DECREE NO. 141/2026/ND-CP AND DECREE NO. 144/2026/ND-CP: NEW POINTS ON TAX POLICIES FOR ENTERPRISES AND HOUSEHOLD BUSINESSES

Recently, on April 29, 2026, and May 5, 2026, the Government promulgated Decree No. 141/2026/ND-CP and Decree No. 144/2026/ND-CP to amend and supplement certain regulations concerning tax policies and conditions for value-added tax (VAT) deduction applicable to the production and business activities of enterprises, household businesses, and individual businesses. The new regulations are assessed to have a significant impact on tax obligations, the application of e-invoices, as well as the mechanism for handling non-cash payment documents in practical business operations.

The following article will focus on the key and notable changes in the aforementioned Decrees and provide practical recommendations to help enterprises, household businesses, and individual businesses promptly grasp and note these updates during implementation.

A. NOTABLE CHANGES

1. Adjusting the revenue threshold for business households and business individuals

Decree No. 141/2026/ND-CP raises the annual revenue threshold not subject to Value-Added Tax (VAT) and exempt from Personal Income Tax (PIT) from 500 million VND to 01 billion VND.

Accordingly:

Overall, raising the taxable revenue threshold for household and individual businesses is a timely and practical policy adjustment by the Government following a period of applying the previous tax policies. These changes more closely reflect the actual revenue scale of current household businesses and reduce tax compliance costs for small-scale business groups, thereby partially alleviating the financial burden for individual and household businesses.

Alongside raising the taxable revenue threshold, Decree No. 141/2026/ND-CP also provides transitional clauses to address cases where household and individual businesses have already declared and paid taxes under the previous regulations but, upon applying the new revenue threshold, fall under the tax-exempt category. Accordingly, the paid tax amounts shall be processed via a clearing or refund mechanism as prescribed in Article 12 of Decree No. 68/2026/ND-CP.

2. Adjusting the mandatory revenue threshold for applying e-invoices for household businesses and individual businesses

The mandatory revenue threshold for applying electronic invoices (e-invoices) for household and individual businesses is changed from "VND 1 billion or more" to "over VND 1 billion/year".

For establishments with a revenue of VND 1 billion or less, the State still encourages and permits voluntary registration to use e-invoices if they have the demand and meet the conditions.

For newly established establishments or those that did not reach the threshold in the previous year but accumulate revenue exceeding the VND 1 billion mark in the current year: they are mandatorily required to apply e-invoices (with the tax authority's code or generated from cash registers) and complete registration within 30 days from the last day of the tax period in which the threshold was exceeded. This change affords household and individual businesses hitting exactly the VND 1 billion mark time to prepare the technical infrastructure, organize accounting processes, and familiarize themselves with the new operational procedures, avoiding time pressure in executing administrative procedures and minimizing the anxiety of immediate penalties.

3. Supplementing the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption mechanism for enterprises with revenue not exceeding VND 1 billion/year

A progressive step toward harmonization: enterprises with a total annual revenue of VND 1 billion or less will be exempt from CIT. The assessment basis relies on the Appendix of Business Performance Results attached to the CIT finalization return of the immediately preceding year.

For enterprises operating for less than 12 months in the preceding year, the revenue used as the basis for tax exemption consideration is determined by dividing the actual total revenue by the actual number of operating months and multiplying by 12 months, wherein months with changes due to new establishment, merger, consolidation, division, or separation are counted as full months. In case a newly established enterprise in the tax period anticipates a total annual revenue not exceeding VND 1 billion, it is not required to provisionally pay CIT on a quarterly basis; at the end of the tax period, if the actual revenue exceeds VND 1 billion, the enterprise shall carry out normal declaration and finalization and is exempt from late payment interest on this tax amount.

Regarding transitional processing, enterprises that have provisionally paid tax for the first quarter of 2026 will not have to make provisional payments for subsequent quarters and may offset or be refunded the overpaid tax amount in accordance with regulations. For the 2025 tax period ending after January 1, 2026, the exempted CIT amount for the period falling within 2026 is determined by taking the total tax payable for 2025 divided by 12 months (or the actual number of operating months for newly established enterprises in 2025) and multiplying by the number of months of the 2025 tax period that fall within the 2026 calendar year. However, this tax exemption policy provides an exclusion; it does not apply to subsidiaries or enterprises with associated relationships where members in that associated relationship do not meet the tax exemption conditions.

