Proposal to remove tax exemption for small value imported goods

Online sales "explosion"

According to information from the Ministry of Finance on the afternoon of November 8, the ministry has submitted to the Government a draft Decree on customs management of exported and imported goods traded via e-commerce, in which it proposes to abolish the exemption of value-added tax (VAT) for imported goods sent via express delivery services with a value of less than 1 million VND.

"This content has been consulted with organizations and individuals according to regulations and has been appraised by the Ministry of Justice and reported to the Government and Prime Minister," said a representative of the Ministry of Finance.

Recently, many opinions have been that Vietnamese trading floors, including traditional floors, markets, supermarkets, and trading floors established by Vietnamese people to do business in Vietnam, all have policies and recommendations to use a certain proportion of goods produced in Vietnam.

Therefore, the regulation that small-value cross-border imports are exempt from tax is not only unfair to domestic production, but also creates competition between domestic e-commerce platforms and e-commerce platforms of foreign origin.

The issuance and implementation of the Decree on customs management of exported and imported goods traded via e-commerce needs to be carried out synchronously with the completion of the information technology infrastructure system, so more time is needed for preparation.

Recently, international trade activities have also changed a lot, countries in the European Union (EU) have abolished the VAT exemption for shipments of 22 euros or less. The United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Wales) also abolished the VAT exemption for imported goods with a total value of 135 pounds or less from January 1, 2021. Similarly, in Singapore, from January 1, 2023, the VAT exemption for low-value goods will also be abolished; Thailand will also collect VAT on all imported goods, regardless of value...

Regarding this issue, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Viet, Deputy Director of the Institute for Economic and Policy Research, University of Economics (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) said: "Having a domestic playground, but the tax exemption regulation for imported goods under 1 million across borders has led to unfair price competition, because those goods are much more profitable."

For example, for goods manufactured in China, there are advantages in scale and excess capacity, making Chinese goods cheaper, plus tax exemption, domestically produced goods can hardly compete, especially for businesses investing in manufacturing goods with the brand name "Made in Vietnam". Therefore, this is the reason why it is necessary to abolish the tax exemption policy for small-value imported goods.

HQ (according to Tin Tuc newspaper)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/de-xuat-bo-quy-dinh-mien-thue-hang-nhap-khau-gia-tri-nho-397557.html