Knowledge base

Circular 31/2026/TT-BTC issued by the Ministry of Finance on March 27, 2026, regulates the decentralization of certain tasks and powers in the field of state management. This document takes effect immediately from its issuance date (March 27, 2026), demonstrating the urgency and importance of these decentralization regulations. This document relates to the reorganization of task assignments and authority among agencies under the Ministry of Finance, which may affect business processes for handling documents and administrative procedures for enterprises. Decentralization can facilitate faster access for businesses to competent local authorities, reducing waiting time and increasing work efficiency. For small and medium-sized enterprises, understanding the competent authorities after decentralization will help optimize compliance processes for tax, customs, accounting, and other financial regulations. Businesses should monitor detailed guidance from local tax and financial authorities to ensure proper procedures are followed with the newly authorized agencies.

On March 25, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 85/2026/ND-CP on supplementary retirement insurance, implementing Article 127.3 of the 2024 Social Insurance Law (Law No. 41/2024/QH15). This creates a voluntary, employer-sponsored pension benefit scheme for employees who already participate in compulsory social insurance. Participation cannot be made a condition of hiring, contract renewal, or tied to bonus and performance policies, and contribution levels are freely negotiated between employer and employee. The Decree sets up an individual retirement account for each participating employee and governs the establishment, management, and investment of supplementary pension funds. Eligible investments include government bonds, bank deposits, listed stocks and bonds, and fund certificates, subject to concentration limits (for example, a minimum 40 percent allocation to government bonds for funds with net assets of 5 billion VND or more, and caps on exposure to a single issuer or related-party group). Asset custodians, supervisory banks, and individual account administrators each have defined licensing conditions and liability to compensate participants if valuation or investment errors occur. Employees may draw benefits monthly, as a lump sum, or a combination of both; early withdrawal before retirement age (outside force majeure cases such as death, terminal illness, or 81 percent or greater loss of working capacity) triggers a fee of up to 5 percent of the withdrawal amount. On tax treatment, employer contributions are deductible for corporate income tax purposes up to the limits set by CIT law, and employees receive personal income tax incentives on both contributions and payouts. The Decree also sets licensing conditions for pension fund management companies (minimum 5 years of fund management experience, at least 1,000 billion VND in assets under management, and licensed staff), plus grounds for license revocation such as dissolution, fraud, or repeated compliance violations. SME owners considering this benefit should note that it is a market-based product - the State does not guarantee investment returns or payout amounts. Note: the Cong Bao source text retrieved for this article is cut off mid-Article 40 (Chapter III); the final provisions of the Decree, including the effective date, were not present in the source text used to prepare this summary.

The Customs Department responded regarding tax clearance confirmation for Phuong Nam International Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (Tax code: 0312855843) for dissolution purposes. According to Official Letter No. 4005/HQKV2-NVHQ dated 24 April 2026 from Regional Customs Sub-Department II, a search of records on 21 April 2026 showed the company has **no outstanding tax debts** or other amounts related to import-export activities. The Sub-Department requires all regional customs units within **3 working days** to check their records and report any outstanding debts. If no notification is received within the deadline, the respective unit bears responsibility. From the date of this letter, the company **may not register new customs declarations**. The confirmation is valid for **7 working days** from the signing date.

Circular 21/2026/TT-BTC, issued by the Ministry of Finance on March 17, 2026 and effective the same day, amends parts of Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC, the main guidance document for tax administration under the Tax Administration Law. The changes cover two areas: the paperwork required to get an exemption or reduction of annually-paid land rent, and the corporate income tax (CIT) declaration forms used for real estate and capital transfer transactions. On land rent, the Circular rewrites Article 59 to set out the dossier for four situations: agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, or salt-production land lessees hit by natural disaster or fire; production and business land lessees forced to suspend operations due to disaster, fire, or force majeure; organizations employing ethnic-minority workers in disadvantaged areas; and organizations employing workers with disabilities. Where the required proof is already available in a national database the tax authority can access, taxpayers no longer need to submit paper copies. The Circular also raises the average tax-collection-agency commission cap to no more than 6 percent of the amount collected (amending Article 82.2), and repeals the old Article 60. On CIT, the Circular replaces Form 02/TNDN (the per-transaction real estate transfer declaration) and Form 05/TNDN (the capital transfer declaration for foreign enterprises). Foreign enterprises that signed a capital transfer contract before Decree 320/2025/ND-CP took effect may still use the old Form 05/TNDN under Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC. Businesses and individuals handling land rent exemptions or capital/real estate transfer filings should check their paperwork and forms against the new rules starting March 17, 2026.

