Vietnam tells tax offices to weigh back VAT refunds, Seoul says

Vietnam has told its provincial tax offices to consider value-added tax refunds that Korean manufacturers say they have been owed since 2022, South Korea's National Tax Service said on October 19.

The refunds arise under Vietnam's on-the-spot export and import system. A sale between two companies inside Vietnam is treated as an export when the goods feed export production, so the seller can reclaim the VAT it paid.

Then the refunds stopped. Customs interpretations in December 2022 and May 2023 excluded foreign traders with a representative office in Vietnam, with no grace period. A law effective July 1, 2025 restored eligibility, but only for later deals.

A survey by the Korean chamber in Vietnam put delayed refunds and related penalties at a minimum of 40bn won, from a minority of firms that answered. Seoul says the September guidance now covers earlier transactions. The Vietnamese text was not published with the release.

Photograph: National Tax Service headquarters, Minseong Kim, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped.