Vietnam Corporate Tax & Accounting FAQ: CIT, VAT, PIT

Updated Oct 4, 2026

Companies in Vietnam generally deal with corporate income tax (CIT), VAT and salary PIT withholding; payments to overseas service suppliers may also trigger foreign contractor tax. The standard CIT rate is 20% (67/2025/QH15), with reduced rates or relief for qualifying companies, while filing and payment deadlines depend on the tax and the company’s eligibility.

Which taxes will my company in Vietnam actually have to deal with?

For most companies it comes down to a handful: corporate income tax (CIT, standard 20%) on your profit, value-added tax (VAT) on your sales, personal income tax (PIT) withheld from staff salaries, and — if you pay overseas suppliers for services — foreign contractor tax. (67/2025/QH15) The old annual business-license fee (lệ phí môn bài) was abolished from 1 January 2026, so that one is gone. (198/2025/QH15) The filing rules themselves were also rewritten in 2026: the Law on Tax Administration 108/2025/QH15, Decree 252/2026/ND-CP and Circular 89/2026/TT-BTC took effect on 1 July 2026, replacing Law 38/2019/QH14 and Decree 126/2020/ND-CP — so advice written before mid-2026 may quote the wrong deadlines. (108/2025/QH15) (252/2026/NĐ-CP) (89/2026/TT-BTC) We map out exactly which taxes apply to your business before quoting; you pay the government taxes to the State, and our fee is separate for keeping you compliant.

Do I still have to pay the annual business-license fee (môn bài)?

No — collection of the business-license fee (lệ phí môn bài) ended on 1 January 2026 under Article 10(7) of Resolution 198/2025/QH15 (in force 17 May 2025), so companies and household businesses no longer file or pay it. (198/2025/QH15) Before that it was VND 2–3 million a year for a company depending on charter capital, with a first-year exemption for newly formed entities. If you were budgeting for it, you can drop it — but do check with us for any prior-year amounts that were already due before the change.

Do I file VAT and PIT monthly or quarterly?

VAT is monthly by default; companies with prior-year VAT-return revenue of no more than VND 50 billion may choose quarterly filing. New businesses may choose quarterly filing, but first-calendar-year revenue above VND 50 billion, even with less than 12 months of activity, requires monthly filing from the next calendar year. If first-year revenue is no more than VND 50 billion, the period is reassessed using a full prior year from the calendar year following the year in which 12 months of activity are completed (Circular 89/2026/TT-BTC, Article 19(1)(b)). (89/2026/TT-BTC) Salary PIT is quarterly with annual finalization, subject to the no-filing exceptions in Decree 252/2026/NĐ-CP, Article 11. (252/2026/NĐ-CP) Monthly returns are due on the 20th of the next month; quarterly returns on the last day of the first month of the next quarter (Decree 252, Article 10(2–3)). We check the period applicable to your company.

Is my VAT rate 10% or the reduced 8% I keep hearing about?

The standard VAT rate is 10%. (48/2024/QH15) A temporary 2-point cut brings many goods and services down to 8% under Resolution 204/2025/QH15, Article 1, which applies from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026 (Article 2) and is guided by Decree 174/2025/ND-CP. (204/2025/QH15) The cut does not cover telecoms, financial services, banking, securities, insurance, real-estate business, metal products, mining products (other than coal), or goods and services subject to special consumption tax (other than petrol). Unless the National Assembly extends it, invoices dated from 1 January 2027 go back to 10% — worth checking against any contract priced for 2027. Which rate applies depends on what you sell, so we set your e-invoices up correctly rather than guessing.

How is corporate income tax actually paid — is there a monthly CIT return?

This trips up almost every foreign owner: there is no monthly or quarterly CIT return. Instead you make a provisional CIT payment each quarter based on estimated profit (a payment, not a filing), and then file one annual finalization where the real profit is calculated and the tax settled — topping up or crediting the difference. The four quarterly payments together must cover at least 80% of the tax on your own finalization; if they fall short, late-payment interest runs on the shortfall from the day after the fourth-quarter payment deadline until it is paid (Decree 252/2026/ND-CP, Article 24(3), in force 1 July 2026). (252/2026/NĐ-CP) That shortfall trap is exactly what we watch for you.

When are the quarterly CIT payments and the annual finalization due?

The quarterly provisional CIT payment is due by the last day of the first month of the following quarter — 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January for a calendar-year company (Decree 252/2026/ND-CP, Article 24(2), in force 1 July 2026; the old rule said 'the 30th day', so older guides are a day early for three of the four quarters). (252/2026/NĐ-CP) There is no return, just the payment on time. The annual CIT finalization is due by the last day of the third month after your financial year ends — 31 March for a calendar-year company (Article 10(5)(a)) — and the tax is due the same day. We calendar these for you and prepare the finalization well ahead so nothing is filed or paid late.

I heard smaller companies now pay less than 20% CIT — is that right?

Yes — and for the smallest companies it is now less than that. Under Article 10 of the CIT Law 67/2025/QH15 (in force 1 October 2025), a company whose total revenue in the previous tax year was up to VND 3 billion is taxed at 15%, and one with VND 3–50 billion at 17%; above that the standard 20% applies. (67/2025/QH15) (67/2025/QH15) Two 2026 changes go further. A company with previous-year total revenue of VND 1 billion or less is exempt from CIT altogether, and a new company expecting to stay under that level need not make quarterly provisional payments (Decree 320/2025/ND-CP, Article 4(15), added by Decree 141/2026/ND-CP, in force 1 January 2026). (320/2025/NĐ-CP) (141/2026/NĐ-CP) And for the 2026 and 2027 tax years, a company with annual revenue of VND 10 billion or less gets 30% off the CIT it would otherwise pay (Resolution 43/2026/QH16, Article 1(2), in force 24 August 2026). (43/2026/QH16) There are anti-avoidance limits — the 1-billion exemption does not apply to a subsidiary or affiliate of a group member that does not itself qualify, and companies split up after 24 August 2026 are tested on their combined revenue. We check your eligibility against your actual revenue and structure rather than assuming it. A separate exemption gives qualifying SMEs three consecutive years of CIT relief from the year of their first Enterprise Registration Certificate, not from their first profit (Resolution 198/2025/QH15, Article 10(4), effective 17 May 2025; Decree 20/2026/ND-CP, Article 7(3)). (20/2026/NĐ-CP) (198/2025/QH15) The decree generally took effect on 15 January 2026, but this relief applies from 17 May 2025 and the 2025 tax year (Article 16(2)); earlier registrations get only the remaining eligible period. It excludes companies created by merger, consolidation, division, separation, ownership change or change of enterprise form. It also excludes a new company if its statutory representative (unless not a capital contributor), general partner or largest capital contributor has held any of those roles in a still-operating company or one dissolved less than 12 months before the new company was formed. Income excluded by CIT Law 67/2025/QH15, Article 18(3), is not covered. If the first exempt operating period is under 12 months, the SME may use that first tax period or register to start in the next one (Article 7(5)). For overlapping relief on the same income, choose the most favorable regime and keep that choice throughout the relief period (Article 7(4)). The 15%/17% rates also require checking the subsidiary and related-enterprise exclusion in Article 18(4) of Law 67/2025/QH15; activities with special rates are assessed separately. (67/2025/QH15)

Are electronic invoices mandatory, and what do I need to set up?

For ordinary company sales, yes: sellers must issue e-invoices, subject to the exceptions in Article 7 of Decree 254/2026/ND-CP (Articles 4(1) and 6, in force 1 July 2026). (254/2026/NĐ-CP) This decree replaced Decree 123/2020/ND-CP and Decree 70/2025/ND-CP on that date (Article 43); tax-authority printed invoices also ceased to be valid (Article 44(3)). Register the appropriate invoice type, arrange compliant software and a digital signature where required, and send invoice data to the tax authority. A paid provider is not compulsory in every case: tax-coded invoices can be created through the tax-management system or a provider (Article 12(1)); eligible companies using invoices without a tax code may transmit data directly or through a provider (Article 16(3)). A paper printout is not a substitute for issuing the required e-invoice.

How is personal income tax handled for my foreign employees?

It turns on residency, as defined in Article 2(2) of the PIT Law 109/2025/QH15 (in force 1 July 2026; its salary rules apply from the 2026 tax year). (109/2025/QH15) Someone is a tax resident if they are in Vietnam 183 days or more in a calendar year or in 12 consecutive months from their first arrival, or if they have a regular place of residence here — a registered permanent residence or a home rented under a fixed-term lease. A resident is taxed on employment income at five progressive rates of 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 35% after a personal deduction of VND 15.5 million a month and VND 6.2 million per dependant (Articles 9–10); a non-resident pays a flat 20% on salary for work in Vietnam (Article 21). The employer withholds from each payroll, files quarterly and finalizes by 31 March; an employee who finalizes personally has until 30 April; and a foreign resident whose labor contract ends must finalize before leaving Vietnam, within 45 days of the contract end (Decree 252/2026/ND-CP, Article 10(5)). (252/2026/NĐ-CP) A rented apartment can make someone resident even under 183 days, so we check each person rather than assuming.

When I pay an overseas company for services, do I owe tax in Vietnam?

Often yes, but an overseas payment is not automatically taxable. Foreign contractor tax (FCT) covers CIT and, where applicable, VAT; the contract, income source and tax method determine the treatment. The current substantive rules are Circular 20/2026/TT-BTC, Article 7 (CIT; effective 12 March 2026, applying from the 2025 tax year), and Circular 69/2025/TT-BTC, Article 9 (VAT; effective 1 July 2025). (20/2026/TT-BTC) (69/2025/TT-BTC) They include exclusions, so services supplied and consumed wholly abroad are not treated like services used in Vietnam, and VAT does not necessarily apply to every software or royalty payment. Circular 103/2014/TT-BTC was repealed from 1 July 2026 by Circular 89/2026/TT-BTC, Article 99(3)(b). (89/2026/TT-BTC) Under the revenue-percentage method, the Vietnamese contracting party withholds and pays on the contractor’s behalf, normally declaring each payment; monthly filing can be registered for repeated payments in a month (Article 30(2)). Platform purchases also require checking the withholding rules in Decree 252/2026/ND-CP, Articles 43–45 (effective 1 July 2026), including who has already withheld. Review the tax and any net-of-tax price clause before signing.

Does my company need audited financial statements?

Yes for an FDI enterprise: annual financial statements require an independent audit under the Law on Independent Audit 67/2011/QH12, Article 37(1)(a) (effective 1 January 2012). Decree 90/2025/ND-CP, Article 1 (effective 14 April 2025), added a separate large-enterprise category; its size thresholds do not exempt small FDI companies. The audit contract must be signed at least 30 days before the accounting year ends, and the audit report must accompany statements filed with the competent authorities or publicly disclosed (Law 67/2011/QH12, Article 9(2)–(3)). For financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026, Circular 99/2025/TT-BTC, Article 25, requires annual statements within 90 days of year-end (effective 1 January 2026, Article 31(1)). (99/2025/TT-BTC) Arrange the auditor before year-end and allow time to finish the audit before filing.

What happens if I file or pay a tax late?

Late payment accrues interest of 0.03% per day on the unpaid amount (Law on Tax Administration 108/2025/QH15, Article 16(2)(a), in force 1 July 2026), and the tax authority will notify you of the debt once it is 30 days overdue. (108/2025/QH15) Late filing carries administrative fines under Decree 125/2020/ND-CP, which Decree 252/2026/ND-CP (Article 74(4)) keeps in force until replaced. (252/2026/NĐ-CP) Beyond the money, a pattern of late or missing returns can flag your file for review and complicate things like e-invoice use. The good news is these are entirely avoidable with the deadlines calendared — which is a core part of what a monthly retainer buys you.

My company hasn't started trading yet — do I still have to file anything?

No revenue does not automatically remove every obligation, but there is no blanket rule requiring every company to file zero VAT and PIT returns. Decree 252/2026/NĐ-CP, Article 11, provides exceptions: no salary PIT withholding in a period may remove that period’s filing obligation, with separate rules for the last period of the year or reorganization/closure; no salary payments means no salary PIT annual finalization. (252/2026/NĐ-CP) Properly registered suspension has its own filing rules. We check registration status, income payments and no-filing conditions before preparing the applicable VAT, CIT, PIT and financial-reporting checklist.

Can a small company just outsource accounting, or does it legally need an in-house accountant?

In general, a small or newly formed company can outsource the whole function to a licensed accounting-service firm rather than hiring in-house — a common, fully compliant choice for FDI and SMEs. Every company must maintain proper books and, as it grows, appoint a qualified chief accountant, but that role can often be met through a service provider in the early stages. We scope whether outsourcing fits your size, or whether your volume has reached the point where in-house support makes sense.

Are the government taxes included in your service fee?

No — they're always separate. The taxes themselves (CIT, VAT, PIT and any FCT) are paid by your company to the State according to what you owe; our fee is only for the professional work of keeping the books, filing on time, preparing the finalization and dealing with the tax authority. We set out both clearly up front so you can see exactly what goes to the State and what is our service — and you only pay us once you accept a fixed, no-obligation quote.