Decree No. 77/2026/ND-CP, effective from March 17, 2026, re-establishes the entire organizational and operational framework for the National Technology Innovation Fund (NATIF), a public non-business unit under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Fund has independent legal status, its own seal and bank accounts, and is responsible for granting, commissioning, and financially supporting technology innovation tasks, intellectual property development, productivity and quality improvement, and innovative startup support. For businesses, especially SMEs and tech startups, the Decree opens four funding channels: direct non-refundable grants, commissioned tasks, bank loan interest subsidies, and financial support vouchers. Applications are reviewed publicly and transparently; businesses self-declare and are responsible for the accuracy of their information, and may be exempt from administrative and civil liability if a task fails to meet its targets despite full compliance with procedures and absent any fraud. Financially, the state budget disburses funds to NATIF in up to 3 installments per year, with the first tranche of at least 50 percent of the annual plan due before December 31 of the prior year and the final tranche before September 1. NATIF's management costs are calculated on a progressive scale based on disbursement volume, from 5 to 7 percent. The Decree repeals the corresponding provisions of Decree No. 265/2025/ND-CP and carries over all assets, personnel, rights, and obligations of the former Fund established under Decision No. 04/2021/QD-TTg.

The Ministry of Finance provided guidance on determining the CIT taxable revenue for withholding tax on behalf of foreign contractors under Circular 20/2026/TT-BTC, effective 12 March 2026 and applicable from the 2025 tax year. Under Article 8(1) of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP, CIT revenue includes all amounts received regardless of collection timing. For VAT credit-method taxpayers, CIT revenue excludes VAT; for direct-method taxpayers, CIT revenue includes VAT. For foreign contractors subject to the direct-rate CIT method, where the contract price already includes CIT but excludes Vietnamese VAT, the CIT taxable revenue equals the contract price (VAT is not added on top). The CIT taxable revenue does not include the VAT payable.

Decree 73/2026/ND-CP, issued on March 10, 2026, provides detailed guidance for implementing several articles of the State Budget Law No. 89/2025/QH15. It sets out principles for balancing and decentralizing the central and local state budgets; how central and provincial-level budget deficits are determined and financed; management and accounting of state budget borrowing and debt repayment; a results-based budget management mechanism; management of off-budget state financial funds and voluntary contributions to public bodies; and budget support for social organizations carrying out state-assigned tasks. The remainder of the decree sets detailed timelines and procedures for preparing, discussing, deciding, and assigning annual state budget estimates among the Government, the Ministry of Finance, central ministries, and provincial/commune People's Councils and People's Committees; execution and in-year adjustment of budget estimates; and the final settlement process, including how budget surpluses are handled after approval by the National Assembly or People's Councils. This is a public-finance administrative decree that governs internal relationships among state agencies in preparing, executing, and settling the state budget. It does not directly set out tax, invoicing, labor, or customs obligations for enterprises or household businesses, so its practical compliance impact on the business community is very limited.

The Government issued Resolution No. 10/2026/NQ-CP dated 10 March 2026, allowing the continued application of existing Government decrees and Prime Minister decisions that were issued to implement laws that have been amended, supplemented, or replaced effective from 1 January 2026 and 1 March 2026, pending the issuance of new replacement instruments. The Resolution includes two main annexes: one listing decrees to be applied in full and one listing decrees to be applied in part. Areas covered include: securities, accounting, auditing, public debt management, the state budget, higher education, vocational education, investment, and employment. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training are tasked with leading implementation and developing replacement instruments before 1 April 2026. The Resolution took effect on 10 March 2026.

