On April 22, 2022, the enterprise continued to carry out procedures for dissolution with the Department of Planning and Investment and received a notice about "the taxpayer stops operating but has not completed the procedure for invalidation of the tax code" on April 27, 2022 from the direct tax authority.

Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular No. 65/2020/TT-BTC dated July 9, 2020 of the Ministry of Finance, "... License fee payers who are active must send a written notice to the tax authority directly managing them or the business registration agency for the suspension of production and business activities in the calendar year (from January 1 to December 31) is not required to pay license fees for the year of business suspension, provided that: a written request for temporary cessation of production and business activities to the tax office or business registration agency before the prescribed fee payment deadline (January 30 of each year) and the license fee of the year has not yet been paid for suspending production and business activities. In case of suspension of production and business activities, if the above conditions are not satisfied, the license fee for the whole year must be paid."

Mr. Ngo Van asked, if the enterprise in the whole year 2021 has no business activities and in 2022 has carried out the dissolution procedures before the end of the business suspension period, does it have to pay the license fee for the whole year of 2021 and 2022?

The Ministry of Finance responded to this issue as follows:

- Pursuant to Point c, Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree No. 22/2020/ND-CP dated February 24, 2020 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 139/2016/ND-CP dated 4/ The Government's October 2016 regulations on license fees are as follows:

"Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 139/2016/ND-CP dated October 4, 2016 on license fees

 2. Article 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

c) Clause 5, Article 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"5. The active fee payer shall send a written notice to the tax authority directly managing the suspension of production and business activities in the calendar year without paying the license fee for the year of business suspension with the following conditions: a written request for suspension of production and business activities to the tax authority before the prescribed fee payment deadline (January 30 of each year) and the license fee for the year of application for suspension has not yet been paid.

- Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular No. 65/2020/TT-BTC dated July 9, 2020 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 302/2016/TT-BTC dated November 15 2016 guidelines on license fees are as follows:

"Article 1. Amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 302/2016/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2016 of the Minister of Finance guiding on license fees

 4. Clause 3, Article 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"...The license fee payer who is currently active shall send a written notice to the managing tax agency or the business registration authority about the suspension of production and business activities in the calendar year (from January 1st until December 31) is not required to pay the license fee for the year of business suspension, provided that: a written request for suspension of production and business activities is sent to the tax agency or business registration agency before the fees payment deadline as prescribed (January 30 of each year) and license fees for the year that have not been paid for the year of application for suspension of production and business activities. In case of temporary suspension of production and business activities that do not meet the above conditions, the license fee for the whole year shall be paid.”

Based on the above provisions, regarding the determination of license fee levels in case the enterprise suspends production and business activities, it is requested that you study and follow the instructions in Clause 4, Article 1 of this Circular. Circular No. 65/2020/TT-BTC dated 9/7/2020 of the Ministry of Finance.

During the implementation process, if you still have problems with tax policy, please provide specific documents and contact the tax authority directly managing it for specific answers.