Question: Dear Lawyer, My company only registered for the normal trading business, we will soon have a partner who wants to buy goods from abroad, but when checking the tax system, the status is "not registered for import-export". Do we need to register for the import-export business? If we do not register in time, will it affect the import/export of goods?
Answer:
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What is import and export of goods?
- Export of goods means the bringing of goods out of the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam or into special zones in the Vietnamese territory, which are regarded as exclusive customs zones according to the provisions of law.
- Import of goods means the bringing of goods into the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from foreign countries or special zones in the Vietnamese territory, which are regarded as exclusive customs zones according to the provisions of law.
Legal basis: Article 28 of the 2005 Commercial Law
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What is foreign trade?
Foreign trade activities means activities related to the international exchange of products in the forms of export and import; temporary importation; temporary exportation; merchanting trade; transit and other activities related to the international exchange of products in accordance with regulations of Vietnam law and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.
Legal basis: Clause 1, Article 3 of the Law on Foreign Trade Management 2017
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What rights and obligations do Vietnamese traders have in foreign trade activities?
Freedoms to export or import of Vietnamese traders except for foreign-invested business entities are exercised as follows:
- A trader may export, import and carry out other relevant activities without any dependence on its registered business lines except for the products included in the list of prohibited exports and imports and the list of suspended exports and imports;
- A trader exporting or importing products that require a license or are subject to certain conditions shall fulfill the requirements for the license and conditions;
- A branch of a Vietnamese trader shall carry on foreign trade activities according to the authorization of the trader.
Freedoms to export and import of Vietnamese traders that are foreign-invested business entities or branches of foreign traders in Vietnam shall be exercised as follows:
- The right to export and right to import shall be exercised in accordance with regulations of this Law and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory.
- The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall publish the list of products and roadmap to exercise the right to export and right to import in accordance with regulations of international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory;
- A trader buys products in Vietnam and exports them to foreign countries by making an export declaration to carry out and take responsibilities for procedures related to the export. Rights to export shall exclude the right to organize a system for collecting products in Vietnam to export;
- The trader may import products from foreign countries to Vietnam and sell them to traders that have the rights to distribute such products in Vietnam by making an import declaration to carry out and take responsibilities for procedures related to the import. Rights to import shall exclude the right to organize or join the system for distributing products in
Legal basis: Article 5 of the Law on Foreign Trade Management 2017
ABOUT CLIENT QUESTIONS:
Based on the above contents and bases, in response to the question that the customer sent to our company, we would like to answer as follows:
According to Decision 27/2018/QD-TTg promulgating the Vietnamese Economic Sector System, there is no industry or profession called export and import industry. More specifically, the interpretations in Part G: WHOLESALE AND RETAIL - Chapter 46 - Wholesale explain that export and import are a process of wholesale activities.
Therefore, your company with its current business lines has the full right to carry out export and import activities of goods.
Currently, the consulting side is also unclear why the local tax authority system recorded the content about the Company "Not registered for import and export", because the business registration dossier does not have this information declaration section. According to our understanding, there may be a local mistake or the tax management software has not been updated synchronously with the national system, because the content "Registered/Not registered for import and export" is an old regulation on business registration before 2021. Since the Enterprise Law 2020 (effective in 2021), this registration content has been abolished and even the initial tax registration dossier does not have this information declaration section.
In the current case, the Company may contact the local tax authority for further verification and clarification, and if necessary, may request the tax authority to verify and compare with the local business registration authority on the content of this declaration.
