Traders would have to pay an extra USD 5,000 of import duty to bring a used car with nine seats or less into Vietnam, if a draft decree recently proposed by the Ministry of Finance is approved.
Specifically, import duty for used cars with nine seats or less with a cylinder capacity of below 1,000 cc would be increased from USD 5,000 to USD 10,000.
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| A secondhand automobile marketplace in Hanoi__Photo: Internet |
As for vehicles with a cylinder capacity of between 1,000 cc and 2,500 cc, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), sport cars and passenger cars (except vans) would be subject to a mixed import duty, including a dutiable price multiplied by 200 or 150 percent, plus USD 10,000, while other vehicles subject to the dutiable price multiplied by the import duty rate for brand-new cars of the same type, plus USD 10,000.
For those with a cylinder capacity of 2,500 cc or more, the import duty for sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), sport cars and passenger cars (except vans) would be a dutiable price multiplied by 200 or 150 percent, plus USD 10,000. For other vehicles, import duty would be the dutiable price multiplied by the import duty rate for brand-new ones of the same type, plus USD 15,000.
The import duty for vehicles with 10-15 seats includes the dutiable price multiplied by the duty rate for brand-new cars of the same type, plus USD 10,000 for those of less than 2,500 cc, or USD 15,000 for those of 2,500 cc or more.
According to the drafter, this move would help curb the import of out-of-date cars, thereby reducing their impacts on the environment and helping develop the domestic automobile industry.
However, many used car dealers complained that the new tax policy on used car import would make their business unprofitable and force them to close down.
As calculated, a used car with a cylinder capacity of under 1,000 cc imported into Vietnam costs around USD 4,000. If the new duty rate is applied, together with other taxes including excise tax, value-added tax and registration fee, its selling price will be around USD 23,000, which is about USD 4,000 higher than that of a brand-new car of the same type.- (VLLF)
