THE
STATE COUNCIL
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SOCIALIST
REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom – Happiness
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No.
64-LCT/HDNN8
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Hanoi,
December 26, 1991
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LAW
ON
IMPORT TAX AND EXPORT TAX
To manage import and export
activities; to expand external economic relations; to raise the efficiency of
import and export activities; to contribute to developing and protecting
production, guiding domestic consumption and creating revenue sources for the
State budget;
Pursuant to Article 83 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam;
This Law provides for import tax and export tax.
Chapter I.
TAXABLE OBJECTS AND TAXPAYERS
Article 1.- Goods
permitted for import and/or export through Vietnam’s border-gates or across
Vietnam’s borders, including goods brought from the domestic market into
export-processing zones or from export-processing zones to the domestic market,
shall all be subject to import tax and/or export tax.
Article 2.- Goods in the
following cases shall not be subject to import tax or export tax after having
gone through all customs procedures:
1. Goods in transit or
transported across Vietnam’s borders;
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3. Goods being humanitarian
aids.
Article 3.- Organizations
and/or individuals that possess goods being tax-liable objects (hereinafter
referred collectively to as taxpayers), when importing and/or exporting those
goods, shall all have to pay import tax and/or export tax.
Article 4.- For goods
imported and/or exported under international agreements which Vietnam has
signed or acceded to and which contain different provisions, the import and
export taxes shall comply with such agreements.
Article 5.- Basing itself
on this Law, the Council of Ministers shall prescribe import tax and export tax
on non-quota goods in accordance with the Regulation on non-quota border import
and export and particularities of each border area.
Chapter II.
TAX CALCULATION BASES
Article 6.- Bases for
calculation of import tax and export tax:
1. The volume of each goods item
inscribed in the import/export goods declaration.
2. The tax calculation price;
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Article 7.- Bases for
determination of tax calculation prices:
1. For export goods, it is the
contractual sale price at the export border-gate;
2. For import goods, it is the
contractual purchase price at the import border-gate, including freights and
insurance costs;
In cases where goods are
imported or exported by other modes or the contractual prices are much lower
than the actual purchase/sale prices at border gates, the tax calculation
prices shall be determined by the Council of Ministers;
3. The exchange rates between
Vietnamese dong and foreign currencies used for the determination of tax
calculation prices are the buying rates announced by the State Bank of Vietnam
at the time of tax calculation.
Chapter III.
TAX TABLES
Article 8.- Basing itself
on the import/export policy in each period, the State Council shall prescribe
tax tables according to the lists of tax-liable goods categories and
tax-rate bracket applicable to each goods category.
Basing itself on the tax tables
promulgated by the State Council, the Council of Ministers shall prescribe
specific tax tables according to the list of goods items and tax rate applicable
to each goods item.
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1. Common tax rates are the tax
rates prescribed in the tax tables;
2. Preferential tax rates are the
tax rates applicable to goods imported from, or exported to, countries that
have signed agreements with clauses on preferential treatment in the trade
relations with Vietnam and other cases as decided by the Council of Ministers.
A preferential tax rate shall be
prescribed not lower than 50% of the common tax rate for each goods item. The
Council of Ministers shall decide on the specific preferential tax rate for
each goods item and each country.
Chapter IV.
TAX EXEMPTION, REDUCTION AND REIMBURSEMENT
Article 10.- Tax
exemption shall apply in the following cases:
1. Non-refundable aid goods;
2. Goods temporarily imported
for re-export or temporarily exported for re-import for participation in trade
fairs or exhibitions;
3. Goods being assets on the
move, goods possessed and carried along or sent home by Vietnamese citizens
going to work overseas under labor cooperation contracts or expert cooperation
contracts, citizens working or studying overseas, within the limit prescribed
by the Council of Ministers.
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5. Goods exported for repayment
of the Government’s foreign debts.
Article 11.- Tax
exemption shall be considered in the following cases:
1. Goods imported for exclusive
use for security, national defense, scientific research, and education and
training.
2. Goods being supplies or raw
materials imported for processing for, then re-export to, foreign countries
under signed contracts;
3. Goods imported or exported by
foreign-invested enterprises and foreign parties to business cooperation
contracts, in cases where investment should be encouraged under the Law on
Foreign Investment in Vietnam;
4. Goods being gifts or
donations given by foreign organizations or individuals to Vietnamese
organizations or individuals and vice versa, within the limits prescribed by
the Council of Ministers.
Article 12.- Tax
reduction shall be considered for cases where goods on the move or in the
course of handling are damaged or lost for plausible reasons certified by the
State expertise agency in charge of import/export goods.
The tax reduction levels shall
correspond to the goods’ damage percentage.
Article 13.- For goods
that have been exempted from taxes or considered for tax exemption or reduction
according to the provisions of Articles 10, 11 and 12 of this Law but later the
reasons for tax exemption or reduction change, the import/export tax amounts
must be fully collected.