The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department answered two questions about property leasing tax: (1) A company that had already filed on behalf of an individual under Form 01/TTS (Circular 40/2021) for a 5-year land lease contract before Decree 68/2026/NĐ-CP and Circular 18/2026/TT-BTC were issued does not need to refile — Article 8, clause 2 of Circular 18/2026 states that 'where filings and payments have already been made under Circular 40/2021, no adjustment is required'. (2) An individual property lessor wishing to register a separate tax identification number (TIN): based on Articles 5 and 9 of Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC (now replaced by Circular 18/2026), an individual lessor does not need to establish a household business or individual business entity. The individual need only register using the prescribed form to obtain a separate TIN for property leasing.

Consolidated Document No. 11/VBHN-BTC merges Circular No. 06/2022/TT-BTC (effective March 24, 2022) with the amendments introduced by Circular No. 138/2025/TT-BTC dated December 30, 2025 (effective March 1, 2026) from the Ministry of Finance. It sets out how the State Securities Commission (SSC) supervises compliance by the Vietnam Stock Exchange (VNX, covering HOSE and HNX) and the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC), along with their subsidiaries, with securities laws. The circular defines the SSC's powers, approving VNX's and VSDC's internal operating regulations, suspending or annulling non-compliant decisions, planning periodic and ad-hoc inspections, and handling violations directly or referring them to the competent authority. It also sets the reporting, explanation, and record-keeping obligations of VNX, HOSE, HNX, and VSDC. Supervision covers the issuance of internal rules, organizing and operating the trading market, member management, approving listings and trading registration, disclosure by listed and registered companies, major shareholders and insiders, securities auctions, and mediation services. The key change under Circular 138/2025/TT-BTC is extending the supervision scope to VNX's and VSDC's subsidiaries, updating the legal basis to reflect the 2024 amended Securities Law and the Ministry of Finance's revised organizational structure, and replacing the periodic reporting templates (appendices) used by HOSE, HNX, and VSDC. This is a technical, internal regulation governing the relationship between the state regulator and market infrastructure operators (VNX, HOSE, HNX, VSDC). It does not create new direct compliance obligations for SMEs, household businesses, or individuals. Listed and public companies are only indirectly affected through the existing disclosure-supervision framework.

On February 28, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 64/2026/ND-CP, effective March 1, 2026, providing detailed rules for enforcing court bankruptcy declarations against enterprises and cooperatives under the new Law on Recovery and Bankruptcy No. 142/2025/QH15. The decree spells out how civil judgment enforcement agencies and enforcement officers work together with insolvency practitioners and asset management-liquidation firms to carry out a bankruptcy ruling: issuing the enforcement decision, verifying what assets and debtors exist, depositing recovered funds into a designated account, and valuing and selling assets through auction or, for certain asset types, direct sale. For businesses and cooperatives going through bankruptcy, this decree matters because it sets firm deadlines for every step - for example 9 days to verify enforcement conditions, 10 days to value assets, and 30 days to hand over assets to a buyer before coercive measures can be applied. It also assigns coordination duties to the State Treasury, banks, tax authorities, the business registration authority, and social insurance agencies, all of whom must supply information and act on requests from the enforcement agency. Creditors, buyers of auctioned assets, owners who had leased or lent property to a now-bankrupt company, and insolvency practitioners should know these timelines to protect their interests during liquidation. Bankruptcy enforcement cases already underway before March 1, 2026 continue under the prior framework - the 2014 Bankruptcy Law and its implementing rules - until they are completed.

Circular 138/2025/TT-BTC issued by the Ministry of Finance on December 30, 2025 amends and supplements regulations on securities transaction supervision and compliance supervision in Vietnam's securities market. This document modifies two previous circulars: Circular 95/2020/TT-BTC guiding securities transaction supervision and Circular 06/2022/TT-BTC guiding the State Securities Commission's compliance supervision of organizations such as Vietnam Stock Exchanges, Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation and their subsidiaries. The circular takes effect from March 1, 2026, aiming to improve the legal framework for securities market supervision and management. These amendments align with market developments, enhance transparency, and protect investor rights. For SMEs planning to list, issue securities, or currently trading on the securities market, updating knowledge of new regulations on transaction supervision and compliance is crucial. Businesses should note that while the circular primarily regulates intermediary organizations (stock exchanges, securities companies, depository centers), changes in supervision procedures may affect reporting requirements, information disclosure, and compliance obligations for listed companies. Enterprises should coordinate with securities companies and legal advisors to ensure full compliance with the new regulations when the circular becomes effective.