In accordance with the Decree No. 134/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 of the Government on guiding the Law on Export and Import duties, each time a person immigrates under a passport or a passport substitute (except for laissez-passers) issued by a Vietnamese authority or foreign authority, he/she shall be granted duty-free allowance for his/her luggage, whether it is accompanied luggage or sent before or after his/her arrival.
Accordingly, 1.5 liters of alcohol of ≥20% ABV or 2.0 liters of alcohol of <20% ABV or 3.0 liters of other alcoholic drinks or beer. If the traveler carries a bottle or can of alcohol whose volume exceeds the limit by not more than 01 liter, the whole bottle will be duty-free. If the volume exceeds the limit by more than 01 liter, the exceed amount shall be dutiable; 200 cigarettes or 250 gram of shredded tobacco or 20 cigars; reasonable quantity and categories of personal belongings; other items other than those mentioned in Point a through c of this c (not on the List of goods banned from import, suspended from import or subject to conditional import) whose total customs value does not exceed VND 10,000,000. Where the aforementioned allowance is exceeded, the traveler may decide which items are within the allowance and which are not. Aircraft operators, attendants on international flights; train operators and attendants on international trains; officers and crewmembers on sea-going vessels; Vietnamese workers and drivers working in countries that shares land borders with Vietnam shall be granted the duty-free allowances every 90 days instead of every time they enter Vietnam.
The organizations and individuals shall have their belongings exempt from export and import duties as foreigners, Vietnamese citizens who reside overseas and work in Vietnam for at least 12 months; Vietnamese organizations and citizens that operate or work oversea for at least 12 months and then return to Vietnam; Vietnamese citizens who reside overseas and have applied for permanent residence registration in Vietnam for the first import of belongings. Only 01 item/piece/set of each type of personal belongings of an organization or individual (used or new, excluding cars and motorcycles) shall be exempt from import duties. Exemption of duties on belongings of an organization whose operating cost is covered by state budget exceeding the duty-free allowance shall be decided by the Ministry of Finance on a case-by-case basis.
Another important content is that the exemption of duties on gifts. Gifts exempt from duties including gifts given by a foreign organization or individual to a Vietnamese organization or individual; gifts given by a Vietnamese organization or individual to a foreign organization or individual whose customs value does not exceed VND 2,000,000 or whose custom value exceeds VND 2,000,000 but duty on which is under VND 200,000 shall be exempt from duties up to 04 times per year.
This Decree takes effect on September 01, 2016.
