On 20 October 2026, Tax Sub-department No. 2 of Ho Chi Minh City issued Official Letter No. 13194/TCS2-QLDN2, providing guidance on the tax treatment of digital advertising services supplied by overseas providers. The key points are as follows:
Case 1: A business pays VAT under the credit method and purchases advertising services from Meta, and Meta does not charge or collect the 10% VAT (the payment amount excludes Vietnamese tax). In this case, the business must withhold, declare and pay tax on Meta’s behalf, covering both VAT and CIT, at the time of payment to Meta.
Note on Meta’s tax code (9000000327): Meta has been granted a Vietnamese tax code so that it can directly declare and pay tax on revenue that has not been withheld and paid on its behalf by Vietnamese parties, such as services supplied to individuals or to organizations not applying the credit method. For organizations applying the credit method, the obligation to withhold and pay on Meta’s behalf remains with the Vietnamese business.
Case 2: A business that pays VAT under the direct method is not required to withhold and pay tax on Meta’s behalf. In this case, the full declaration and payment obligation rests with the overseas provider itself (Meta).
Original document:
- 📄 Download Official Letter No. 13194/TCS2-QLDN2: here
