Recently, the Vietnamese government announced that it will officially cancel the value-added tax exemption policy for small goods worth less than 1 million Vietnamese dong (approximately RMB 290) imported through express delivery from February 18, 2025. This decision marks a further tightening of tax management in cross-border e-commerce in Vietnam, bringing new challenges to cross-border e-commerce platforms and sellers.

According to a statement released by the Vietnamese government, Deputy Prime Minister Hu Jintao signed a resolution on January 3, officially abolishing the policy of importing duty-free goods through express delivery services that had been in effect since 2010. In the past, goods worth 1 million Vietnamese dong or less were eligible for tax-free treatment when imported into Vietnam through express delivery services. However, with the development of electronic customs declaration systems and the rapid growth of global e-commerce, this policy is no longer able to meet current trade demands, and has even led to unfair tax competition between similar goods imported through express delivery and domestic production, affecting the production and consumption of domestic goods.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance pointed out that most of these duty-free goods enter Vietnam through e-commerce platforms. In recent years, with the explosive development of e-commerce platforms, the number of small imported packages has rapidly increased, becoming a headache for the Vietnamese government. According to statistics, about 4 to 5 million small orders are shipped from China to Vietnam through e-commerce platforms every day, with tax exemptions of up to tens of millions of dollars. This has not only led to a significant loss of tax revenue, but also raised concerns among representatives of the Vietnamese parliament that continuing tax exemptions would further harm national interests.

To address this issue, the Vietnamese government has taken a series of measures.two thousand and twenty-fourIn November of the year, the Vietnamese parliament approved amendments to the tax law, requiring local operators of foreign e-commerce platforms to pay value-added tax (VAT) and calling on the government to cancel tax exemptions for low-cost imported goods. Afterwards, the Ministry of Finance quickly initiated the process of canceling tax exemptions.

In addition, the Vietnamese government has revised the Vietnam Tax Administration Law, requiring e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, etc. to withhold taxes on behalf of sellers and declare them to the tax authorities. This means that platform operators need to bear more regulatory responsibilities to ensure that sellers fulfill their tax obligations in accordance with the law. At the same time, if the platform wants to operate in Vietnam, it must register and pay taxes in Vietnam, or authorize a representative to pay taxes on its behalf.

The 8th session of the 15th National Assembly of Vietnam also passed the Value Added Tax Law, which sets a tax-free income threshold of 200 million Vietnamese dong per year. The law will come into effect on July 1, 2025. However, there are reports that some sellers use tax evasion methods such as changing accounts or using family accounts to receive payments when approaching the tax threshold. In response, the Vietnamese tax department has issued a warning that if there are any violations, they will face administrative penalties, criminal prosecution, or national coercive measures, with specific fines reaching billions of Vietnamese dong.