Customs and import duties: the customs authority, tariff rates and free trade agreements, rules of origin, duty exemptions for projects, export processing enterprises and bonded warehouses, excise and environmental taxes, valuation and post-clearance audit

The law and the customs authority

Customs procedures are governed by Law No. 54/2014/QH13 on Customs and its decrees, and duties by Law No. 107/2016/QH13 on Export and Import Duties, both amended by Law No. 90/2025/QH15, which took effect on 1 July 2025 and also introduced a statutory definition of on-the-spot exports and imports. The detailed duty rules are in Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP, as amended by Decree No. 18/2021/ND-CP and by Decree No. 182/2025/ND-CP of 1 July 2025, which added exemptions for goods imported for science, technology, innovation and digital technology. The tariff schedules are issued by Government decree (the main schedule is Decree No. 26/2023/ND-CP, as amended), with a separate decree for each free trade agreement's preferential schedule.

The authority changed its name and shape in 2025. Under Decision No. 382/QD-BTC of 26 February 2025, effective 1 March 2025, the General Department of Customs became the Customs Department (Cục Hải quan), a department of the Ministry of Finance with twelve central units, and the former provincial customs departments were consolidated into 20 regional customs branches (Chi cục Hải quan khu vực), under which the border gates and inland clearance points operate. Older documents, forms and websites still refer to the General Department of Customs and to provincial customs departments. Declarations are filed electronically through the VNACCS/VCIS system and the National Single Window, and duties are paid electronically before goods are released, unless a guarantee or a priority status allows later payment.

Duties and taxes collected at import

An importer pays, at the border, import duty on the customs value at the rate for the goods' HS code and origin; VAT on the customs value plus import duty and any special consumption and environmental protection tax, at 10%, 8%, 5% or exempt as for domestic supplies (VAT and e-invoicing); special consumption tax on goods within that tax; and environmental protection tax on goods within that tax. Import VAT paid is creditable as input VAT by a credit-method importer, so for most businesses the real cost is the import duty and any excise. Export duty applies only to a limited list of goods, mainly natural resources and minerals, and a protective duty, anti-dumping duty, countervailing duty or safeguard duty may be added on goods subject to a trade remedy decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The applicable import rate is one of three. The preferential (MFN) rate applies to goods originating in a country that gives Vietnam most-favoured-nation treatment, which in practice means all WTO members. The special preferential rate applies to goods originating in a country with which Vietnam has a free trade agreement, provided that valid proof of origin is presented and the goods meet the agreement's transport rules. The ordinary rate, 150% of the MFN rate, applies to goods from the few countries that do not give MFN treatment. Classification under the ASEAN harmonised nomenclature decides the rate and is the most common source of customs disputes, together with valuation and origin.

Free trade agreements and rules of origin

Vietnam has a wide network of free trade agreements in force, of which the most significant for foreign investors are the CPTPP (with partners including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and the United Kingdom), the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA), the UK-Vietnam FTA (UKVFTA), which replicates the EVFTA for the United Kingdom, and the RCEP (ASEAN with Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand), together with the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and the ASEAN agreements with China, Korea, Japan, India and Australia-New Zealand. Each agreement has its own tariff elimination schedule, implemented by a Government decree, and its own rules of origin.

A preference is available only if the goods originate under the agreement's rules: wholly obtained, or sufficiently transformed through a change of tariff classification, a regional value content threshold or a specific process, and transported in accordance with the agreement. Proof of origin is either a certificate of origin issued by the exporting country's authority or, where the agreement allows, an origin declaration by the exporter, importer or producer: self-certification under the CPTPP, and, under the EVFTA, statements on origin by exporters registered in the EU's REX system for goods shipped from the EU to Vietnam. REX is the EU exporters' system: a Vietnamese exporter shipping to the EU uses a certificate of origin form EUR.1 issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade or, where it qualifies, an origin declaration under Circular No. 14/2026/TT-BCT of 25 March 2026 on the EVFTA rules of origin. A foreign-invested manufacturer exporting from Vietnam needs the same analysis in reverse: its products qualify for preference in the destination market only if enough value or transformation is added in Vietnam, and it obtains Vietnamese certificates of origin from the Ministry of Industry and Trade's issuing bodies. Customs verifies origin after clearance and can deny the preference retrospectively, so the bill of materials, cost data and supplier declarations behind each origin claim should be kept for the audit period.

Duty exemptions for investment projects

Under Article 16 of Law No. 107/2016/QH13, goods imported to create the fixed assets of a project in an incentivised sector or location, or of a project financed by ODA, are exempt from import duty: machinery, equipment, specialised means of transport, components, parts and accessories, and building materials that cannot yet be produced domestically. The exemption applies to new projects and to expansion projects and replacements, and can be claimed by the contractor importing for the project. Raw materials, supplies and components that cannot be produced domestically are exempt for five years from the start of production for projects in specially incentivised sectors or especially disadvantaged areas, except mining; under Decree No. 182/2025/ND-CP a similar five-year exemption applies to qualifying science, technology, innovation and digital technology enterprises, with unused exempt inputs to be declared and duty paid when the period ends. The investment law conditions for these incentives are in Investment incentives (FAQ 37).

