Are Your FY2023 Financial Statements and Final Annual Profit Tax Return Ready for Submission

Are your FY2023 financial statements (“FS”) and final annual profit tax (“Annual PT”) return ready for submission by the last business day of March 2024?

To ensure a smooth FY2023 FS and Annual PT return submission by the last business day of March 2024, corporate taxpayers are required to prepare these documents beforehand:

	Documents	Remark
1.	Financial statements (The annual profit tax calculation, asset count sheet, inventory count sheet, and bank statements are also required in some cases.)	5 original copies
2.	Tax payment certificate from the previous year	One copy
3.	Valid enterprise registration certificate and business licenses	One copy
4.	Tax audit minutes and relevant tax payment receipts from the previous year	One copy
5.	Tax payment summary and receipts	One copy
6.	Shareholders’ resolution approving the FS and distributing or retaining the annual dividend	One copy
7.	Office ownership certificate or office rental agreement with tax payment receipt	One copy
8.	Office location certificate (signed and sealed by the relevant village chief)	One copy
9.	Passport/ID card of the managing director	One copy
10.	Articles of association	One copy
11.	Power of attorney to an agent (if documents will not be submitted by the company)	One copy
12.	VAT system registration certificate	One copy

The FS are required to be submitted to both the Accounting Authority and the Tax Authority, but the Annual PT return is submitted to the Tax Authority only. As per regulatory requirements, the FS must be submitted to the Accounting Authority first—after that, with the Accounting Authority’s docket, they are then submitted to the Tax Authority.

Corporate taxpayers registered under the Vientiane Capital level can submit their FS to the Accounting Authority electronically, but those registered under the central level must submit their FS at the Accounting Department’s counter in person.

The Annual PT must be computed by taking into account the following non-deductible items:

• Profit tax
• Input VAT related to fixed asset already deducted
• Depreciation deducted in excess of the allowed rates
• Bad debts without supporting evidence and certification
• Expenses with supporting VAT invoices but that were not declared on the monthly VAT form
• Depreciation of fixed assets not registered as the company’s assets
• Expenses not directly related to business operations (e.g. golf, entertainment, gifts, and prizes)
• Expenses without an official receipt or with an improper receipt
• Expenses higher than market price or for an excessive amount
• All types of reserves/provisions (except for banks or financial institutions)
• Impairments of assets
• Interest on loans taken by shareholders to contribute as equity
• Deferred tax expenses
• All types of penalties
• Losses incurred from the revaluation of assets and liabilities at the period-end
• Foreign exchange losses incurred from the revaluation of assets and liabilities (that are booked as foreign currency) at the period-end

If the Annual PT amount based on the financial statements is more than 10% of the total PT prepaid in the two installments (on 20 July 2023 and 20 January 2024), the balance will be subject to a penalty of 50%.

If you need professional support regarding the above, please contact our senior tax adviser, Chansamone Phetsavang at [email protected].