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Article 14.- The
reimbursement of import tax or export tax to taxpayers shall be considered in
the following cases:
1. Import goods for which import
tax has been paid but which are still being kept in border-gate warehouses or
storing yards but permitted for re-export;
2. Goods for which export tax
has been paid but which are no longer exported;
3. Goods for which import or
export tax has been paid according to declarations but which have actually been
exported or imported in smaller volume;
4. Goods being supplies or raw
materials imported for production of export goods;
5. Goods temporarily imported
for re-export, goods temporarily exported for re-import, under permission of
the competent State agency.
Chapter V.
ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION
Article 15.- The Council
of Ministers shall exercise uniform management over the collection of import
and export taxes throughout the country.
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The People’s Committees of
border provinces shall have to coordinate with customs offices and tax offices
in organizing the collection of taxes on non-quota border import and export
goods according to regulations of the Council of Ministers.
Article 16.-
Organizations and individuals that have goods permitted for import and/or
export must make tax declarations and pay taxes upon each time of goods
importation or exportation.
Tax offices shall have to
undertake inspection, complete procedures and collect taxes.
Article 17.-
1. The time for import/export
tax calculation is the date of registration of import/export goods
declarations;
2. Within 8 hours after
registering import/export goods declarations, the tax-collecting agencies shall
officially notify the taxpayers of the payable tax amounts;
3. The time limits for taxpayers
to fully pay taxes is prescribed as follows:
a/ 15 days as from the date a
taxpayer receives the tax-collecting agency’s official notice of the payable
tax amount, for commercial export goods;
b/ 30 days as from the date a
taxpayer receives the tax-collecting agency’s official notice of the payable
tax amount, for commercial import goods;
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Article 18.- In cases
where taxpayers disagree with the officially notified payable tax amounts, they
shall still have to fully pay such tax amounts but concurrently have the right
to lodge complaints to the central-level tax- collecting agencies for
settlement. If later they still disagree with the complaint settlement, they
may further lodge their complaints to the Minister of Finance. The Finance
Minister’s decisions shall be the final ones.
Article 19.-
1. Within 30 days after
receiving complete dossiers of application for tax reimbursement from taxpayers
that have import/export goods prescribed in Article 14 of this Law, the Finance
Ministry shall have to fully reimburse the reimbursable tax amounts to such
taxpayers.
2. Past the time limit
prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, apart from the reimbursable tax
amounts, the Finance Ministry shall also have to pay taxpayers that are
entitled to tax reimbursement an interest amount to be calculated according to
the bank deposit interest rate at the time of tax reimbursement, as from the
date of delaying tax reimbursement.
Chapter VI.
HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS
Article 20.-
1. Each day after the
tax-payment time limits prescribed in Article 17 of this Law, if taxpayers fail
to pay taxes, they shall have to pay a fine equal to 0.5% of the tax arrears.
2. In cases where taxpayers fail
to pay taxes for 90 days after the tax-payment time limits, customs offices
must not fill in the import/export procedures for subsequent goods lots of such
taxpayers while the Ministry of Trade and Tourism must not grant them
import/export permits, until they fully pay the outstanding tax debts.
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Tax-collecting agencies shall
have the right to apply sanctioning measures according to the provisions of
Clauses 1 and 3 of this Article.
4. Individuals who evade big tax
amounts or have been administratively handled according to Clause 3 of this
Article but still commit violations or evade very big tax amounts or commit
crimes in other serious cases shall be examined for penal liability according
to the provisions of Article 169 of the Penal Code.
Article 21.- In cases
where taxpayers disagree with the sanctioning decisions of tax-collecting
agencies, they shall still have to execute the sanctioning measures but
concurrently have the right to lodge complaints to the central-level
tax-collecting agencies; if later they still disagree with the complaint
settlement, they may further lodge their complaints to the Finance Minister.
The Finance Minister’s decisions
shall be the final ones.
Article 22.- Tax officers
or other individuals, who abuse their positions and/or powers to appropriate or
corrupt import/export tax money, shall have to refund to the State the entire
appropriated or corrupted tax amounts and, depending on the seriousness of
their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned or examined for
penal liability according to law provisions.
Tax officers or other
individuals, who abuse their positions and/or powers to cover up violators or
intentionally violate the provisions of the Law on Import Tax and Export Tax,
being irresponsible in the implementation of this Law, shall, depending on the
seriousness of their violations, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned or
examined for penal liability according to law provisions.
Tax officers, who, due to their
lack of responsibility or intentional improper handling of tax cases, cause
damage to taxpayers or handled persons, shall have to pay compensations to the
victims.
Chapter VII.
FINAL PROVISIONS
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Article 24.- This Law
replaces the December 29, 1987 Law on Import Tax and Export Tax on Commercial
Goods; to annul Article 32 of the June 30, 1990 Law on Special Consumption Tax.
Article 25.- The Council
of Ministers shall detail the implementation of this Law.
This Law was passed on December
26, 1991 by the VIIIth National Assembly of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam at its 10th session./.
National Assembly
Vo Chi Cong