The General Department of Vietnam Customs has received many questions from enterprises relating to tax refunds for imported goods and then exporting. To facilitate enterprises and give guidance on this issue to local customs units, the General Department of Vietnam Customs issued document No.6529/TCHQ-TXNK on October 8.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, point c, clause 1, article 19 of Law on Export and Import Duty No. 107/2016/QH13 stipulating that if a taxpayer has already paid import duty but imported goods must be re-exported to get a refund on import duty and does not have to pay export duty; Clause 2 Article 19 of the Law on Import Tax and Export Tax No. 107/2016/QH13 stipulates goods that are specified at Points a, b and c, Clause 1 of this Article are entitled to a tax refund when it has not been used or processed; Article 34 of Decree 134/2016/ND-CP of the Government stipulating the tax refund for imported goods that must be re-exported regulated clearly on this policy and on April 1, 2015, the General Department of Customs issued Document No. 2765/TCHQ-GSQL on this matter.

Ha Nam Ninh Customs officials instructs enterprises
to implement customs procedures. Photo: H.Nụ

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, compared with the above regulations and guidelines, imported goods and re-exported in their original state using code type B13 (exported goods that imported previously) are entitled to an import tax refund and do not have to pay export tax, dossiers and procedures for tax refund would be implemented in accordance with Article 34 of Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP.

The General Department of Customs said that if imported goods are then re-exported in their original state but do not use code type B13, import tax would be refunded if the information on the re-export declaration is sufficiently grounded by the customs authority to identify the exported goods are the goods that were previously imported, which satisfies the unused or processed condition specified in Point c, Clause 1 and Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty No. 107/2016/QH13.

Enterprises should clearly declare re-exported goods belong to which import declaration before on the export declaration.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs also said the instructions in Document No.6529/TCHQ-TXNK replaced the guidance on type codes in Document No. 4557/TCHQ-TXNK dated July 7, 2020 and Document No.6203/TXNK-CST dated June 22, 2020.