On the Ministry of Finance's Information Portal, a business operating in the field of international transport service agents said that according to Clause 2, Article 17 of Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP, some export services are subject to a 0% VAT rate.
Including loading and unloading services at factories, ports, airports and related costs such as document fees, delivery electricity fees, sealing fees, processing fees and packaging fees.
The enterprise said that it is currently only collecting loading and unloading fees at the port and related fees such as bill of lading (BL) fees, delivery electricity fees, and sealing fees for exported goods from Vietnam abroad.
However, for goods imported from abroad to Vietnam that are machinery, the recipient is a business in the non-tariff zone, the business incurs revenues such as port loading and unloading fees, delivery order fees, cleaning fees, container balance fees, container maintenance fees and agency fees.
Businesses are wondering whether these fees are subject to a 0% VAT rate or must apply a tax rate of 8%.
Answering this content, the Ministry of Finance cited the provisions in point b, clause 1, Article 9 of the Law on Value Added Tax No. 48/2024/QH15.
Accordingly, a 0% tax rate is applied to export services, including services provided directly to organizations and individuals abroad and consumed outside of Vietnam; or services provided directly to organizations in the non-tariff zone and consumed in the non-tariff zone to directly serve export production activities.
The Ministry of Finance also cited Clause 2, Article 17 of Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP, stipulating that services provided directly to organizations in non-tariff zones serving export production activities are entitled to a 0% tax rate.
These services include transportation services, services provided to export processing enterprises such as container lifting and unloading at ports, factories, warehouses; loading and unloading services at factories, ports, airports and related costs such as document fees, delivery electricity fees, sealing fees, processing fees and packaging fees.
Organizations in the non-tariff zone must be organizations with business registration.
In addition, the Ministry of Finance also noted some cases where the 0% VAT rate is not applied, including technology transfer, transfer of intellectual property rights abroad, reinsurance services, credit granting services, capital transfer, derivative products, postal and telecommunications services, some exported products according to regulations, imported and re-exported cigarettes, alcohol, beer, gasoline and oil sold to businesses in the non-tariff zone, cars sold to organizations and individuals in the non-tariff zone and some services provided in Vietnam to organizations and individuals abroad.
In addition, services provided to organizations and individuals in the non-tariff zone such as renting houses, halls, offices, hotels, warehouses, employee transportation services and catering services are also not subject to a 0% tax rate, except for services providing industrial meals and catering services in the non-tariff zone.
Goods and services sold or provided to organizations in the non-tariff zone are only subject to a 0% VAT rate when consumed in the non-tariff zone and directly serving export production activities, and are not subject to exclusion cases according to the provisions of law.
