Carrying out the assigned tasks in the Government's Action Program to implement Resolution 57 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation, the Ministry of Science and Technology has chaired the drafting of a Decree to replace Decree No. 13/2019/ND-CP on science and technology enterprises.
The Draft Decree consists of 6 Chapters, 32 Articles and 6 Appendices with fundamental changes as well as specific proposals to comply with the Law on Science , Technology and Innovation recently passed by the 15th National Assembly at the 9th Session; at the same time, it helps remove barriers and promote the development of science and technology enterprises.
The number of science and technology enterprises is still limited.
The Draft Decree clearly states the existing limitations in the implementation of Decree 13/2019/ND-CP.
Accordingly, the number of certified science and technology enterprises is still limited compared to the potential, basically only meeting 30% of the targets set in science and technology development strategies; in which, science and technology enterprises formed from institutes, schools or converted from public science and technology organizations are very limited, accounting for a small proportion of science and technology enterprises granted Certificates.
The number of science and technology enterprises that benefit from preferential policies is still limited. In addition, the database on science and technology enterprises is incomplete, lacking information, and unverified.
Although the responsibility to report on performance results is one of the prescribed obligations of science and technology enterprises (the sanction for failure to report within 3 years is the revocation of the Science and Technology Enterprise Certificate), the number of enterprises complying with the reporting regime only accounts for 30-40% of the total number of enterprises.
The state management system for science and technology enterprises has been formed from the central to local (provincial level).
However, apart from some large cities, in general, the requirements for management systems in the provinces have not yet met the requirements due to lack of attention from leaders, lack of staff, and inadequate policy implementation capacity.
This is one of the main reasons why the policy of developing science and technology enterprises has not achieved results commensurate with its potential.
Enterprises are exempted from tax for up to 4 years
Faced with the above shortcomings and limitations, the Drafting Committee has drafted the Decree with some fundamental changes.
Regarding the concept of science and technology enterprises, the draft Decree stipulates: Science and technology enterprises are enterprises that conduct research, development, technology transfer and innovation activities, have the capacity to absorb and master technology and bring about economic, social and environmental efficiency (according to Clause 1, Article 39 of the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation).
Regarding the conditions for certifying science and technology enterprises, the draft Decree proposes that enterprises will be granted a Science and Technology Enterprise Certificate when fully meeting the following conditions:
Established and operating under the Law on Enterprises; creating scientific and technological products specified in Clause 5, Article 2 of this Decree from one of the legally owned or used scientific and technological results, including: Inventions, utility solutions, industrial designs, semiconductor integrated circuit layout designs granted protection certificates in Vietnam; computer programs granted copyright registration certificates; new livestock breeds, new plant varieties, new aquatic breeds, new forestry tree varieties, recognized technical advances; scientific research results, technological development, innovation recognized, accepted at the State, ministerial or provincial levels; technology transfer contracts registered in accordance with the law on technology transfer.
According to the draft Decree, the conditions for large enterprises are that they must have a minimum expenditure on research and development (R&D) of 1% of total revenue in the last 3 years; have an R&D department with at least 10 employees (including 5 Vietnamese).
Science and technology products account for more than 20% of total revenue. Products need to be effective such as: Export, quality equivalent to imported products from major markets (EU, US, Japan), winning awards or having revenue growth of more than 10%/year in the last 3 years.
For medium-sized enterprises, R&D expenditure is greater than 0.5% of revenue; R&D department has at least 5 people; science and technology products account for more than 15% of revenue.
For small businesses, R&D spending is greater than 0.3% of revenue; there are at least 2 people doing R&D, or hiring 2 experts; there is at least 1 scientific and technological product being commercialized.
Regarding preferential and support policies, currently, science and technology enterprises are exempted from tax for up to 4 years and have a 50% reduction for up to the next 9 years.
The draft Decree proposes to apply a preferential tax rate of 10% according to the Law on Corporate Income Tax 2025; 200% of R&D costs can be deducted when calculating tax, according to Resolution 68 of the Politburo on private economic development.
New products added to the Certificate will continue to enjoy the benefits under the new term.
The draft Decree also stipulates personal income tax exemption for experts, scientists, and human resources participating in research in science and technology enterprises according to Resolution No. 193/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly: On piloting a number of special mechanisms and policies to create breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation and Article 71: "Amendment - Supplement - Abolition of relevant regulations" of the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation.
Also according to the draft Decree, land used for scientific research is exempted from rent throughout the lease term. Land for production and trading of scientific and technological products is subject to the Investment Law and Decree No. 103/2024/ND-CP.
Regarding bidding incentives, science and technology enterprises enjoy incentives when participating in contractor selection according to Article 10 of the Law on Bidding and Decree 24/2024/ND-CP.
In addition, the Draft Decree has added regulations on procedures for evaluating the results of implementing scientific and technological tasks that do not use the state budget.
Including this content in the Decree will enhance legal effectiveness, ensure consistency and unity in the legal system, in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.
In the context of growth model innovation, increasing R&D spending from the private sector is the central goal. Regulations on the mechanism for recognizing scientific and technological results without using the state budget will create motivation for enterprises to invest in research and development of new products. At the same time, this is also a policy to promote technology commercialization, increasing the proportion of scientific and technological products in enterprise revenue./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/thao-go-rao-can-thuc-day-phat-trien-doanh-nghiep-khoa-hoc-va-cong-nghe-post1052988.vnp
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