According to current regulations, Vietnam exempts import taxes and value-added tax on imported goods below 1 million dong, aiming to stimulate trade growth. However, in February this year, it took the lead in canceling the value-added tax exemption for express delivery goods within this amount, and this time it further proposed to completely cancel the import tax exemption clause. VCCI pointed out that in 2024, more than 324 million imported goods will be sold through platforms such as Shopee, with an average price of only 43,700 dong per piece. If the tax-free policy is maintained, more than 90% of e-commerce goods will evade import taxes, resulting in imported goods squeezing out local industries with cost advantages-domestic companies need to pay taxes normally when importing raw materials, forming obvious unfair competition.
However, the policy adjustment faces practical difficulties: e-commerce orders generally include multiple categories of goods, and the complex HS code classification may lead to delivery delays and order loss. For this reason, VCCI recommends learning from Canada's experience and simplifying more than 5,400 HS codes into 3-5 commodity classification groups (such as clothing and textiles, electronic equipment) according to their use. Each category corresponds to a unified tax rate, which not only reduces the difficulty of tax collection and management, but also achieves the policy goal of "taxing goods regardless of their value". The proposal is currently entering the policy review stage, and the relevant adjustments may have a direct impact on China-Vietnam cross-border e-commerce, especially low-priced clothing, 3C accessories and other categories may face cost pressure.