What to know
Quoting a price in US dollars can be lawful here, but settling one in them is not. The exception is narrow and statutory: it runs to duty-free sales and a handful of border transactions, and stops there. Anywhere a visitor actually pays a bill, the payment is in local money.
A hotel or tour operator's English-language website may lawfully show a price in US dollars. Circular 32/2013 of the State Bank of Vietnam, in force since 10 February 2014, lets aviation, hotel and tourism businesses advertise in dong and an equivalent foreign currency on foreign-language websites and trade publications, but not on menus or price boards. Article 3 of the same circular bars the settlement itself: payments, listings, quotations and contract prices may not be in foreign currency inside Vietnam, except in the cases Article 4 lists.
Article 4 of that circular writes those cases out. Four of them are where a visitor might meet a dollar price, and none is the hotel desk or the market stall. Duty-free retailers may list goods in foreign currency and take payment in it, by transfer or in cash. So may organisations supplying services in the isolated areas of international border gates, and operators of bonded warehouses. Customs, police, border guards and other state agencies at those gates may collect taxes, visa fees and other charges in foreign currency.
Cash is reported, not capped. Circular 15/2011 of the State Bank of Vietnam, in force since 1 September 2011, sets the threshold for an individual crossing an international border gate on a passport. More than USD 5,000, its equivalent in another foreign currency, or more than VND 15,000,000 must be declared to customs. No permit is needed to exceed either figure. What has changed is the penalty. Decree 169/2026 of the Government, in force since 1 July 2026, fines a departing traveller VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 and an arriving one VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000, once the undeclared sum is worth VND 100,000,000 or more.
The tax inside most prices is temporarily below its statutory rate. Decree 174/2025 of the Government, in force since 1 July 2025 under National Assembly Resolution 204/2025/QH15, cuts value added tax from 10 to 8 per cent until 31 December 2026.
Reclaiming part of it on departure has conditions. Appendix IV of Decree 181/2025 of the Government, in force since 1 July 2025, returns 85 per cent of the tax to the traveller, the bank paying it out keeping 15 per cent. The same appendix requires goods bought from a registered refund seller, unused and in their original packaging. The invoice, which doubles as the refund declaration, must be issued no more than 60 days before departure and cover at least VND 2,000,000 from one shop in one day. Circular 84/2026 of the Ministry of Finance, in force since 1 July 2026, sets the airport routine. Present the invoice and the goods for customs inspection at least 30 minutes before the aircraft leaves, then collect the money airside from a bank acting as refund agent.
Heading off with a card? Read how to choose a travel money card - including why you should always pay in the local currency, not Australian dollars.
Working out what the trip costs? Put your daily spend and trip length through the travel budget calculator, or convert a single amount with the currency converter.