assembly to consider.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan shared: “Although being negatively affected by the pandemic in 2021, technology transfer contracts and scientific research results has brought our university 4 billion VND. However, we have spent up to 5 billion VND on scientific research activities. If we use the earnings to cover up the expenses, then we have no idea on how to pay taxes."

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan - President of Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry spoke at the seminar

Therefore, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hoan suggested that the Government should consider not applying taxation to school service activities such as dormitory, technology transfer, and training. Especially, the Government should have preferential policies for public non-business education units that are classified as self-financed (both in whole or in part), and the schools should be given autonomy and the right to be financially responsible for themselves.