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The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department responded to SRT Vung Tau Trading and Investment Co., Ltd. (TIN 3502539672) regarding eligibility for the 3-year Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption for newly registered small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), under National Assembly Resolution 198/2025/QH15 and Decree 20/2026/NĐ-CP. Under clause 3, Article 7 of Decree 20/2026/NĐ-CP, a newly established company does **not qualify** for the exemption if its legal representative, general partner, or largest capital contributor has previously held the equivalent role in an enterprise that is currently operating or was dissolved less than 12 months before the new company was established. The Tax Department advised the company to self-assess its eligibility, paying particular attention to the business history of its legal representative.

The Ministry of Finance confirmed Dorco Living Vina Co., Ltd.'s interpretation of Article 9, Clause 2, Point i of Decree 320/2025/NĐ-CP: Costs related to assets held for lease during a period with no tenant (including depreciation, land rent, infrastructure maintenance and management costs) are deductible when determining taxable CIT income, provided the assets are owned or legally used by the enterprise. Specific case: Phase 2 factory building (construction completed December 2022, investment certificate amended to add leasing purpose on January 17, 2025, officially leased from April 2025). Costs from January 17, 2025 to March 31, 2025 are deductible in the 2025 tax year. The Ministry of Finance advises the company to apply per regulations and contact the direct tax authority for any remaining issues.

The Ministry of Finance answered two questions about the 3-year Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) under Resolution 198/2025/QH15 and Decree 20/2025/ND-CP. For the first question: if during the 3-year exemption period the enterprise grows beyond SME criteria and becomes a large enterprise, it continues to enjoy the CIT exemption for the remainder of the 3-year period counted from the date of first business registration. The incentive is not terminated when the enterprise outgrows SME thresholds. For the second question: the exclusion from incentives applies only to enterprises newly established through merger, consolidation, division, separation, ownership transfer, or type conversion from enterprises that existed BEFORE Resolution 198 took effect. Enterprises established after NQ198 became effective that subsequently change their business type (e.g., from single-member LLC to multi-member LLC or joint stock company) retain their exemption.

The Ministry of Finance confirmed that Circular No. 19/2003/TT-BTC on treasury share management in joint-stock companies has been **revoked** by Circular No. 96/2025/TT-BTC dated 24 October 2025 (effective 15 December 2025). Accordingly, applying Circular 19/2003 to purchase treasury shares for employee bonus purposes **no longer has a legal basis**. Furthermore, the Enterprise Law 2020 (as amended in 2022 and 2025) does not have specific provisions on treasury shares or employee bonus shares. Share offering is governed by Articles 123-125, and share buybacks by company decision are governed by Article 133 of the Enterprise Law. The Ministry of Finance advises businesses to study the Enterprise Law 2020 and apply it in accordance with their specific circumstances.

Decision 1092/QD-BTC issued by the Ministry of Finance on May 13, 2024, announces the results of systematizing all legal normative documents under the Ministry's state management scope for the period 2019-2023. This is an important document that helps businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), gain a comprehensive overview of all legal regulations related to taxation, budget, accounting, auditing, pricing, national reserves, and other fields managed by the Ministry of Finance. This systematization clarifies which documents remain valid, which have expired, and which require amendments or supplements, thereby facilitating businesses in consulting and properly complying with current legal regulations. The decision takes effect immediately from the signing date, helping SME owners easily grasp the most updated legal framework for business operations, tax declarations, financial reporting, and other obligations with tax and financial authorities. For SMEs, this decision is significant in ensuring legal compliance and avoiding legal risks arising from incorrectly applying expired documents or missing new regulations. Business owners should monitor the list of documents announced with this decision to stay updated on changes in financial, tax, and accounting policies in a timely manner.

This is the consolidated text of Decree No. 06/2021/ND-CP dated January 26, 2021, on quality management, construction execution, and maintenance of building works, compiled by the Ministry of Construction together with three subsequent amending decrees: Decree 35/2023/ND-CP, Decree 175/2024/ND-CP, and Decree 14/2026/ND-CP (effective January 15, 2026, mainly cutting and simplifying administrative procedures). A consolidated document does not create new law; it merges all currently effective provisions into a single reference text. The decree defines construction-industry terms (technical instructions, as-built drawings, testing, monitoring, inspection, appraisal, maintenance, and more); classifies and grades construction works; sets out the responsibilities of investors, construction contractors, material suppliers, and consulting contractors for quality, schedule, volume, and labor-safety management during construction; provides separate rules for EPC general-contractor arrangements, turnkey contracts, and public-private partnership (PPP) projects; lays out a 12-step construction-management sequence (from site handover through final handover); and assigns inspection authority over project acceptance (nghiem thu) to provincial construction agencies and specialized ministries depending on project type. The 2026 update adds a principle giving electronic administrative-procedure results the same legal value as paper documents. This is a specialized construction-industry technical decree aimed mainly at project investors, construction contractors, supervision consultants, and real-estate/construction enterprises. Its content does not directly touch VAT, corporate income tax, e-invoicing, general labor law, or customs, so it falls outside RegHub's core scope (tax, accounting, invoicing, customs, labor, and investment/financial regulation for SME owners and accountants). Recommend flagging for editorial review rather than auto-publishing.

