Singapore-based Heineken Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. had, at the end of 2018, struck a deal valued at over VND4.8 trillion ($207.7 million) with the Heineken Vietnam Brewery. Under the deal, the Singaporean firm transferred its entire stake in its Vietnamese subsidiary to the latter.

The tax payable on the deal was VND823 billion ($35.6 million), but Heineken Asia Pacific claimed it was exempt from paying it under the double taxation agreement signed by the governments of Vietnam and Singapore.

However, the General Department of Taxation ruled that the tax had to be paid because the real estate value in the deal was over 50 percent of the assets involved in the deal.

The department confirmed that it has received in full the payment of back taxes and fines.

Another major FDI corporation, Coca-Cola Vietnam, has been ordered to pay VND821.4 billion ($35.4 million) in back taxes and penalties stretching back over nine years.

The company, which has been suspected of engaging in transfer pricing fraud to evade taxes, has paid VND471 billion ($20.4 million), or 57.3 percent of the amount, at the time of writing.

Vietnam collected VND18.8 trillion ($813 million) last year in back taxes and fines, according to the General Department of Taxation.