Notes on the Law on Tax Administration (amended) 2025

The Law on Tax Administration (amended) 2025 is an important part of the administrative reform and digital transformation of the financial industry. These changes focus on simplifying procedures, tightening e-commerce management and applying risk management.

Below is a summary of the 6 most prominent new points that businesses and individuals need to pay attention to:

1. Strict tax management for e-commerce
This is the change that has the widest impact, especially for individuals doing business online.
E-commerce platforms pay taxes on behalf of: From April 1, 2025, owners of e-commerce platforms (such as Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop,…) are responsible for declaring taxes and paying taxes on behalf of business households and individuals doing business on the platform.
Foreign suppliers: Corporations such as Google, Meta, Netflix… must directly or authorize registration, declaration and payment of taxes in Vietnam more transparently through the electronic information portal.

2. Apply the “Risk Grouping” mechanism for taxpayers
Instead of spreading checks, tax authorities will classify taxpayers into groups based on compliance history, size and industry (Article 3 of the New Law).
Good compliance groups: Enjoy priority regimes, fast document processing, and reduced inspection frequency.
High risk group: Will be closely monitored and more stringent professional management measures will be applied.

3. Personal identification number replaces Tax code
From July 1, 2025, the personal identification number (on the chip-embedded CCCD) will officially be used to replace the personal tax code. This helps synchronize national data, reducing registration and lookup procedures for people.

4. Change the tax calculation method for Business Households
The new law encourages business households to switch to an enterprise model or declare themselves.
Abandon presumptive tax: Aim for business households to determine their own revenue, declare taxes, and calculate taxes each period.
Revenue threshold: Business households and individuals with a revenue of less than 200 million VND/year will be exempt from VAT and personal income tax (instead of the previous threshold of 100 million VND, applying the roadmap from 2026).

5. Tighten tax enforcement and postpone exit
The measure to temporarily postpone exit is stipulated more clearly and drastically:
In addition to the legal representative of the business, business owners and individuals with tax debt who are subject to enforcement will also have their exit postponed. This forces taxpayers to fulfill their financial obligations before wanting to go abroad.

6. Administrative procedure reform and automatic tax refund
Automatic tax refund mechanism: Additional regulations on processing tax refund applications and automatic tax exemptions based on risk and AI systems (Articles 18, 19).
Reducing documents: Taxpayers do not have to resubmit records and documents that tax authorities already have in the database or have been connected to from other state agencies.

Summary of important milestones in 2025:
January 1, 2025: Temporarily postpone exit for individuals/business household owners who owe tax due to enforcement.
April 1, 2025: The e-commerce platform begins to declare and pay taxes on behalf of sellers.
July 1, 2025: Personal identification number officially replaces tax code.
October 1, 2025: Apply new preferential tax rates for small and micro enterprises.