Vietnam steps up tax code clean-up, helps businesses resume operations with clear legal status

The campaign is aimed at removing inactive businesses from the tax system while helping compliant businesses resolve outstanding procedures and return to the market, Mai Son, deputy director of the Department of Taxation said at a briefing on September 4.

The tax authorities issued 167,637 new tax codes to businesses and organisations in the January-August, equivalent to 89 percent of the same period last year.

At the same time, tax authorities completed procedures to deactivate 94,991 tax codes, up 9 percent from a year earlier. Of them, more than 23,000 cases were requests arising in 2026, while the remaining were outstanding cases dating from 2025 or earlier.

The process of deactivating tax codes has faced difficulties for years because many businesses that had stopped operating did not notify tax or business registration authorities, Son said.

Thus, the campaign to clean up tax data is launched to standardise data and reduce the number of taxpayers classified as having stopped operating but not completed procedures to terminate their tax identification numbers, as well as businesses no longer operating at their registered addresses.

Beyond data management, the clean-up is aimed at improving tax administration and prevent the misuse of legal entities for invoice trading, tax evasion and fraud, Son said.

The business landscape should be assessed from both sides, he said, adding that besides businesses facing difficulties and leaving the market, new businesses are being established and existing firms improving their operations.

Non-state, foreign-invested and State-owned businesses all record growth in the first eight months with GDP growth, budget revenue and production and business data pointing to positive developments, he said.

Besides, public investment, efforts to resolve obstacles facing property projects and investment attraction are also providing additional momentum for businesses to enter and expand in the market, Son added.

"Our wish is that after the outstanding issues are resolved, businesses and taxpayers that have left the market or ceased operations will have an opportunity to resume production and business with a clear legal status," he said.

According to Nguyen Duc Huy, deputy head of the Tax Operation Division under the Department of Taxation, tax authorities had identified difficulties faced by businesses, household businesses and individual traders in completing procedures to close their tax codes and were classifying them into different groups to propose appropriate solutions.

Priority will be given to cases involving firms that no longer conduct business activities, including businesses with no revenue or invoices, no outstanding tax liabilities and no further need to conduct production or business activities, he said.

Huy said the tax authority is also reviewing obstacles related to policies and tax obligations with an aim to help businesses and taxpayers that have stopped operating but have not completed tax-code termination procedures fulfil their obligations as soon as possible.

For businesses no longer operating at their registered addresses, tax authorities will review their status and either restore their operations or terminate them in accordance with regulations.

The department's statistics showed that nearly 620,000 businesses nationwide were subject to review of tax codes. Of the figure, more than 325,000 businesses were no longer operating at their registered addresses, while about 270,000 had not completed procedures to terminate their tax identification numbers.

Tax authorities have in recent years introduced tax, fee and land-rent exemptions, reductions and extensions to support businesses and households in restoring production and business activities with a total value estimated at VND178.2 trillion (US$6.8 billion) in 2024 and VND229 trillion in 2025.

Tax revenue reached VND1.793 quadrillion in the first eight months of 2026, equivalent to 79.9 percent of the annual target and up 16.7 percent from a year earlier.