What are the import duty and export duty? Who are the dutiable objects?

Import duty and export duty are important taxes of each country and the revenue sources of the state budget. So, what are the import duty and export duty? Who are the dutiable objects of import duty and export duty?

1. What are the import duty and export duty?

There are many legal normative documents that prescribe the import duty and export duty in Vietnam's legal system. However, there has been no specific definition of import duty and export duty.

Import duty and export duty has various definition depending on a different approach, in particular:

Economic perspective: Import duty and export duty is paid to the state budget by organizations and individuals in accordance with law provisions when these organizations and individuals import or export goods via the border gate.

Legal perspective: Import duty and export duty is the arising legal relation between tax collector (the state) and taxpayers (organizations and individuals), both parties have legal rights and obligations in the collection process of import duty and export duty (taxpayers must pay taxes to the State in accordance with law provisions).

2. Dutiable objects of import duty and export duty

Article 2, Law on Import duty and export duty 2016 prescribes the objects of import duty and export duty as follows:

- Goods imported or exported via a border gate or across the border of Vietnam

- Goods exported from the domestic market into a non-tariff zone, goods imported from a non-tariff zone into the domestic market.

Goods exported from the domestic market to export processing enterprises and into export processing zones, tax-suspension warehouses, bonded warehouses or other non-tariff zones in accordance with Clause 1, Article 4 of the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty; goods imported into the domestic market from export processing enterprises, export processing zones, tax-suspension warehouses, bonded warehouses or other non-tariff zones in accordance with Clause 1, Article 4 of the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty.

- Goods imported or exported on the spot and goods imported or exported by enterprises exercising their import, export or distribution right.

Goods of export processing enterprises exercising their import, export and distribution rights referred to in Clause 3, Article 2 of the Law on Import Duty and Export Duty, which are those imported or exported by export processing enterprises to exercise their import, export and distribution rights in accordance with the laws on commerce and investment.

Note: The following objects are not liable to import duty or export duty:

- Goods in transit, border-gate transfer or transshipment;

- Goods donated as humanitarian aid or non-refundable aid;

- Goods exported abroad from a non-tariff zone; goods imported from abroad into a non-tariff zone and used only in this non-tariff zone; goods brought from a non-tariff zone into another;

- Petroleum volumes are paid as royalties to the State upon export. 

3. Who are the dutiable objects of import duty and export duty?

Pursuant to Article 3, Law on Import duty and export duty, the duty payers of import duty and export duty include:

- Owners of imported or exported goods.

- Organizations entrusted to import or export goods.

Persons on entry or exit who bring along imported or exported goods or send or receive goods via a border gate or across the border of Vietnam.

- Entities that are authorized to pay duty, guarantee duty payment, or pay duty, for duty payers, including:

• Customs clearance agents that are authorized by duty payers to pay import duty and export duty;
• Postal and international courier service providers that pay duty on behalf of duty payers;
• Credit institutions or other organizations operating under the Law on Credit Institutions that guarantee duty payment or pay duty for duty payers;
• Persons authorized by goods owners, in case goods are presents or gifts of individuals or are luggage shipped before or after their owners depart or leave the country;
• ·Branches that are authorized to pay duty on behalf of their enterprises;
• Other persons who are authorized to pay duty on behalf of duty payers in accordance with the law.

- Persons who buy and transport goods within duty-free quotas applicable to border residents but, instead of consuming such goods or using them for production, sell them in the domestic market, and foreign traders licensed to trade in imported or exported goods at border markets in accordance with law.

- Persons whose imported or exported goods are not liable to duty or exempted from duty but then become dutiable due to a change in accordance with the law.

- Other cases as prescribed by law.

This article helps readers to answer the question: What is the import duty? Who are the dutiable objects and dutiable objects of import duty and export duty?