Knowledge base

The State Bank of Vietnam issued Consolidated Document 40/VBHN-NHNN, consolidating Circular 45/2018/TT-NHNN (effective February 12, 2019) on guidelines for credit institutions lending with SME Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) guarantees under Decree 34/2018/ND-CP, as amended by Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN. The document prescribes coordination procedures between credit institutions and CGFs, minimum content of cooperation agreements, lending principles for guaranteed loans (loans denominated in Vietnamese dong, with credit institutions bearing their own lending decision responsibility), and interest rates not exceeding the lender's rates for the same term and sector. Circular 85/2025/TT-NHNN amendments are primarily organizational: repealing Article 7(2), replacing "provincial/municipal SBV branch" with "Regional SBV branch", and updating responsibilities of SBV internal units. This is a technical consolidation effective December 31, 2025.

The Law on Fees and Charges No. 97/2015/QH13, effective since January 1, 2017, has now been consolidated as Document No. 92/VBHN-VPQH, folding in amendments from 19 related laws passed through late 2025, including the Law on Prices, the Law on Electronic Transactions, the Law on Telecommunications, the State Budget Law, the Law on Atomic Energy, the Law on Cybersecurity, and the Law on Employment. The law sets the nationwide list of fees and charges, the principles for setting collection rates (fees are meant to roughly cover the cost of a public service, while charges are fixed amounts not intended to cover costs), who must pay, which agencies may collect, and how the money is managed - mostly remitted to the state budget, with public service units allowed to retain part of it to cover their own service-delivery costs. For SMEs, this is the foundational legal text behind hundreds of specific fees and charges businesses pay when applying for licenses, registering a company, obtaining professional practice certificates, or handling import-export and port entry procedures. The attached schedule lists individual charges in detail (for example, import permit fees, professional certificate fees, outbound investment registration fees, and seaport or airport entry/exit fees) along with the agency responsible for setting each rate, mostly the Ministry of Finance. Several schedule items were recently updated by 2025 laws taking effect January 1, 2026 or July 1, 2026, adding fee items tied to atomic energy activities, cybersecurity, and national vocational skill assessments. Because this is a consolidated reference text rather than a newly enacted law, businesses do not need to take immediate action, but should consult it to confirm the current, accurate rules for the specific fees and charges that apply to their industry or activity.

On 3 February 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Consolidated Document No. 08/VBHN-BCT, merging Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BCT with three amending circulars (21/2018, 01/2022, and 38/2025) into a single reference text governing e-commerce activity conducted through mobile applications. It is a pure consolidation for lookup purposes and does not create any new legal obligation beyond what the underlying, already-effective texts require. The rules apply to three groups: traders, organizations, and individuals who own a «sales application» (an app used to sell their own goods or services); owners of an «e-commerce service application» (marketplace apps, online promotion apps, online auction apps); and sellers who use those service applications to trade. Owners of a sales app with an online-ordering feature must notify the Ministry; owners of an e-commerce service app must register with the Ministry, publish their operating rules, personal-data protection policy, and dispute-resolution mechanism. The document also covers online contract formation, online payment safeguards, and the Ministry's practice of publishing lists of registered or non-compliant applications on the E-Commerce Management Portal. For business owners and accountants, this is an administrative registration/notification regime run by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, not a tax, e-invoice, accounting, or customs matter. Businesses selling through mobile apps should check their registration status to avoid administrative penalties, but nothing here changes tax policy or bookkeeping requirements.

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.

The Da Nang Tax Authority (Sub-department 3) clarified the distinction between the "percentage rate to calculate VAT on revenue" and the standard VAT tax rate applicable to foreign contractors. Under Circular 103/2014/TT-BTC, the percentage rate is a deemed rate used to calculate VAT payable under the direct method (taxable revenue multiplied by the percentage), which differs from standard VAT rates (0%, 5%, 8%, 10%). Circular 103/2014/TT-BTC remains in force and specifies percentage rates by industry: 5% for services, equipment leasing, and insurance; 3% for construction and installation; 2% for transport, manufacturing, and other activities; 1% for distribution and supply of goods. The authority also referenced Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC for related individual business provisions. The foreign contractor tax calculation method using deemed rates on revenue is separate from the standard VAT rate framework under the VAT Law applicable to Vietnamese parties.

The Ministry of Finance provided guidance on VAT and PIT rates for the Tieng Vong Pho household business (Da Nang) operating multiple activities: bamboo lantern manufacturing (code 3290), lantern-making and coffee-brewing instruction (codes 8559, 8552), lantern and coffee retail (codes 4773, 5630), and craft experience services. Per guidance from the Da Nang Tax Department (issued June 25, 2014, effective July 1, 2014), based on Decree 65/2013/NĐ-CP and the PIT Law: Craft experience and coffee-brewing experience services are classified as distribution/goods supply services - 10% VAT, 1% PIT. Lantern and coffee bag sales - 10% VAT, 0.5% PIT. Art teaching and artistic education - 0% VAT (exempt), 1.5% PIT. The household business applies presumptive or percentage-of-revenue tax calculation methods.

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.

