Vietnam’s tax authority said on August 17 that it is cutting processing time for value-added tax (VAT) refunds, aiming to raise the rate of refunds before inspection to 90 percent in the last four months of 2026 and 95 percent in the first quarter of 2027 from the current 70 percent.
It will introduce expedited refunds in September and automated refunds in December.
Tax refunds have been a priority for supporting production and trade. In 2026, tax agencies at all levels have intensified coordination to ensure VAT refunds are processed promptly and in line with the law.
As of August 11, VAT refunds rose 32 percent from a year earlier, reaching 64.4 percent of the full-year estimate. Tax authorities issued 11,627 refund decisions totaling VND111.726 trillion (US$4.26 billion), up 9 percent by volume. The payouts improved cash flow for companies and supported production, trade and exports.
The sector is processing 1,927 applications requesting VND34.52 trillion in refunds. Of those, 245 applications, or 1.7 percent of all received and processed in the period, require extended review because they carry higher fraud risk.
The tax authority said it will review the entire refund process, strengthen data and risk-based management, and clear overdue applications. The goal is to prevent refund fraud while accelerating the processing of eligible claims so the policy supports production and trade.
