Duty-free allowances for luggage in Vietnam

Duty-free allowances for luggage in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Duty-free allowances for luggage in Vietnam

According to Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 6 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP, duty-free allowances for luggage are as follows:

- Each time a person immigrates under a passport or a passport substitute (except for laissez-passers) issued by a Vietnamese authority or foreign authority, he/she shall be granted duty-free allowance for his/her luggage, whether it is accompanied luggage or sent before or after his/her arrival:

+ 1.5 liters of alcohol of ≥20% ABV or 2.0 liters of alcohol of <20% ABV or 3.0 liters of other alcoholic drinks or beer.

If the traveler carries a bottle or can of alcohol whose volume exceeds the limit by not more than 01 liter, the whole bottle will be duty-free. If the volume exceeds the limit by more than 01 liter, the exceed amount shall be dutiable;

+ 200 cigarettes or 250 gram of shredded tobacco or 20 cigars;

+ Reasonable quantity and categories of personal belongings;

+ Other items other than those mentioned in Point a through c of Clauses 1 of Article 6 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP(not on the List of goods banned from import, suspended from import or subject to conditional import) whose total customs value does not exceed VND 10,000,000;

Where the aforementioned allowance is exceeded, the traveler may decide which items are within the allowance and which are not.

- Aircraft operators, attendants on international flights; train operators and attendants on international trains; officers and crewmembers on sea-going vessels; Vietnamese workers and drivers working in countries that shares land borders with Vietnam shall be granted the duty-free allowances mentioned in Point a, Point b and Point d of Clauses 2 of Article 6 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP every 90 days instead of every time they enter Vietnam.

The duty-free allowances mentioned in Point a and Point b Clause 1 of Article 6 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP do not apply to people aged under 18.

- Each time a person emigrates under a passport or a passport substitute issued by a Vietnamese authority or foreign authority, his/her luggage shall be exempt from export duties without limit, whether it is accompanied luggage or sent before or after his/her departure, provided it is not on the List of goods banned from export, suspended from export or subject to conditional export.

2. Objects subject to export and import duties in Vietnam

According to Article 2 of the Law on Export and import duties 2016, the objects subject to export and import duties in Vietnam are as follows:

- Goods exported and imported through Vietnam’s border and border checkpoints.

- Goods exported from the domestic market into free trade zones; goods imported from free trade zones into the domestic market.

- Goods indirectly exported-imported; goods exported and imported by enterprises exercising their right to export, import, or distribute.

- The following goods do not incur export and import duties:

+ Goods in transit;

+ Goods that are humanitarian aid or grant aid;

+ Goods exported from a free trade zone to abroad; goods imported from abroad to a free trade zone and used within such free trade zone; goods transported from one free trade zone to another;

+ Amounts of petroleum used as severance tax paid to the State upon its exportation.

- The Government shall regulate this Article.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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