On the morning of May 13, at the 9th Session, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented a draft Resolution of the National Assembly on reducing value-added tax (VAT).
According to the Minister, in the period from 2022 to the first 6 months of 2025, the National Assembly has decided to reduce the VAT rate by 2% for groups of goods and services currently applying a VAT rate of 10% (to 8%), including some groups of goods and services.
In principle, VAT is proposed to be applied to goods and services subject to VAT and not subject to VAT, but only reduce the tax on goods and services subject to a tax rate of 10%.
In the group of goods and services subject to a 10% VAT rate, expand the subjects eligible for a 2% VAT rate reduction for goods and services serving production and business, tourism, and consumption to support increased purchasing power, stimulate consumption, domestic tourism, and goods that especially contribute to production and business.
No VAT reduction for goods that are mineral resources, except for goods that are especially important in production and business such as: Mineral products (except coal), metal products.
No VAT reduction for goods and services subject to special consumption tax (SCT), except for gasoline.
Maintain services that are not subject to VAT reduction as prescribed in previous Resolutions of the National Assembly such as: Telecommunications, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate business.
According to the draft resolution, the VAT rate for goods and services currently subject to a tax rate of 10% (to 8%) will be reduced by 2%, except for some of the following groups of goods and services: Telecommunications, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate business, metal products, mining products (except coal), goods and services subject to special consumption tax (except gasoline).
The application period is from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.
The expected reduction in state budget revenue in the last 6 months of 2025 and the whole year of 2026 is about 121.74 trillion VND (of which: in the last 6 months of 2025, the reduction is about 39.54 trillion VND, in 2026, the reduction is about 82.2 trillion VND).
Minister Nguyen Van Thang also mentioned the impacts on economic growth, people and businesses
Regarding economic growth, the reduction of VAT will contribute to reducing the cost of goods and services, thereby promoting production and business and creating more jobs for workers, contributing to stabilizing the macro economy and economic growth in the last 6 months of 2025 and the whole year of 2026.
For people and businesses: Reducing VAT by 2% will contribute to directly reducing people's costs in consuming goods and services. At the same time, it helps businesses reduce production costs, reduce product costs, and increase competitiveness of business products.
