Which goods and services shall be supplemented to the list of goods and services not subject to VAT in Vietnam from July 1, 2025?

What are regulations on goods and services not subject to VAT in Vietnam from July 1, 2025?

Based on Article 5 of the Law on Value Added Tax 2024 (document effective from July 1, 2025), the regulations concerning goods and services not subject to VAT are stipulated as follows:

(1) Products from plantation, afforestation, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and fishing that are unprocessed into other products or only undergo ordinary preliminary processing, produced, caught, and sold by organizations or individuals at the import stage.

(2) Breeding animals as per legal regulations on animal husbandry and plant breeding materials as per plant cultivation laws.

(3) Animal feed as governed by laws on animal husbandry; aquaculture feed in accordance with laws on aquatic products.

(4) Salt products made from seawater, natural rock salt, refined salt, iodized salt where sodium chloride (NaCl) is the main component.

(5) Public property housing sold by the State to current tenants.

(6) Services such as irrigation, drainage; land plowing, harrowing; dredging of intra-field canals for agricultural production; agricultural product harvesting services.

(7) Land use rights transfer.

(8) Insurance services like life insurance, health insurance, student insurance, other insurance services related to humans; animal insurance, plant insurance, other agricultural insurance services; insurance for ships, boats, necessary equipment and tools directly serving aquaculture; re-insurance; insurance for petroleum works, equipment, foreign-registered oil tankers hired by foreign contractors or sub-contractors for operations in the Vietnamese sea, or overlapping seas where Vietnam and adjacent or opposite countries have agreed to place under joint exploitation policies.

(9) Financial, banking, stock market, commercial services as follows:

- Credit granting services as per legal regulations on credit institutions and the fees specified in the Loan Agreement of the Government of Vietnam with foreign lenders;

- Lending services from taxpayers who are not credit institutions;

- Stock market operations including brokerage, self-dealing, securities underwriting, investment consultancy, securities investment fund management, investment portfolio management as per securities laws;

- Capital transfer includes the transfer of part or all of the invested capital in other economic organizations (regardless of forming a new legal entity), transferring securities, contributions rights, and other forms of capital transfer as per legal provisions, including selling an enterprise to another one for production and business, and the buying enterprise inherits all rights and obligations of the selling one as per law. Capital transfer mentioned here does not include investment project transfer, asset sales;

- Debt sales, including receivables and payables;

- Currency exchange operations;

- Derivative products according to laws on credit institutions, securities, and commercial law, including interest rate swaps; forward contracts; futures contracts; call/put option contracts and other derivative products;

- Sale of secured assets related to the debt of an organization wholly owned by the Government of Vietnam assigned for debt purchasing and selling for handling bad debts of Vietnamese credit institutions.

(10) The following healthcare and veterinary services:

- Healthcare services include: medical examination, treatment, disease prevention for humans, family planning services, health care service, rehabilitation for patients; care services for the elderly, the disabled; transport of patients, room and bed rentals at medical facilities; testing, radiation, imaging services; blood and blood products for patients.

- Care services for the elderly and the disabled include medical care, nutrition, cultural activities, sports, recreation, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation for the elderly and disabled.

In cases where the healthcare service bundle includes the use of medicines as regulated by the Ministry of Health, proceeds from the medicines within the service bundle also fall under the goods and services not subject to VAT;

- Veterinary services include: medical examination, treatment, and disease prevention for animals.

(11) Funeral services.

(12) Maintenance, repair, construction activities funded by public donations, humanitarian aid funds (comprising 50% or more of the project's total usage capital) for historical-cultural relics, scenic sites, cultural and artistic works, public service projects, infrastructure, and housing for social policy beneficiaries.

(13) Teaching and vocational training activities according to laws on education, vocational education.

(14) Broadcasting of radio and television programs funded by the state budget.

(15) Publication, importation, and distribution of newspapers, magazines, newsletters, special releases, political books, textbooks, curricula, legal documents, science and technology books, informational external affairs publications, minority languages books, and propaganda posters, including any audio or video tapes, discs, electronic data; currency, currency prints.

(16) Public transport of passengers by buses, trams, and inland waterway means.

