January, 2026 Newsletter
January 25th, 2026
Handling cases where taxpayers do not meet conditions for declaration of VAT and PIT quarterly
On December 31st, 2025, the Government issued Decree No. 373/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP dated October 19th, 2020 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax administration. Accordingly, Decree 373/2025/ND-CP provides guidance on handling cases where taxpayers have declared tax quarterly but do not meet conditions for declaration of value-added tax (“VAT”) and personal income tax (“PIT”) quarterly as follows:
· Conditions for tax declaration quarterly: Taxpayers subject to declaration of VAT/ PIT monthly as stipulated in point a clause 1 Article 8 of Decree 126/2020/ND-CP, if their total revenue from the sale of goods and services in the preceding year is VND 50 billion or less, may choose to declare VAT/ PIT quarterly. Revenue from the sale of goods and services is determined as the total revenue reported on VAT tax returns for all tax periods within the calendar year.
· Taxpayers who have declared tax quarterly but do not meet conditions for tax declaration quarterly will be handled as follows:
- In case taxpayers discover they do not meet the conditions for tax declaration quarterly, they must declare tax monthly starting from the first month of the following quarter, resubmit the monthly tax declaration for the previous quarters, and pay late payment as prescribed.
- In case the tax authority discovers that the taxpayers do not meet the conditions for tax declaration quarterly, the tax authority shall issue a document requiring the taxpayers to declare tax monthly starting from the first month of the following quarter, resubmit the monthly tax declaration for the previous quarters, and calculate late payment as prescribed, except in cases where the tax authority discovers this during an inspection at the taxpayer's premises. Taxpayers must declare tax monthly and resubmit the monthly tax declaration as requested by the tax authority.
- Taxpayers will not be subject to administrative penalties for late submission of tax declaration for tax periods that need to be resubmitted due to a change in the tax period. The tax declaration for the months already resubmitted are considered replacements for the quarterly tax declaration that were previously submitted.
Cases eligible for tax incentives of CIT from January 15th, 2026
On January 15th, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 20/2026/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 dated May 17th, 2025 of the National Assembly on a number of special mechanisms and policies for the development of the private economy. Accordingly, Decree 20/2026/ND-CP stipulates several cases eligible for exemption, reduction of corporate income tax (“CIT”) from January 15th, 2026, including:
· Companies managing investment funds for innovative startups, innovative startup enterprises, and intermediary organizations supporting innovative startups that generate income from innovative startup and innovation activities:
- Are eligible for exemption from CIT for a period of 02 years and a 50% reduction in tax payable for the following 04 years on this income.
- Tax exemption and reduction period: calculated continuously from the first year of taxable income from innovative startup and innovation activities. In cases where there is no taxable income in the first three years from the first year of revenue from innovative startup and innovation activities, the tax exemption and reduction period will be calculated from the fourth year.
· Enterprises that have income from the transfer of shares, capital contributions, capital contribution rights, share purchase rights, or capital contribution purchase rights in innovative startup businesses are exempt from CIT on this income.
· Small and medium-sized enterprises registering for the first time:
- Are eligible for exemption from CIT for 03 years from the date of initial issuance of the Enterprise Registration Certificate. This regulation does not apply to:
o Newly established enterprises resulting from mergers, consolidations, divisions, separations, changes in ownership or changes in business type;
o Newly established enterprises where the legal representative (except in cases where the legal representative is not a contributing member), general partner or the person with the highest capital contribution has previously participated in business activities as the legal representative, general partner or person with the highest capital contribution in existing or dissolved enterprises but less than 12 months have passed from the date of dissolution of the old enterprise to the date of establishment of the new enterprise;
o Income as stipulated in Clause 3 Article 18 of the Law on Corporate Income Tax 2025.
- Tax exemption period: calculated continuously from the first year of issuance of the initial Enterprise Registration Certificate. In cases where the Enterprise Registration Certificate was issued before the effective date of Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 and the incentives period is still valid, the enterprise is entitled to the incentives under this regulation for the remaining period.
