Proposal to reduce 2% VAT until December 31, 2026

Proposal to reduce value added tax (VAT) rate by 2%, applicable to groups of goods and services currently subject to a tax rate of 10% (to 8%) until December 31, 2026.

Continuing the ninth session program, on the morning of May 13, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on VAT reduction.

National Assembly delegates attend the meeting in the hall on the morning of May 13. Photo: quochoi.vn

The Draft Resolution stipulates the scope of application including: Reducing the VAT rate by 2%, applicable to groups of goods and services currently subject to a tax rate of 10% (to 8%), except for the following groups of goods and services: Telecommunications, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate business, metal products, mining products (except coal), goods and services subject to special consumption tax (except gasoline).

The period of application of the provisions in Clause 1 of this Article is from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.

According to Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang, in the period from 2022 to the first months of 2025, the National Assembly has resolved to reduce the VAT rate by 2% for groups of goods and services currently subject to the VAT rate of 10% (to 8%), excluding some groups of goods and services.

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang presented the Proposal and draft Resolution. Photo: quochoi.vn

“Reducing VAT along with other support solutions on taxes, fees, and charges is creating great conditions to help businesses reduce production costs, increase profits, and increase the ability to stimulate demand,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Thang.

To contribute to creating momentum to promote and develop the economy and support people and businesses, the Government believes that it is necessary to continue implementing the VAT reduction policy.

Assessing the impact of the draft Resolution, Minister Nguyen Van Thang said that the expected reduction in state budget revenue in the last 6 months of 2025 and the whole year of 2026 is about 121.74 trillion VND. However, reducing VAT will contribute to reducing the cost of goods and services, thereby promoting production and business and creating more jobs, contributing to stabilizing the macro economy and economic growth in the last 6 months of 2025 and the whole year of 2026.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai presents the report. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Presenting the Verification Report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai said that the majority of opinions in the Committee agreed with the necessity of issuing a Resolution at the Government's request.

However, some opinions say that continuing to propose the issuance of policies is not really appropriate and will make it difficult to achieve the set goal of stimulating consumption because the policy's ability to stimulate demand has been saturated after a long period of implementation.

In addition, there are also opinions that the continuous extension and prolongation of the implementation of the tax reduction policy creates a bad precedent, making tax policy unstable and inconsistent. In addition, the narrowing of fiscal and policy space will reduce the ability to respond to more serious economic crises in the future.

Mr. Phan Van Mai said that there were opinions suggesting a review to consider some items affected by the trade war and the US's reciprocal tax policy. At the same time, since there are only 3 groups of goods and services proposed not to reduce taxes, the Ministry of Finance needs to review further. In case the difference of 2% VAT collection for these groups of goods and services is not too large, it is possible to consider reducing taxes for all goods and services to ensure fairness.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/de-xuat-giam-2-thue-gtgt-den-het-31-12-2026-702077.html