Tiếng Việt
Table of Contents
1. What is a tax code?
2. Who must register for tax to be granted a tax code
3. Tax code structure and classification
4. Laws on tax code issuance
1. What is a tax code?
A tax code (TINs) is a series of numbers, letters or characters issued by the tax authority in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration to taxpayers. Tax codes are used to identify and distinguish individuals or organizations that pay taxes, including those with export and import activities and are managed uniformly nationwide.
2. Who must register for tax to be granted a tax code
According to Article 30 stipulated subjects of taxpayer registration of the 2019 Law on Tax Administration herein:
“1. Taxpayers must register for tax and be granted a tax code by the tax authority before starting production and business activities or incurring obligations to the state budget. Subjects of tax registration include:
a) Enterprises, organizations, individuals carrying out taxpayer registration through the one-stop inter-connected mechanism along with enterprise registration, cooperative registration, business registration as stipulated by the Enterprise Law 2020 and other relevant laws;
b) Organizations and individuals not falling under the case stipulated at Point a of this Clause carry out taxpayer registration directly with the tax authority as per regulations from the Minister of Finance.”
In addition, the subjects that must register for tax to be granted a tax code include those who register for tax through the one-stop mechanism and those who register for tax directly with the tax authority as prescribed in Article 4 of Circular 105/2020/TT-BTC guiding tax registration.
“1. The following entities are required to register tax:
a) The taxpayers subject to tax registration through the interlinked single-window system as prescribed in point a clause 1 Article 30 of the Law on Tax Administration.
b) Taxpayers who are subject to tax registration directly with the tax authority as prescribed in Point b, Clause 1, Article 30 of the Law on Tax Administration.”
2. The taxpayers subject to direct tax registration with tax authorities include:
a) Enterprises operating in the sectors of insurance, accounting, auditing, lawyers, notarization, or other specialized sectors that are not required for enterprise registration at business registration authorities as per the specialized laws (hereinafter referred to as business entities)
b) Public sector entities, business entities of armed forces; business entities of political organizations, socio-political organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations that conduct business as prescribed by law but are not required to apply for enterprise registration at business registration authorities; organizations of neighbor countries on land with Vietnam that conduct sale, barter at border marketplaces, checkpoint marketplaces and marketplaces in checkpoint economic zones; representative offices of foreign organizations in Vietnam; artels that are established and operating under the Civil Code (hereinafter referred to as business entities).
c) Organizations established by competent authorities without production or business operation but taking on liabilities to government budget (hereinafter referred to as other entities)
d) Foreign organizations and individuals, organizations in Vietnam that use foreign humanitarian aid and/or non-refundable aid to buy VAT-inclusive goods or services in Vietnam to provide non-refundable aid and/or humanitarian aid; diplomatic missions and consular offices and representative agencies of international organizations in Vietnam that are eligible for VAT refund as entities entitled to diplomatic immunity and privileges; ODA project owners that are eligible for VAT refund, representative offices of ODA project sponsors, organizations designated by foreign sponsors to manage ODA grant programs/projects (hereinafter referred to as other entities).
dd) Foreign organizations without Vietnamese’s legal status, foreign individuals doing independent business in Vietnam in accordance with Vietnam’s law and earning incomes in Vietnam or taking on tax liabilities in Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as foreign contractors or foreign sub-contractors).
e) Overseas suppliers without permanent establishments in Vietnam that operate electronic commerce, business based on digital platform and other services together with organizations or individuals in Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as overseas suppliers).
g) Enterprises, cooperatives, business entities, other entities and individuals that are responsible for withholding and remitting the taxes on behalf of other taxpayers and declare and determine their own taxes separately from those taxes of the said taxpayers as per the tax law (except for the income payers upon withholding and remitting personal income taxes on others’ behalf); commercial banks, payment service intermediary providers or entities authorized by overseas suppliers to declare, withhold and remit taxes on behalf of overseas suppliers (hereinafter referred to withholding agents). An income payer shall, upon withholding and remitting a personal income tax, use the TIN that was already issued.
h) Executives, general executive companies, joint ventures, organizations authorized by Vietnamese Government to receive profits distributed from petroleum fields in the overlapping areas, contractors, and investors entering into petroleum contracts or agreements, parent company – Petro Vietnam as the representative of host country that receives profits distributed from petroleum contracts or agreements
i) Households and individuals engaged in production and business of goods and services, including individuals from countries sharing a land border with Vietnam, who carry out activities of buying, selling and exchanging goods at border markets, border gate markets, and markets in border gate economic zones (hereinafter referred to as Business Households and Business Individuals).
k) Individuals earning incomes subject to personal income tax (excluding individual businesses)
l) Individuals who have dependents as per the law on personal income tax.
m) Organizations and individuals authorized by tax authorities to collect amounts receivable (hereinafter referred to as authorized tax collectors).
n) Other entities, households and individuals taking on liabilities to government budget.”
3. Tax code structure and classification
3.1 Tax code structure
According to the instructions in Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 105/2020/TT-BTC, the tax code structure is as follows:
“Article 5. Structure of TIN1. Tax code structure
N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8N9N10 – N11N12N13
Where:
– The first two digits N1N2 indicate the province that issues TINs
– The seven digits N3N4N5N6N7N8N9 are specified according to a specific structure, increasing in the range from 0000001 to 9999999.
– N10 is the check digit.
– Three digits N11N12N13 are formed in ascending order from 001 to 999.
– A dash (-) is used to separate the first 10-digit element and the last 3-digit element.”
3.2 How to classify tax code structures
According to Clause 3, Article 5 of Circular 105/2020/TT-BTC guiding tax registration herein:
“a) 10-digit TINs shall be issued to enterprises, cooperatives, entities that have full legal status or entities without legal status but incurring tax liabilities; representatives of households, household businesses and other individuals (hereinafter referred to as independent entities).
b) 13-digit TINs with a dash (-) used to separate the first 10 digits and the last 3 digits are used for affiliated entities and others.”
4. Legal regulations on tax code issuance
According to Clause 3, Article 30 of the 2019 Law on Tax Administration as follows:
“3. Issuance of TINs:
a) Each enterprise, business organization or other organization is issued with 01 unique TIN to use throughout its entire operation, from the date of taxpayer registration to the date of TIN deactivation. A taxpayer’s branches, representative offices and/or dependent units that pay their own tax shall be issued with separate TINs. In case an enterprise, organization, branch, representative office or dependent unit combines taxpayer registration via the interlinked single-window system with business registration, the number of the certificate of enterprise registration, cooperative registration and/or business registration (hereinafter referred to as “business registration certificate”) is also the TIN;
b) Each individual is issued 01 unique TIN to use throughout their whole life. Any dependant of that individual shall be issued with a TIN for the purpose of claiming personal exemption for personal income taxpayers. The TIN issued to the dependant is also his/her personal TIN, which is used when paying his/her tax;
c) Enterprises, organizations, or individuals responsible for withholding and paying taxes on behalf of taxpayers are granted a tax code to pay taxes on behalf of taxpayers to declare and pay taxes on behalf of taxpayers;
d) Issued TINs shall not be reissued to another taxpayer;
dd) TINs of enterprises, business organizations and other organizations shall remain unchanged after they are converted, sold, gifted or inherited;
e) TIN issued to a household, household business or individual business is issued to the individual representing the household, household business or individual business.”