Annual tax compliance (Laos)

Recently the Tax Department of the Ministry of Finance issued Notification No. 1018/MF.TD, dated 22 December 2014 (the Notification) regarding submission of annual financial reports.

The Notification stipulates that the 2014 financial report (for the year ended 31 December 2014) should be submitted to the tax authorities where the enterprise is registered by 1 March 2015, with late submissions potentially subject to penalties.

The financial report should comprise of and be accompanied by the following:

• Trial balance
• Income statement
• Balance sheet
• Depreciation schedule
• Summary of tax payments for 2014
• Minute/resolution of shareholders meeting, where required by law
• Plan for production, product distribution/sale and service provisions for 2015
• Plan for business revenue and expenditure for 2015
• Summary of estimated tax payments for 2015

The Notification further advises that any outstanding 2013 financial reports must accompany the 2014 financial report.

What the Notification doesn’t mention – but which is a requirement under the relevant regulations – is that reports should be prepared using the Ministry of Finance approved accounting software in the Lao language with the Lao Kip as the reporting currency, unless an exemption to these requirements otherwise applies.

Should you have any questions on this or any other tax developments, please don’t hesitate to contact Daniel Harrison ([email protected]) or Daodeuane Duangdara ([email protected]).

Did you know that VDB Loi Laos is licensed to provide compliance accounting services to complement our tax compliance services?