Dossiers to Determine Donation Expenses for Covid-19 Prevention under Vietnamese Law

Are donations and sponsorships for epidemic prevention and control activities — including the earlier Covid-19 period — counted as deductible expenses when determining taxable corporate income (CIT)? This article presents the regulations under the current legal framework: the CIT Law 2025 (No. 67/2025/QH15) and Decree No. 320/2025/ND-CP, while also noting the policy context applied during the Covid-19 period for readers’ reference.

General Principles on Donations and Sponsorships

Under the current CIT legal framework, donations and sponsorships are deductible in determining taxable income only if they simultaneously meet the conditions for deductible expenses: (1) the expense actually arises and relates to the enterprise’s production and business activities; (2) it has complete lawful invoices and documents; (3) it has non-cash payment documents for each expense of VND 5 million or more (the new threshold under Decree No. 320/2025/ND-CP).

In particular, for charitable and humanitarian donations and sponsorships, tax law strictly regulates the eligible recipients and dossier documents. Donations to individuals or organizations not recognized by law, or lacking supporting documents, are not deductible.

Required Dossiers for Donations and Sponsorships

For donations and sponsorships to be accepted as deductible expenses, enterprises need to prepare:

– Documents or decisions on the donation or sponsorship (decision of the Members’ Council/Board of Directors/enterprise owner);
– Payment documents: payment orders, bank statements (non-cash payment is mandatory for amounts of VND 5 million or more);
– Confirmation minutes, thank-you letters, or receipt documents from the organization or unit receiving the donation or sponsorship;
– Documents proving the legal status of the recipient unit as recognized by law (depending on the type of donation).

Context of the Covid-19 Period (Historical Note)

During the Covid-19 pandemic (2020–2022), the Government issued special policies allowing enterprises to count donations and sponsorships for Covid-19 prevention and control activities as deductible expenses, with simplified dossiers appropriate to the emergency situation. These policies were time-bound, tied to that specific pandemic period, and are no longer a general basis for donations and sponsorships arising at the present time.

Therefore, when finalizing taxes for current tax periods, enterprises must apply the current legal framework (Law 67/2025, Decree 320/2025), and must not cite Covid-era documents that have expired as the basis for current situations.

What Should Enterprises Note?

To protect deductible expenses for donations and sponsorships: (1) verify the legal status of the recipient before donating; (2) make payments via bank transfer; (3) keep the complete dossier set described above; (4) account for donations and sponsorships separately to facilitate explanations during tax finalization.

Do you need to review deductible expense conditions, prepare CIT finalization dossiers, or explain to tax authorities? Please contact ANT Legal’s lawyers via Hotline/Zalo 0966.475.966 for advice specific to each dossier.