Category

Customs Clearance Procedure

Responsible Agency

Provincial Customs Department

Address:

Phone:

Email:

Legal basis of the Procedure                

• Law on Value-added Tax No. 13/2008/QH12 dated June 03, 2008;

• Law No. 31/2013/QH13 dated June 19, 2013 on amendments to the Law on Value-added Tax

• Law on Tax Administration No. 78/2006/QH11 dated November 29, 2006;

• Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Tax Administration No. 21/2012/QH13 dated November 20, 2012;  

• Decree No. 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013 of the Government on guidelines for the Law on Tax Administration and the Law on amendments to the Law on Tax Administration;

• Decree No. 209/2013/ND-CP dated December 18, 2013 on guidelines for the Law on Value-added Tax;

• Decree No. 215/2013/ND-CP dated December 23, 2013 of the Government defining the functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

• Circular No. 72/2014/TT-BTC dated May 30, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance on the VAT refund for goods of foreigners, overseas Vietnamese’s goods brought with when exit

Processing time

• Before the foreigner's initiation of exit customs procedures and before the time they board the ships or airplanes to leave Vietnam

Fee

• Not applied

No

Type of documents

Note

1

Passport or exit and entry permit

original copy

2

 VAT invoices

original copy

No

Contents

Step 1

The foreigner shall present the customs authority at the examination counters of VAT invoices and goods together with:
  

+ Passport or exit and entry permit

+ VAT invoices

+ His (her) goods

Step 2

The customs authority shall conduct physical inspection of the goods at the counters where the VAT invoices and goods shall be inspected. The inspection shall conform to the following procedures:
  

+ Compare the information on the passports or exit and entry permits with the information on the VAT invoices and the regulations on the tax refund goods prescribed in Article 11 of Circular No. 72/2014/TT-BTC;

+ Conduct physical inspection of the goods that need physical inspection according to risk management principles;

+ Write the inspection result; define the types of the goods, calculate the actual VAT that the foreigners shall be refunded in accordance with the regulations in Article 12 of this Circular; sign, stamp on the VAT invoices to confirm the inspection;  

+ Update the information about the foreigner and his (her) actual VAT refunds on the database of the customs authority in charge of VAT refund for the foreigners that leave Vietnam using the form prescribed in Appendix 4 of Circular No. 72/2014/TT-BTC

·         Foreigners and overseas Vietnamese, except for members of the flight crews under the regulations of the law on aviation, members of the ship’s crews under the regulations of the law on maritime (hereinafter referred to as foreigners) whose passports or exit and entry permits issued by the foreign authorities are valid and used to enter or leave Vietnam, to buy goods in Vietnam and to bring goods out of Vietnam through the tax refund border checkpoints.
  

·         VAT-refundable goods must be:
  

o   Goods that are not on the List of goods banned from export; List of import goods licensed by the Ministry of Commerce (which is now the Ministry of Industry and Trade) or List of import goods subject to line management prescribed in the Decree No. 187/2013/ND-CP dated November 20, 2013 of the Government and guiding documents of this Decree.

o   Goods subject to VAT prescribed in Article 3 of the Law on VAT No. 13/2008/QH12 dated June 03, 2008 and the guiding documents on the implementation of the Law.

o   Goods that can be carried on airplanes prescribed in Article 12 of the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam dated June 29, 2006 and the guiding documents on the implementation of the Law.

o   Goods other than VAT-free goods of the foreigners according to the regulations on the Circular No. 08/2003/TT-BTC dated January 15, 2013 of the Ministry of Finance giving instructions on the VAT refund with regard to the diplomatic missions, consular offices and the representative agencies of the international organizations in Vietnam.

o   Goods that are bought in Vietnam for which the VAT invoices are issued within 60 (sixty) days prior to the date the foreigner leaves Vietnam.

o   Goods bought from a single shop in one day whose value written on the VAT invoices (including the total payment of several invoices of goods bought from a single shop in one day) is at least VND 02 (two) million.