Guidance on VAT and PIT for Household Businesses Slaughtering and Selling Fresh Livestock Meat
RegHub explainer by New MarketerLast updated:
Based on:Nghị định 181/2025/NĐ-CP; Nghị định 359/2025/NĐ-CP; Thông tư 40/2021/TT-BTC - Ministry of Finance
This explanation was generated by AI and checked by an automated AI review, not by a human expert. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice and may contain errors. Check the official document before you rely on it.
A household business that buys buffalo or cattle from farmers, slaughters them, and sells fresh meat to restaurants and markets is trading at the commercial stage and must pay VAT by the direct method at 1% of revenue, plus personal income tax (PIT) at 0.5% of revenue. Fresh slaughtered meat is a "normally pre-processed" livestock product (slaughtering, deboning, skinning, mincing all count as normal pre-processing). When the self-producing farmer sells such products they are not subject to VAT, but when a household business buys and re-sells them at the commercial trading stage it must pay VAT of 1% on revenue. This is set out in Decree 359/2025/NĐ-CP (amending Decree 181/2025/NĐ-CP detailing the VAT Law), effective 1 January 2026, with the household-business presumptive rates of 1% VAT and 0.5% PIT for distribution/supply of goods under Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC. Exemption applies only if the household raises the animals itself and then slaughters and sells the meat: products from a household's own direct farming are exempt from VAT and PIT (income from direct agricultural/livestock production). Buying live animals from others for slaughter and resale does not qualify for this exemption.
Question
A household business buys buffalo/cattle from farmers, slaughters them, and sells fresh meat. Is the fresh meat subject to VAT, or only 0.5% PIT? Is it a "pre-processed" product taxed at 1% VAT? And is it exempt if the household raises the animals itself?
Official guidance
1. Buying, slaughtering and re-selling (commercial trading)
- Fresh slaughtered meat is a normally pre-processed livestock product.
- A household business selling such products at the commercial trading stage pays VAT by the direct method at 1% of revenue (Decree 359/2025/NĐ-CP amending Decree 181/2025/NĐ-CP, effective 1 January 2026), plus 0.5% PIT on revenue (distribution/supply of goods, Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC).
- It is NOT VAT-exempt, because the exemption for unprocessed/normally-pre-processed agricultural and livestock products applies to the self-producing seller, not to a trader buying and re-selling.
2. Self-raised then slaughtered and sold
- If the household raises the animals itself and then slaughters and sells the meat, the products are exempt from both VAT and PIT (income from the household's own direct farming).
Action points
- Trading bought-in meat: declare and pay 1% VAT + 0.5% PIT on revenue.
- Self-raised meat: keep records proving own-farming to claim the VAT/PIT exemption.
- Apply the 1% VAT treatment from 1 January 2026 per Decree 359/2025.