Official: Tax threshold for self-employed businesses raised to 1 billion VND per year, effective January 1, 2026.

On 29 April 2026, the Government issued Decree 141/2026/ND-CP amending several provisions of Decree 68/2026/ND-CP on tax policy for households and individual business owners, and Decree 320/2025/ND-CP on enforcement measures for the Corporate Income Tax Law. The decree takes effect from 1 January 2026.

Key changes to VAT and personal income tax thresholds

Decree 141/2026/ND-CP replaces the phrase “500 million dong” with “1 billion dong” in Decree 68/2026/ND-CP, including VAT (Article 3), Personal Income Tax (Article 4), and related sections (Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18).

For households or individual business owners that self-declare annual revenue from production and business activities up to 1 billion dong and have already declared Personal Income Tax and VAT, refunds of overpaid taxes will be handled under Article 12 of Decree 68/2026/ND-CP.

Electronic invoicing requirements linked to the 1 billion dong threshold

The Ministry of Finance said the use of a 1 billion dong annual revenue threshold for Personal Income Tax exemptions for households/individuals, together with the 1 billion dong VAT exemption threshold, is consistent with the rule that households with annual revenue of 1 billion dong or more must use electronic invoices (E-invoices) created by a cash register connected to the tax authority.

According to the tax authority’s calculations, about 2,556,042 households/individuals have annual revenue below 1 billion dong. Under the new rule, the anticipated state budget revenue loss is about 16,650 billion dong compared with 2025 (based on the flat-rate regime and a 100 million dong exemption), and about 4,850 billion dong less than the current policy that raised the exemption threshold to 500 million dong.

Obligations for different revenue groups

• Revenue above 1 billion dong: Households/individual businesses must apply electronic invoicing with a tax authority code. For businesses with multiple locations, the same tax code covers all outlets, and the business location code must be shown on invoices.
• Revenue up to 1 billion dong: If conditions are met, households/individual businesses may register to use electronic invoicing with a tax authority code or invoices created by a cash register connected to the tax authority.
• New businesses or revenue crossing during the year: New businesses, or those whose previous-year revenue was below 1 billion dong but whose cumulative year-to-date revenue exceeds 1 billion dong, must apply electronic invoicing with a tax authority code or electronic invoices created by a connected cash register within 30 days from the date cumulative revenue first exceeds 1 billion dong.

Corporate income tax exemption threshold remains unchanged

Decree 141/2026/ND-CP keeps the corporate income tax exemption threshold at 1 billion dong per year.

It also adds to Article 4, Clause 15 of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP provisions on corporate income tax exemption for Vietnamese-registered enterprises with annual revenue up to 1 billion dong, including calculation methods and transitional rules for new or reorganized enterprises, mergers, and other changes. After 2026, the applicable rules continue under this decree.

Rationale and estimated fiscal impact

The Ministry of Finance stated that aligning the household/individual exemption threshold with the corporate income tax exemption threshold aims to ensure fairness and encourage household businesses to transition to corporate forms with professional governance and growth potential, supporting broader policy goals to reach 2 million enterprises by 2030.

The Ministry estimated that with a 1 billion dong annual revenue exemption for corporate income tax, approximately 2,164 billion dong would be exempt, benefiting about 235,800 enterprises.

Source: PV; Government Newspaper (baochinhphu.vn).