(17) Machinery, equipment, spare parts, materials domestically unproduced and necessary for importation for direct use in scientific research, technological development; machinery, equipment, replacement spare parts, specific-use vehicles, and materials domestically unproduced needed for importation to conduct oil and gas exploration and development activities; aircraft, helicopters, gliders, drilling rigs, ships domestically unproduced necessary for importation to form fixed assets of enterprises or lease from abroad for production, business, leasing.

(18) Defense and security products according to a list issued by the Minister of National Defense and Minister of Public Security; products and services imported for defense and security industries according to a list issued by the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam.

(19) Imported goods in cases of humanitarian aid, non-refundable aid. Goods and services sold to foreign organizations, individuals, international organizations for humanitarian aid, non-refundable aid to Vietnam.

(20) Goods transshipped, in transit through Vietnamese territory; temporary imported goods re-exported; temporary exported goods re-imported; imported raw materials for goods production, processing for export according to production and processing contracts signed with foreign parties; goods and services traded between foreign countries and non-tariff zones and between non-tariff zones.

Imported goods from abroad by financial leasing companies directly transported to non-tariff zones for financial leasing to enterprises within those zones.

(21) Technology transfer as per the Law on Technology Transfer; transfer of intellectual property rights as per the Law on Intellectual Property; software products and software services according to legal regulations.

(22) Gold bullion, bars unprocessed into art products, jewelry, or other products at the import stage.

(23) Export products as natural resources, raw minerals unprocessed into other products and those processed into other products according to a List regulated by the Government of Vietnam consistent with state directions discouraging export and limiting raw resources and minerals export.

(24) Artificial products used to replace human body parts, including products implanted for long term in the human body; crutches, wheelchairs, and other specialized tools for the disabled.

(25) Goods, services of households, individual production, business with annual revenue of 200 million VND or less; assets of non-business organizations, individuals not subject to VAT; national reserve goods sold by national reserve authorities; charge and fee collections according to laws on charges and fees.

(26) Imported goods in the following cases:

- Gifts to government agencies, political organizations, political-social organizations, political-social-professional organizations, social organizations, professional-social organizations, and armed forces units within import exemption limits as per export-import tax laws;

- Gifts within import exemption limits as per export-import tax laws from foreign organizations and individuals to Vietnamese individuals; goods of foreign organizations and individuals within diplomatic immunity or moving assets within import exemption limits as per export-import tax laws;

- Goods within tax-exempt luggage standards upon importation as per export-import tax laws;

- Goods imported for support, sponsorship in disaster, epidemic, war recovery, prevention according to regulations of the Government of Vietnam;

- Goods bought and exchanged across borders for production and consumption of border residents under the List of border residents' trade goods according to laws and within import duty exemption limits as per export-import tax laws;

- Artifacts, antiques, and national treasures regulated by cultural heritage laws imported by government authorities.

Which goods and services shall be supplemented to the list of goods and services not subject to VAT in Vietnam from July 1, 2025?

Based on Article 5 of the Law on Value Added Tax 2008 amended by Clause 1 Article 3 of the Law amending various tax laws 2014 and further modified by Clause 1 Article 1 of Law No. 106/2016/QH13, and Clause 1 Article 1 of the Amended Value Added Tax Law 2013, defining the current goods and services not subject to VAT.

Simultaneously, in accordance with the provisions of Article 5, Law on Value Added Tax 2024 regulating goods and services not subject to VAT from July 1, 2025.

Thus, the one product added to the group of goods and services not subject to VAT from July 1, 2025, is goods imported for support or sponsorship in disaster, epidemic, and war recovery as regulated by the Government of Vietnam.

Which goods and services shall be supplemented to the list of goods and services not subject to VAT in Vietnam from July 1, 2025? (Image from Internet)

When is the time to calculate value-added tax in Vietnam from July 1, 2025?

According to Article 8 of the Law on Value Added Tax 2024 (effective from July 1, 2025), the time to determine value-added tax is specified as follows:

- For goods, it is the time of transfer of ownership or use rights to the buyer or the time of invoicing, regardless of whether the payment has been collected or not;

- For services, it is upon completion of service provision or the time of invoicing for the service, regardless of whether payment has been collected or not.

- The Government of Vietnam shall detail the timing for determining VAT for goods and services including: Exported goods, imported goods; telecommunications services; insurance business services; electricity supply activities, production of electricity, clean water; real estate business activities; construction, installation, and oil and gas activities.