Supporting businesses recovery after Covid-19 through social insurance exemption and reduction mechanisms: Legal barriers need to be removed

Abstract

While participating in social insurance is a legitimate right of employees, it is also an important cost in business’s operation. During an economic crisis, this cost becomes much more costly for enterprises. According to a survey report prepared by the Board of Research on Private Economic Development (also known as Board IV, which belongs to the Prime Minister's Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform) on the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on production and business activities of enterprises conducted in 2020, the immediate supporting solution that companies proposed the most and expect the Government to prioritize and focus on is: Implementing particular policies on taxation and also social insurance exemption and reduction during the epidemic period for businesses heavily affected by Covid-19. However, according to current legal regulations, the mechanism to amend the rate of social insurance premiums still has many problems to be solved. In this article, the author focuses on studying the impact of Covid-19 on businesses in Vietnam and legal barriers related to social insurance exemptions and reductions, and then proposes solutions to the problems posed.