The exemption is administered by customs on the basis of an exempt-goods list notified to customs before the first import, under Article 30 of Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP as amended by Decree No. 182/2025/ND-CP, through the electronic system; the importer then declares each shipment against the list. The goods must be used for the stated purpose: selling, leasing or transferring them, or using them for another purpose, requires a declaration and payment of the duty exempted, calculated on the residual value. Import VAT is separate from the duty exemption: unless the goods fall within a VAT exemption, the project pays import VAT at the border and recovers it through the credit method or, in its investment phase, the VAT refund procedure (VAT and e-invoicing).

How to import equipment duty-free for an incentivised project

1. Confirm the project's eligibilityCheck that the project is in an incentivised sector or location under the Law on Investment and Decree No. 96/2026/ND-CP, and that the IRC records the incentive where the project has one.
2. Check the goods against domestic productionConfirm that each item is a fixed asset of the project and is not on the Ministry of Finance's list of goods that can be produced domestically; domestically produced goods do not qualify.
3. Prepare the exempt-goods listList each item by name, HS code, quantity and value, consistent with the project's investment documents and the equipment contracts.
4. Notify the list to customsNotify the list electronically to the customs branch before the first import, under Article 30 of Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP as amended, with the supporting documents the decree requires.
5. Declare each shipment against the listDeclare imports under the exemption code, deducting the quantities from the notified list; customs tracks the balance.
6. Use the goods as stated and reportKeep the goods in the project, report their use as required, and declare and pay the duty if any item is sold, leased or used for another purpose.

Export processing enterprises, bonded warehouses and inward processing

An export processing enterprise (EPE) is a company, inside or outside an export processing zone, that is treated as being outside Vietnam's customs territory, under the regime in Decree No. 35/2022/ND-CP on industrial parks and economic zones and the customs rules. Goods brought into an EPE from abroad bear no import duty or import VAT; sales from the domestic market to an EPE are exports, zero-rated for VAT; and goods sold from an EPE into the domestic market are imports on which the buyer pays duty and VAT. An EPE must meet customs supervision conditions, including a fence separating it from the outside and camera surveillance connected to customs, and must register its status in its IRC. The regime suits manufacturers that export almost all their output; a manufacturer that sells a significant part domestically often finds an ordinary company with inward processing more flexible.

An ordinary company may import raw materials for export production free of import duty, provided that it declares them under the export production regime, notifies its production facilities to customs, and exports the finished products, reporting the use of materials annually; materials not exported within the period become dutiable. Goods imported to process for a foreign party are similarly exempt. A bonded warehouse, licensed by customs under Decree No. 68/2016/ND-CP as amended by Decree No. 67/2020/ND-CP, allows foreign goods to be stored in Vietnam without duty and VAT until they are imported into the domestic market or re-exported. On-the-spot exports and imports, where goods are delivered in Vietnam on the instructions of a foreign buyer, are now defined in the Customs Law by Law No. 90/2025/QH15 and zero-rated for VAT.

Special consumption tax and environmental protection tax

Special consumption tax (excise) is governed by Law No. 66/2025/QH15, passed on 14 June 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026, and applies at import and on domestic production of tobacco, alcohol, beer, cars with fewer than 24 seats, motorcycles over 125 cm³, aircraft and yachts, petrol, air conditioners above 24,000 BTU up to 90,000 BTU, playing cards and votive goods, and to services such as casinos, betting, karaoke, massage, golf and lotteries. The 2025 law raises the rates on beer and on spirits of 20% alcohol or more to 65% in 2026, rising five points a year to 90% in 2031; changes tobacco to an additional fixed amount per pack from 2027; and adds beverages with more than 5 g of sugar per 100 ml from 1 January 2027, at 8% rising to 10% in 2028. A manufacturer or importer of these goods should model the rate path in its pricing.

Environmental protection tax is levied under Law No. 57/2010/QH12 at fixed amounts per unit on petrol, diesel and other fuels, coal, HCFCs, plastic bags and certain restricted chemicals, at rates set by the National Assembly Standing Committee within the law's frames. Fuel rates have been reduced temporarily several times; Resolution No. 19/2026/QH16 set a zero rate on petrol, diesel, kerosene, mazut and aviation fuel from 16 April to 30 June 2026 and allowed the Government to extend or shorten the period, so the current rate should be checked at the time of import. Mining activities also bear natural resources tax and environmental protection fees, covered in Chapter 10.

Customs valuation and post-clearance audit

The customs value of imports is determined under the WTO Valuation Agreement as implemented by Circular No. 39/2015/TT-BTC as amended by Circular No. 60/2019/TT-BTC: primarily the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable, adjusted by adding costs such as royalties and licence fees that are a condition of sale of the goods, buying commissions excluded, assists supplied free by the buyer, and freight and insurance to the first port of import. Where the buyer and seller are related, customs examines whether the relationship influenced the price and may reject the transaction value. Royalties paid to a parent for technology embodied in imported components are the classic adjustment: they may be dutiable at the border as well as subject to foreign contractor tax and transfer pricing scrutiny, and the three analyses should be consistent.

Customs may conduct a post-clearance audit at the customs office or at the importer's premises within five years from the registration of the declaration, under Law No. 54/2014/QH13, examining classification, value, origin, the use of exempt goods and the reconciliation of materials for export production. Audits are selected on risk; companies with exemptions, export production regimes, related-party pricing or FTA preferences are the usual subjects. Underpaid duty and import VAT are collected with late-payment interest, and penalties are imposed under Decree No. 128/2020/ND-CP on customs penalties, as amended. An importer uncertain about classification, origin or valuation may apply for an advance ruling from customs before importing, which binds customs while the facts remain the same.