Vietnam scraps business license fee starting 2026
The move aims to reduce compliance costs, simplify administrative procedures and align with the policy of encouraging private sector development.
THE HANOI TIMES — Vietnamese taxpayers will no longer be required to pay the business license fee or submit related declarations from 2026 and in subsequent years.
Production activity at the ANMI TOOLS's factory in Hanoi. Photo: Khac Kien/The Hanoi Times
The General Department of Taxation has issued an official dispatch requesting provincial and municipal tax authorities to publicize the new rules on the declaration and payment of the business license fee from 2026.
Under the new regulation, effective from January 1, 2026, taxpayers will not have to pay the business license fee for 2026 and later years and will no longer be required to submit annual license fee declarations.
The abolition of this fee is stipulated in National Assembly Resolution 198/2025 on special mechanisms and policies to promote private sector development.
The tax authority will continue to review and apply management measures in accordance with regulations to collect in full any business license fees arising in 2025 and earlier years and remit them to the state budget.
The removal of the license fee aims to reduce compliance costs, simplify administrative procedures and align with the policy of encouraging private sector development. Previously, the fee applied to enterprises, cooperatives, public service units engaged in business activities and household and individual businesses.
Taxpayers were required to pay VND2 million-VND3 million (US$80-$120) for enterprises and VND300,000-VND1 million (US$12-$40) for household businesses each year upon establishment and during operation. The fee level was based on charter capital, investment capital or revenue and did not depend on whether the business made a profit or a loss.