This change has synchronized the tax policy between the micro-enterprise model and the bloc of household and individual businesses, creating an equitable legal environment. By abolishing the quarterly provisional tax payment obligation for newly established enterprises and issuing a clear transitional allocation formula, the new policy helps reduce administrative procedures and supports enterprises in maintaining working capital during the initial phase of operations. On the other hand, the strict stipulation of exclusionary conditions for the group of associated enterprises helps prevent the phenomenon of artificially splitting enterprise scale to profiteer from the policy, ensuring the strictness of the law and guaranteeing that the State's preferential resources are allocated to the correct target groups needing support per the set objectives.

4. Supplementing the input VAT deduction mechanism for deferred and installment payments

Decree No. 144/2026/ND-CP amends and supplements Point g, Clause 2, Article 26 of Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP regarding non-cash payment documents for goods and services purchased on deferred or installment payment terms with a value of VND 5 million or more as follows:

Under the new regulations, business establishments are permitted to declare and deduct input VAT based on:

+ Written contracts for the purchase of goods and services;

+ Lawful value-added invoices; and

+ Non-cash payment documents in accordance with the payment schedule stipulated in the contract or contract annex.

In cases where the payment deadline according to the contract or contract annex has not yet arrived, the business establishment is still entitled to deduct input VAT.

Upon the payment deadline, if there is no non-cash payment document, the business establishment must declare and make a downward adjustment to the previously deducted input VAT for the value of goods and services lacking payment documents in the tax period when the payment obligation arises.

If, after making a downward adjustment, the business establishment later obtains the non-cash payment document, it is permitted to make a supplementary declaration and deduction of input VAT for the value of goods and services with documents in the tax period when such payment document arises.

Compared to Decree No. 181/2025/ND-CP, the core innovation of Decree No. 144/2026/ND-CP is the addition of a mechanism allowing business establishments to re-declare and deduct input VAT after having made a downward adjustment due to overdue payment, as soon as a valid non-cash payment document is supplemented. This provision resolves the complication of losing the right to tax deduction due to delayed payment, ensuring the lawful rights of enterprises when cash flow fluctuates but economic transactions are genuine.

B. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENTERPRISES, HOUSEHOLD BUSINESSES, AND INDIVIDUAL BUSINESSES

To proactively apply the new tax policies under Decree No. 141/2026/ND-CP and Decree No. 144/2026/ND-CP, enterprises, organizations, household businesses, and individual businesses should note the following issues:

1. For household businesses and individual businesses:

+ Review actual incurred revenue to correctly identify the tax-exempt revenue threshold and the obligation to apply e-invoices under the new regulations.

+ Proactively prepare and retain accounting books, documents, and revenue data to facilitate inspection or reconciliation by tax authorities.

+ For cases where taxes have been declared and paid under the old threshold but fall within the new revenue threshold applicability, it is necessary to review and proactively prepare a dossier requesting the tax authority to process the clearing or refund of the overpaid tax amount under the transitional clauses.

2. For enterprises:

+ Review the production and business performance results of the immediately preceding tax period to determine the total revenue under the new regulations, thereby establishing the basis to self-determine eligibility for CIT exemption or to execute procedures for the refund or clearing of provisionally paid CIT.

+ For newly established enterprises or those operating for less than 12 months, accountants must correctly apply the revenue conversion formula and allocate the exempted tax amount from the 2025 tax period carrying over to 2026 to avoid errors during tax finalization.

+ Examine the ownership structure, associated relationships, and operating models of the enterprise and its subsidiaries and affiliates within the system to determine compliance with the exclusionary conditions of the CIT exemption policy, avoiding the risk of tax arrears and late payment interest calculation when tax authorities conduct inspections and audits.

+ Establish strict control procedures for contracts purchasing goods and services on deferred or installment terms valued at VND 5 million or more. The accounting department needs to closely monitor the payment schedule under the contracts to execute input VAT adjustment declarations at the correct time if the non-cash payment document condition is not met, or to make supplementary declarations when valid payment documents arise to optimize the enterprise's benefits.

In the context of the tax authority accelerating data digitization and strengthening the interconnection of e-invoice information, payment accounts, and actual revenue data, enterprises, household businesses, and individual businesses need to gradually shift from a "declaration to meet procedures" mindset to a "tax compliance governance" mindset as an integral part of corporate risk management.

Therefore, besides promptly updating legal changes, enterprises and business entities should also proactively review their internal accounting-tax procedures, document systems, payment methods, and operational structures to ensure adaptability to increasingly stringent tax administration requirements in the coming period.