Ministry of Finance: There is not enough basis to impose income tax on gold bar trading

The Personal Income Tax Law 2025 stipulates that income from gold bar transfer is subject to a tax rate of 0.1% on each sale price. The Government will set a threshold for the value of gold bars subject to tax and the time to apply and adjust the tax rate.

However, in the explanation for accepting the Decree project guiding the Law on Personal Income Tax, the Ministry of Finance said that content related to gold bar transaction tax has not been included in the draft decree.

Commenting on this content, the State Bank believes that guiding specific regulations on income tax on gold bar sales is necessary, in order to be transparent and improve the efficiency of gold market management.

“This is especially necessary in the context of the domestic gold price’s relatively complicated fluctuations due to the influence of the international market, with potential risks of speculation and hoarding,” the State Bank stated.

However, the Ministry of Finance believes that there is currently not enough basis to implement income tax on gold trading in reality. According to the drafting agency, the State Bank is working with ministries and branches to develop a project to establish a gold trading floor to submit to the Government for consideration.

The Ministry of Finance said that after this project is approved, the authorities will have a basis to complete the regulations and submit them to the Government to consider applying personal income tax when buying and selling gold.

In fact, income tax is a market regulation tool, but has not been applied to gold transactions in Vietnam. Analysts believe that taxing precious metals can bring revenue to the state budget, being fair to other investment channels such as stocks and real estate.

This solution also helps prevent “goldenization” of the economy, because buyers will have to calculate the holding period and predict profits and losses based on fluctuations in world and domestic prices and the tax rate to be paid.

According to the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, the operator plans to collect tax on gold bar transactions at 0.1% on the transfer price each time. Specifically, the personal income tax payable = gold bar selling price × tax rate of 0.1%.

For example, if a person sells gold bars and earns 500 million VND, the personal income tax payable is 500,000 VND (ie 0.1% of the total amount earned).