District 12, Ho Chi Minh City 4.32

District 12 is an urban district of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam.As of 2010, the district had a population of 427,083. The district covers an area of 53 km². The district is divided into 11 small subsets which are called wards. It borders Hóc Môn District to the north, Thủ Đức District and Bình Dương Province to the east, Bình Tân District to the west and Tân Bình and Gò Vấp districts to the south.AdministrationThe district consists of 10 wards: An Phú ĐôngĐông Hưng ThuậnHiệp ThànhTân Chánh HiệpTân Thới HiệpTân Thới NhấtThạnh LộcThạnh XuânThới AnTrung Mỹ TâyQuang Trung Software CityThe goal of the city is to offer a living and workplace to people particularly interested in software development as an economic incentive system to spur the growth of the software industry in Vietnam. It is sponsored by the Japan External Trade Organization and United States Agency for International DevelopmentThe Vietnamese government has arranged for high speed internet to be wired to the area. The city opened in 2001 and housed 20,000 people in 2010.Legal IncentivesIn order to facilitate use of this resource a number of laws have been set up.TaxesCompanies are tax-exempt for their first four years after making a profit, and then only charged 50% of their normal taxes for the next nine years after their exemption. Overall taxes for the area are 10% for the first 15 years of the city, and 25% after that. Imported materials used for software production are import-tax free so long as they can not yet be used domestically. Exported software products are export-tax exempt. A Value Added Tax is also waived for exported software and domestically consumed software.