Shall a fine up to 20 million VND be imposed for cars running a red light in Vietnam from January 1, 2025? Which cars are exempt from excise tax in Vietnam?

Shall a fine up to 20 million VND be imposed for cars running a red light in Vietnam from January 1, 2025?

Based on Clause 9, Article 6 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP (effective from January 1, 2025) the regulations are as follows:

Penalties and driving license point deductions for drivers of cars, four-wheeled motor vehicles, four-wheeled goods vehicles, and types of vehicles similar to cars violating road traffic rules

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9. A fine ranging from 18,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND shall be imposed on any driver who commits any of the following violations:

a) Driving on roads with a blood alcohol concentration exceeding 50 milligrams to 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood or exceeding 0.25 milligrams to 0.4 milligrams per liter of breath;

b) Disobeying traffic light signals;

c) Disobeying instructions or regulations from traffic regulators or controllers;

d) Driving in the opposite direction on one-way roads, or roads marked with "No Entry", except for violations specified at Point đ, Clause 11 of this Article and cases where priority vehicles are on emergency duty as prescribed.

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Thus, from January 1, 2025, the act of driving a car through a red light may result in a fine ranging from 18 to 20 million VND.

Shall a fine up to 20 million VND be imposed for cars running a red light in Vietnam from January 1, 2025? (Image from the Internet)

Which cars are not subject to excise tax in Vietnam?

According to Clause 1, Article 2 of the excise tax Law 2008 (amended by Clause 1, Article 1 of the 2014 Law Amending excise tax Law), cars are among the subjects to excise tax. Specifically:

Taxable Objects

1. Goods:

a) Cigarettes, cigars, and other products processed from tobacco plants for smoking, inhalation, chewing, sniffing, sucking;

b) Alcohol;

c) Beer;

d) Cars under 24 seats, including cars designed for both passenger and goods transportation with two or more rows of seats, having a fixed partition between the passenger compartment and the goods compartment;

dd) Motorcycles with engine capacity over 125cm3;

e) Aircraft, yachts;

g) Various kinds of gasoline;

h) Air conditioners with a capacity of 90,000 BTU or less;

i) Playing cards;

k) Votive paper, votive products.

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Additionally, according to Clause 4, Article 3 of the excise tax Law 2008, non-taxable objects are defined as follows:

Non-Taxable Objects

Goods specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of this Law do not fall under the excise tax category in the following cases:

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4. Ambulance cars; prisoner transport cars; funeral cars; cars designed with seating and standing capacity for 24 or more people; cars operated in amusement parks, recreational areas, and sports zones that are not registered for road use and do not participate in traffic;

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Thus, four types of cars not subject to excise tax are as follows:

(1) Ambulance cars;

(2) Prisoner transport cars; funeral cars;

(3) Cars designed with seating and standing capacity for 24 or more people;

(4) Cars operated in amusement parks, recreational areas, and sports zones that are not registered for road use and do not participate in traffic.

Which cars are exempt from registration fee in Vietnam?

According to Clause 21, Article 10 of Decree 10/2022/ND-CP and Article 5 of Circular 13/2022/TT-BTC, the types of cars exempt from registration fee include:

- Fire trucks, ambulances, X-ray vehicles, rescue vehicles (including towing vehicles, vehicle carriers); garbage trucks, water spraying vehicles, watering vehicles, water spraying tankers, street cleaning vehicles, vacuum trucks, waste suction trucks; specialized vehicles, machinery used for war veterans, wounded soldiers, disabled people registered in their name.

- Cars owned by foreign organizations and individuals as follows:

+ Diplomatic Representative Agencies, Consular Offices, Offices of International Organizations under the United Nations system.

+ Diplomatic officers, public employees of Consular Offices, administrative-technical staff of Diplomatic Representative Agencies, Consular Offices, members of Representative Offices of International Organizations under the United Nations system, and their family members not holding Vietnamese nationality or not residing in Vietnam, certified by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for diplomatic or public service identification papers.

+ Foreign organizations and individuals not under the aforementioned categories but are exempt or not required to pay registration fee under international agreements that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member of.

- Cars of organizations and individuals who have been issued certificates of ownership and use when re-registering ownership and usage, exempt from registration fee in the following cases:

+ Cars already certified by competent authorities of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, or competent authorities of former policies for ownership, and now re-certifying ownership and usage without a change in the owner.

+ Cars of state-owned enterprises, public service providers undergoing equitization into joint stock companies or reorganization forms according to the law.

+ Cars already certified for joint ownership and usage by households or family members divided following legal provisions for family members re-registering; marital joint assets after marriage; divided assets for spouses upon divorce according to valid judgments or court decisions.

+ Cars of organizations and individuals issued ownership and usage certificates when reissued due to loss, tearing, fading, blurring, or damage of certificates. Organizations and individuals are not required to declare or process exemption for registration fee when reissued ownership and usage certificates in these cases.

- Cars of organizations and individuals already paying registration fee (except cases exempt from registration fee) transferred to others for registration are exempt from registration fee in the following cases:

+ Organizations, individuals, cooperative members contributing their cars as assets to enterprises, credit institutions, cooperatives; enterprises, credit institutions, cooperatives dissolved, divided, or capital withdrawn for individuals, members who previously contributed assets.

+ Cars transferred internally within a single enterprise or administrative service unit according to the decision of the competent authority.

- Cars of organizations and individuals that have paid registration fee are shared or contributed due to division, separation, merger, renaming of the organization according to a competent authority's decision.

- Cars of organizations and individuals that have paid registration fee moved to different locations of use without changing owners.

- Public passenger transport vehicles by clean-energy buses.

- Specialized cars and assets serving special national defense and security purposes, exempt from registration fee as per Clause 13, Article 10 of Decree 10/2022/ND-CP, including:

Cars listed as special property or specialized assets for management serving national defense and security purposes according to legal regulations, granted vehicle registration by the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, or authorized body.