This is Consolidated Document No. 04/VBHN-BXD issued by the Ministry of Construction, merging the original Decree 11/2013/ND-CP on urban development investment management with five rounds of amendments over the years (Decrees 100/2018, 31/2021, 35/2023, 96/2024, and most recently 35/2026/ND-CP, effective from 22 January 2026). The consolidated text sets out the full management process for urban area projects: urban planning approval, proposal dossiers for urban development areas, approval authority, obligations of primary and secondary project investors, capital mobilization, sale of project products, and procedures for handing over urban infrastructure management to local authorities. The substance sits squarely within urban planning and construction / real-estate-business law, applying to urban development project investors (including foreign investors) and provincial People's Committees. It does not directly address taxation, e-invoicing, accounting, or labor matters - a key distinction for readers of this platform. Because its regulatory scope falls outside RegHub's core coverage areas (VAT, corporate income tax, e-invoicing, IFRS, labor, and customs), this document has been assessed as not a fit for publication on the platform, even though it may hold reference value for real estate developers and urban infrastructure investors.

A reader in Tay Ninh asked the Ministry of Finance about the case of Mrs. H.T.T.M: in 1997 she was granted a land use right certificate for 36 sqm of residential land; in 2019 a re-survey found the plot had grown by 28 sqm (classified as perennial-crop agricultural land) due to boundary shifts across successive surveys, with the boundary now clear, stable and undisputed by neighbors. The district issued a new certificate covering 64 sqm total (36 sqm residential, 28 sqm perennial-crop land). Mrs. M is now applying to convert the additional 28 sqm from agricultural to residential use, and the reader asked whether this qualifies for land use fee exemption/reduction under Point c, Clause 2, Article 10 of National Assembly Resolution 254/2025/QH15. In response, the tax authority quoted the provision verbatim: when converting garden, pond, or agricultural land within the same plot as land already recognized as residential, or land separated into its own plot before 1 July 2014 through self-surveying before official cadastral mapping, into residential use, the land use fee is charged at 30% of the difference between the residential-price and agricultural-price valuations for the area within the local land allocation limit; 50% for the area exceeding the limit but not more than one time the limit; and 100% for the area exceeding one time the limit. This rate applies only once per household or individual per land plot. Based on that provision, the tax office (Tax Sub-Department No. 9 of Tay Ninh province) did not directly confirm whether Mrs. M's case qualifies, and instead advised the reader to contact the relevant local agency for guidance based on the land user's actual file. This is a case-specific application guidance letter, not a new legal instrument.

Responding to a business household leasing real estate across multiple provinces with estimated annual revenue above VND 3 billion, the Ministry of Finance (Tax Sub-Department Region 1, Ninh Binh) cited Decree 68/2026/ND-CP (issued March 5, 2026) and Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15 to outline the general declaration and tax calculation principles. Business households and individual traders with annual revenue above VND 500 million are subject to VAT and must use the direct method: VAT payable equals taxable revenue multiplied by the percentage rate for the relevant business line under VAT Law No. 48/2024/QH15. For personal income tax, individuals leasing real estate (excluding accommodation-service business) pay tax on the portion of revenue exceeding VND 500 million multiplied by the applicable tax rate. If an individual leases multiple properties within the same province or across different provinces, they must file one consolidated tax return and choose a single tax authority (in the locality of one of the leased properties) to submit it, unless the corporate lessee has already declared and paid tax on their behalf. The VND 500 million annual deduction can be applied flexibly: the taxpayer selects one or more lease contracts to apply it against first, and if the deduction is not fully used, continues applying it to other contracts until the full VND 500 million is used, capped at VND 500 million total per year across all contracts. Important caveat: the official reply addresses only the general VAT and PIT declaration principles under Decree 68/2026/ND-CP. It does NOT directly answer the taxpayer's specific question about how to determine depreciation costs for fixed assets acquired in 2020 when the original supporting documents are no longer available, nor does it address invoice-issuance requirements that the taxpayer also asked about. The business household should contact its managing tax authority directly for specific guidance on valuing undocumented assets and on invoicing obligations.

A citizen asked the Ministry of Finance whether his mother's land plot - which since a 2020 inheritance split contains only perennial-crop land (CLN) and other annual-crop land (BHK), with no residential land - qualifies for the land-use-fee exemption/reduction under point c, clause 2, Article 10 of National Assembly Resolution No. 254/2025/QH15, given the family's plan to convert part of it to residential land to build a house. The tax authority replied that under point c, clause 2, Article 10 of Resolution 254/2025/QH15, the policy applies only where garden or pond land sits within the same plot as existing residential land, or where land originally was garden/pond land attached to residential land but was split off through a land-use-right transfer, or was surveyed and split into a separate plot by the cadastral agency before July 1, 2014. In those cases, the land use fee for converting to residential use is reduced as follows: a 30% cut on the gap between the fee calculated at residential land price and at agricultural land price, within the locality's residential land allocation limit; a 50% cut for area exceeding that limit but not more than one time the limit; and no reduction (100% of the gap payable) for area exceeding more than one time the limit. This preferential calculation applies only once, to one plot, per household or individual. Decree No. 50/2026/ND-CP (dated January 31, 2026) provides implementing detail: the preferential calculation under this rule may be applied only once per household/individual, on one plot of their choosing, even if they hold multiple eligible plots (including plots across different provinces). The counting of conversion instances and the applicable land allocation limit are determined from August 1, 2024. Because the mother's plot in this case currently consists only of CLN and BHK land with no residential land, whether it qualifies under point c, clause 2, Article 10 depends on the land's origin, the timing of the plot split, and the cadastral records - specifically, whether that plot was previously garden/pond land attached to residential land. The tax authority advised the citizen to contact the local one-stop administrative service unit or the competent land management authority directly for specific guidance on the required dossier, procedures, and an accurate determination of the financial obligation based on the actual land records.