The Vietnamese government plans to unveil a slew of tax concessions, worth “several billion dollars” and its most ambitious to date, aimed at kickstarting an economy that has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, a senior official said Tuesday.

Among other measures, the government will lower the income tax for small and medium enterprises by 30% in the fourth quarter of this year and for the whole of next year, the official with the General Department of Taxation, which is under the Ministry of Finance, said.

It has also decided to pay back this year’s value-added tax on all materials used for making export goods. It will consider a further exemption of this tax next year, the official, who declined to be named, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“To further support the SMEs, the government has allowed them to delay paying taxes in 2009 by as much as nine months,” the official said.

“This will be the country’s biggest-ever tax concession measures which will be aimed to support the companies to overcome the current financial difficulties.”

The Finance and the Planning and Investment Ministries will soon provide details on how many SMEs will be eligible for the tax concessions, the official said.

State media citing taxation officials have said that a 30% tax reduction in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 2009 would benefit companies by as much as VND25 trillion ($1.5 billion).

The official refused to put a figure on the estimates, but said that the concessions will eventually come to “several billion dollars” if the value-added tax to be refunded to companies is added.

“Government officials will announce the details of the tax measures to support the economy during their end-year special meeting, scheduled at the end of this month,” he said.

State media reported Monday cited First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung as saying that the government is expected to announce an economic-stimulus package worth nearly $6 billion later this month. (Dow Jones)