Transactions on the domestic carbon exchange
On January 19th, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 29/2026/ND-CP on the domestic carbon exchange. Accordingly, transactions on the domestic carbon exchange are regulated as follows:
· Entities eligible to participate in transactions on the domestic carbon exchange: Entities that carry out the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances and carbon credits in accordance with Decree No. 06/2022/ND-CP, as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 119/2025/ND-CP.
· Transactions on the domestic carbon exchange:
o Trading participants are permitted to use only one securities trading account in accordance with securities laws at a carbon trading member to trade greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits, based on the principle of segregation and separation between the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits and other trading activities.
Carbon trading members must segregate transactions of greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits, monitor them separately, maintain separate accounting records, and must not conduct cross-offsetting or borrowing of assets with other trading activities.
The trading account must display the carbon trading component separately from the securities trading component from the moment the user logs into the trading account.
o Trading participants must have sufficient funds when placing buy orders, sufficient greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits when placing sell orders.
o Carbon trading members are responsible for monitoring balances of greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits, cash balances, and for verifying the completeness and accuracy of order information.
o Carbon trading members shall notify trading participants of transaction results immediately after the transaction is executed, in the agreed form. Carbon trading members must provide monthly statements of cash accounts, custodial accounts for greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits to trading participants, or upon request by the trading participants.
o After transactions of greenhouse gas emission allowances, carbon credits are established, Hanoi Stock Exchange is responsible for providing transaction results to the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation for transaction settlement.
Classification of products and goods into three risk levels
On January 23rd, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 37/2026/ND-CP, which provides detailed regulations on certain provisions and measures for organizing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Product and Goods Quality. Under this Decree, the risk classification for products and goods is stipulated as follows:
· The purpose of risk classification for products and goods: to provide a basis for assessing the level of risk of products and goods, thereby developing management and control measures appropriate to the level of risk and international practices, in order to protect the rights of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of businesses and consumers.
· Products and goods are categorized into three risk levels:
(i) High-risk group: products and goods posing a high degree of hazard and a high likelihood of risk occurrence, which could lead to serious or particularly severe consequences without appropriate management measures;
(ii) Medium-risk group: products and goods with a moderate degree of hazard or a moderate likelihood of risk occurrence, which could result in significant impacts without appropriate management measures;
(iii) Low-risk group: products and goods with a low degree of hazard or a low likelihood of risk occurrence, which typically do not cause significant impacts under standard control or usage conditions.
· Application of regulations during the transitional period:
o For a period of six months starting from January 23rd, 2026, quality management of products and goods will continue to follow the established national technical standards, relevant existing legal provisions, and the current List of applicable products and goods.
o Ministries responsible for managing specific sectors and fields must issue Lists of products and goods classified as medium-risk or high-risk, including corresponding HS codes aligned with Vietnam’s Nomenclature of Exports and Imports, along with associated quality management requirements. These lists must take effect from July 01st, 2026.
Furthermore, the Decree provides guidance on integrating technology into product and goods quality management, including the rollout of digital passports and electronic labels, as well as the use of AI and Big Data for inspection and oversight purposes.
Guidance on the preparation of environmental impact assessment reports for projects with phased investment or divided into component projects
On January 29th, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 48/2026/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP, which provides detailed regulations on a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection, as amended and supplemented by Decree No. 05/2025/ND-CP. This Decree supplements provisions guiding enterprises in preparing environmental impact assessment (“EIA”) reports for projects with phased investment or projects divided into component projects, specifically as follows:
1. In cases where an investment project is permitted by a competent authority to be divided into component projects, an EIA report shall be prepared for each component project that has environmental criteria subject to the requirement to conduct an EIA.
2. In cases where an investment project has environmental criteria subject to the requirement to conduct an EIA and is implemented in investment phases in accordance with the law, the project owner may choose to prepare an EIA report for each investment phase or a single EIA report for the overall project.
Where the project owner chooses to prepare EIA reports by investment phase, the EIA report of a subsequent phase must inherit, update the EIA contents conducted for the previous phases of the project.
3. Environmental criteria for classifying investment projects shall be determined based on the overall project.
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