Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP Detailing Implementation of Certain Provisions of the Law on Value-Added Tax

Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP, issued by the Government on July 1, 2025, prescribes detailed implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Value-Added Tax (VAT) of November 26, 2024, and related amendments enacted June 25, 2025. The Decree specifies scope and subjects, identifying taxpayers under Article 4 (paragraphs 1, 4 and 5) of the Law, taxpayers when foreign suppliers provide services to business organizations in Vietnam applying the input-credit method (para.4 Article 4), VAT-exempt objects (Article 5), taxable value (Article 7), time of VAT determination (para.2 Article 8), VAT rates (paras.1-2 Article 9), input VAT credit method (Article 11), direct calculation method (para.1 Article 12), input VAT deduction (Article 14) and VAT refund (Article 15). The Decree applies to taxpayers defined in Article 3 of the Decree, tax authorities and other related organizations and individuals. It details categories of taxpayers: enterprises established under the Enterprise Law and other specialized laws; economic organizations of political, social or professional bodies; foreign-invested enterprises and foreign entities doing business in Vietnam without domestic legal persons; export processing enterprises; households, individuals and groups of independent sellers; and other production or business entities. For foreign suppliers without a permanent establishment in Vietnam who provide e-commerce or digital platform-based services to Vietnamese organizations or individuals, the Decree sets out that foreign suppliers, foreign platform managers, or Vietnamese businesses using the input-credit method through e-commerce or digital platforms shall be liable for withholding and paying VAT in accordance with tax management law; platform managers with payment functions and e-commerce exchange operators are regulated pursuant to Decree No. 117/2025/ND-CP. The Decree clarifies VAT-exempt goods and services, including unprocessed or only ordinarily processed agricultural, forestry and aquaculture products produced or harvested and sold by producers or on import; housing that is state-owned public property sold to tenants; land use rights transfers under land law; and specified financial, banking and securities services, including certain credit granting services and loan services of non-credit institutions, subject to conditions and references to sectoral ministries for technical determinations (e.g., Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to determine ordinary processing). The Decree implements and supplements provisions of the VAT Law and interacts with tax administration law and Decree 117/2025/ND-CP; its effective date and any superseded documents are stated in full text of the Decree.