This consolidated document integrates Circular 27/2015/TT-NHNN with amendments from Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN, providing guidelines for unsecured lending to households for production forest planting (timber and non-timber forest products) and livestock development under Decree 75/2015/ND-CP on forest protection and development linked to poverty reduction for 2015-2020. The policy operates through two banks: Vietnam Bank for Social Policies and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The preferential interest rate is 1.2% per year. Loan contracts were signed until 31 December 2020, and existing agreements remain valid until expiry. Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN (effective 31 December 2025) abolished Article 8 and attached forms, and updated the State Bank's implementation responsibilities to reflect its new organizational structure.

This consolidated document of Circular 13/2014/TT-NHNN (amended by Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN) guides lending under Decision 68/2013/QD-TTg on supporting reduction of agricultural losses. Eligible borrowers include enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups, households, and individuals purchasing machinery and equipment for agricultural production, harvesting, preservation, and processing. The Circular applies to loan contracts signed before 31 December 2020. Commercial banks provide the loans and receive interest rate subsidies from the state budget under Decision 68. Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN updates SBV's organizational implementation structure (effective 31 December 2025). This program relates to agricultural credit with limited direct impact on SME tax and accounting matters.

The National Assembly Office has published Consolidated Document No. 90/VBHN-VPQH of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations (Law No. 15/2012/QH13), merging all nine rounds of amendments since 2014, most recently Law No. 88/2025/QH15 (effective July 1, 2025) and upcoming changes taking effect July 1, 2026 under the new Cybersecurity Law and Anti-Drug Law. This is a reference consolidation, not new legislation, but it is the foundational legal basis for every administrative penalty decision a business may face. Key points for SME owners and accountants: fines imposed on organizations are always double the fine imposed on individuals for the same violation. Maximum fine caps are set by sector - for example, accounting, invoices, fees and charges, and national reserves top out at VND 50 million; customs and tax procedures top out at VND 100 million; while tax, independent audit, securities, competition, and personal data protection violations follow their own specialized laws rather than this general cap. The statute of limitations for imposing penalties is generally 1 year, extended to 2 years for violations involving accounting, invoices, fees and charges, securities, and intellectual property, while tax and independent-audit violations follow the limitation periods set in tax administration and independent audit law. The law also sets out five forms of penalty (warning, fine, suspension of licenses/operations, confiscation of exhibits or instrumentalities, and deportation), lists of mitigating and aggravating circumstances, cases where no penalty applies (force majeure, legitimate self-defense, etc.), and prohibited conduct by enforcement officials (harassment, soliciting money, covering up violations). Businesses should keep this consolidated text on hand when dealing with tax, customs, or sector inspectors, since it determines fine levels, limitation periods, and the right to appeal.

A company asked whether loan interest paid by Kyoei Steel Vietnam Co., Ltd. to Japan's JBIC bank between July 2014 and October 2018 qualifies for corporate income tax (foreign contractor withholding tax) exemption under the Vietnam-Japan Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The Ministry of Finance response states that this specific case was already addressed by the former Ninh Binh Provincial Tax Department in Official Letter No. 4448/CT-TTKT3 dated December 5, 2019, and advises the company to compare that letter's guidance against its actual case file and documentation before applying the exemption. The response also flags the treaty benefit eligibility rule under Clause 1, Article 6 of Circular 205/2013/TT-BTC: tax authorities will refuse to apply treaty relief in certain situations, including when a taxpayer requests treaty benefits for tax that arose more than three years before the request date. Businesses with foreign loans or other cross-border income should keep this three-year window in mind when filing for treaty-based tax relief.

Decree No. 20/2026/ND-CP (implementing National Assembly Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 on private-sector economic development) grants small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) registering a business for the first time a 3-year corporate income tax (CIT) exemption starting from the date their Enterprise Registration Certificate is first issued. The exemption does not apply, however, to enterprises newly formed through merger, consolidation, division, split, or a change of owner or entity type, or when the new enterprise's legal representative, general partner, or highest capital contributor previously held the same role in another enterprise that is still operating or was dissolved less than 12 months earlier. A business owner asked the Ministry of Finance about a specific situation: he is simultaneously the Director of a newly established single-member LLC and holds 50% of the charter capital (tied with the other member) in a separate, operating two-member LLC. He wanted to know whether this 50/50 stake would disqualify the new company from the exemption, and whether transferring the entire 50% stake to someone else would restore eligibility for the remaining incentive period. Rather than answering the specific scenarios directly, the Ministry of Finance simply quoted the text of Clause 3, Article 7 of Decree 20/2026/ND-CP and advised the taxpayer to compare the facts against it and contact the directly managing tax authority for case-specific guidance. The takeaway for owners with overlapping stakes across multiple companies: carefully review each related enterprise's legal representative, general partner, or highest-capital-contributor role before setting up a new company, since an overlap can forfeit the 3-year CIT exemption.

Vietnam's National Assembly is in the process of drafting and consolidating a State Budget Law, led by the Ministry of Finance with review by the Economic and Financial Committee. This draft law is expected to be presented at the First Extraordinary Session of the 16th National Assembly term. The official passage date has not yet been announced and remains pending. At this stage, the detailed content of the draft has not been fully published in the source material - only information about the drafting agency, the reviewing committee, and the expected submission timeline is available. The State Budget Law is a foundational legal instrument governing state revenue, expenditure, and fiscal management, with broad implications for tax policy, public resource allocation, and the overall business environment. Businesses, particularly those that transact with the public sector or are affected by fiscal policy, should monitor the progress of this draft law. RegHub will provide updates once the detailed content and specific provisions of the draft become available.