- Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has proposed a draft decree on tax administration for e-commerce and digital platforms, effective April 1, 2025.
- The decree applies to a wide range of digital economy operators, including e-commerce platforms, service intermediaries, digital content providers, online advertising, cloud services, social media, online education, gaming, entertainment, and payment service providers.
- Platforms must track, report, and enforce tax compliance for both resident and non-resident Sellers.
- Onshore platforms have direct tax enforcement responsibilities, including verifying tax identification numbers, withholding VAT and personal income tax, issuing tax withholding certificates, and submitting transaction data to tax authorities.
- The draft leaves unresolved issues such as penalties for Sellers without TINs, liability in multi-operator transactions, and timelines for collecting TINs from existing Sellers.
- Foreign platforms must comply with Vietnam’s tax registration procedures, including electronic registration and tax payments.
- VAT and PIT must be withheld before transferring funds to Sellers, with default rates of 5% if transaction types are unclear.
- Platforms should prepare by classifying sellers, educating them on tax requirements, automating TIN collection, and securing transaction data storage.
Source: globalvatcompliance.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
