On 10 December 2025, the National Assembly passed the Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15 (“Law on Tax Administration 2025”), replacing the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14 (“Law on Tax Administration 2019”). In general, the Law on Tax Administration 2025 introduces new provisions aimed at strengthening the State’s tax administration over taxpayers in the current context. Enterprises should pay close attention to and keep updated on these new regulations to avoid potential tax non-compliance and violations.
1. Classification of taxpayers for the application of preferential treatment
The current Law on Tax Administration provides criteria for assessing and determining taxpayers’ risk levels for the purpose of enhanced monitoring and inspection by tax authorities. A notable new point under the Law on Tax Administration 2025 is the formal introduction of a taxpayer classification mechanism, not only to strengthen supervision but also to determine eligibility for preferential treatment in tax administration (which may include priority in handling tax administrative procedures or consideration during the process of handling tax violations) for taxpayers.
However, the 2025 Law only provides general classification criteria, such as business sectors and industries, operational characteristics and methods; legal form and ownership structure; scale of operations, revenue and state budget contributions; and the level and history of tax compliance. Further detailed guidance from the Government and the Ministry of Finance is expected to clarify these criteria as well as the scope of preferential tax administration treatment applicable to taxpayers in the course of tax declaration and payment.
2. Taxpayers must fulfill tax obligations when changing their head office resulting in a change of tax authority (regardless of whether such change is within the same province/city)
The Law on Tax Administration 2019 and Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP provide that where a taxpayer changes its head office address resulting in a change of the managing tax authority, it must complete tax procedures with the directly managing tax authority before registering such changes with the business registration authority. In cases where the relocation is to another province, the taxpayer must fully settle outstanding tax liabilities prior to such change.
Under the Law on Tax Administration 2025, in all cases where a change of head office results in a change of the managing tax authority (including relocations within the same province or centrally governed city), taxpayers must fully fulfill their tax obligations prior to such relocation. This is a new requirement that enterprises should take note of.
3. Addition of beneficial owners to the list of persons subject to exit suspension where enterprises have outstanding tax debts
The Law on Tax Administration 2025 provides that where an enterprise is subject to enforcement of administrative tax decisions and has not fulfilled its tax payment obligations, or where the enterprise is no longer operating at its registered address and has outstanding tax liabilities, the beneficial owner of such enterprise, together with its legal representative, must fulfill the tax payment obligations before exiting Vietnam. The thresholds of tax debt and overdue periods triggering exit suspension measures will be further stipulated by the Government.
4. Enterprises may only submit supplementary tax declarations within 05 years
Under the Law on Tax Administration 2019, taxpayers were allowed to submit supplementary tax declarations within 10 years from the deadline for submission of the relevant tax return if errors were discovered. The Law on Tax Administration 2025 shortens this period to 05 years from the deadline for submission of the tax return for the relevant tax period.
This shortened timeline requires enterprises to pay greater attention to post-filing reviews of submitted tax returns in order to mitigate potential risks.
In addition, the submission of supplementary tax declarations is now regulated in a more stringent and transparent manner. Specifically, the Law on Tax Administration 2025 provides that supplementary filings are not permitted in cases where investigation authorities request that tax returns or other declarations must not be amended for the purposes of criminal investigation. This provision is generally consistent with current developments in economic and financial crime cases.
5. Additional cases eligible for tax debt freezing
The Law on Tax Administration 2025 supplements an additional case where taxpayers may be eligible for tax debt freezing, namely where taxpayers are practically restricted from exercising their rights to exploit or use allocated land or mineral resources due to reasons attributable to competent state authorities, resulting in outstanding financial obligations relating to land or mineral resources.
This provision partially alleviates financial obligations for enterprises that have been allocated land by the State but have not yet received the land on site, thereby facilitating the implementation of their investment projects.
6. Household businesses and individual businesses with annual revenue below VND 500 million are not required to file tax returns but must report revenue to tax authorities
The Law on Tax Administration 2025 allows household businesses and individual businesses with annual revenue below VND 500 million to be exempt from filing value-added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT) returns. However, they are still required to report their actual annual revenue to the tax authorities.
Decree No. 68/2026/ND-CP provides that the deadline for such revenue notification is no later than 31 January of the following calendar year.
Where a household business or individual business self-determines that its revenue exceeds the taxable threshold, it must declare and pay taxes starting from the quarter in which such revenue arises.
The Law on Tax Administration 2025 will take effect from 01 July 2026.
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