Opening a company in Vietnam as a foreigner: real costs in 2026

A small limited liability company owned by Vietnamese individuals costs about VND 2.7 to 8 million to open in Ho Chi Minh City in 2026, counted up to the point where it has a seal, a digital signature, e-invoices and a bank account. A company with foreign ownership is a different budget: most published estimates put the total at USD 2,000 to 10,000 and 45 to 90 days, because of the investment registration work that comes first. In both cases, the state’s share is a few hundred thousand dong. The rest goes to suppliers, lawyers and accountants.

This article lists every line, separates what the state charges from what service providers charge, and is honest about the parts we do and do not handle.

What we do and do not handle

We are a five-person accounting office. We do not prepare Investment Registration Certificates (IRC, Giấy chứng nhận đăng ký đầu tư) or other licences for foreign investors. For that you need a law firm, and we are happy to name a few we have worked alongside.

What we do for foreign-owned companies is the monthly accounting once the company exists: books, VAT and payroll returns, provisional corporate income tax, year-end statements, and a short monthly summary in English. Our VND 5 million setup package on the company setup page is for companies owned by Vietnamese individuals.

The line-by-line cost of the company itself

These are the costs every limited liability company (công ty TNHH) pays, whoever owns it. Prices are the 2026 range we see in published price lists in Ho Chi Minh City (sources at the end).

The two largest lines, the digital signature and the e-invoice package, are not optional. Without a digital signature you cannot file returns online, and without e-invoices you cannot sell lawfully.

State fees versus service fees

The state charges a Vietnamese limited company only two things at registration: the enterprise registration fee and the fee for publishing the registration details. The annual business licence fee (lệ phí môn bài) was abolished from 1 January 2026 by Resolution 198/2025/QH15, so a company opened in 2026 never files that return.

On the two remaining fees, our sources do not agree:

• The base schedule in Circular 47/2019/TT-BTC is VND 50,000 for registration and VND 100,000 for publication. Emerhub (updated 1 March 2026) says the registration fee is waived when you file online and the publication fee is VND 100,000.
• Circular 64/2025/TT-BTC halves the enterprise registration fee from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2026, according to Luật Việt An’s summary.
• ACC Group lists VND 200,000 and VND 300,000.

We will not guess for you. The National Business Registration Portal (dangkykinhdoanh.gov.vn) shows the exact amount before you pay, so check it there. Whichever source is right, the state’s share stays under VND 500,000. If a quote shows “government fees: VND 1.5 million”, service fees have been folded in.

The extra layer for a foreign-owned company

The IRC: two routes since March 2026 (to be confirmed)

Until early 2026, a foreign investor normally obtained an IRC first and only then registered the company. According to Dreamplex, the Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 (in force from 1 March 2026) and Decree 96/2026/NĐ-CP now allow a second route: register the company first, with a market access commitment in the application, then complete the IRC within twelve months. The old IRC-first route remains available.

We mark this as to be confirmed: it comes from a secondary source, and we have not read the original law text ourselves. Two points from the same source matter for planning. The project itself cannot start before the IRC is issued, and the twelve-month deadline is binding. Ask your law firm how the route applies to your sector before you sign a lease or hire staff.

Published estimates for the legal side are USD 3,000 to 7,000, covering government fees, legal advice, translation and legalisation of documents from your home country (Dreamplex), and USD 2,000 to 10,000 in total including setup costs (Viet An Law). Timing is usually 45 to 90 days from decision to legal operation. These are the figures that dominate your budget. The VND table above is small change next to them.

Capital contribution within 90 days (to be confirmed for your case)

Under the Law on Enterprises 2020, members of a limited company must contribute the full registered charter capital within 90 days of the date on the Enterprise Registration Certificate. For foreign investors, the money normally goes through a direct investment capital account (DICA) opened at a bank in Vietnam, and the bank will tell you exactly which documents it needs for each transfer.

Two practical consequences:

1. Register an amount you can actually transfer within 90 days. If you cannot, the company has to file a capital reduction, which is another round of paperwork.
2. Send capital from the right account to the right account. Money that arrives in the director’s personal account, or in the company’s ordinary current account instead of the capital account, is hard to recognise as capital later. Your bank and your law firm have the final word on the route for your case.

Ongoing costs to budget from month one

• Monthly accounting. Emerhub puts bookkeeping for a small company at USD 100 to 300 a month. Our bookkeeping and financial statements package is VND 3 million a month before 8% VAT, plus VND 500,000 a month for the monthly report in English and VND 60,000 per employee a month from the sixth employee.
• Annual audit. Every foreign-owned company has its annual financial statements audited by an independent Vietnamese audit firm, at roughly USD 1,500 to 3,000 a year for a small company (Emerhub). We do not audit, because we would be checking our own books. We prepare the files your auditor asks for and work with them on adjustments.
• Renewals. The digital signature renews yearly (or buy a multi-year package), and e-invoice packages run out. Put both in your second-year budget.

Your first tax months

Whether foreign-owned or not, a new company files from the first quarter it exists, even with no revenue.

• VAT. A newly established company may file quarterly. The deadline is the last day of the month after the quarter. For a company registered in August 2026, the Q3 return is due 31 October, which is a Saturday, so the deadline moves to Monday 2 November 2026. A quarter with no sales still has a return, and the “nothing to report” return has the same deadline as any other.
• Corporate income tax (CIT). Under CIT Law 67/2025/QH15, a company with annual revenue up to VND 3 billion pays 15%, above VND 3 billion and up to 50 billion pays 17%, and larger companies pay 20%. A company with annual revenue of VND 1 billion or less is exempt, and a new company expecting less than that does not make quarterly provisional payments. The quarterly rules and the 80% check are in our article on provisional CIT in 2026.
• Books. Books start on day one. Furniture, laptops and the office deposit paid in month one are company costs only if the invoices are in the company’s name.

Every 2026 date, already shifted for weekends and holidays, is on our tax calendar.

Where people usually slip

Starting work before the paperwork allows it. Under the company-first route, the company may exist before the IRC does, but the project may not start. Founders who hire, invoice clients or sign long leases in that gap take a risk their law firm should price for them first.

Capital in the wrong account. Covered above, and the most common clean-up we are asked to help with. It is also the hardest to fix after the fact.

Assuming there is nothing to do until revenue arrives. The first quarterly return is due whether or not you have sold anything, and the audit at year end will ask for the bank statements and invoices from month one.

The digital signature sits in someone else’s drawer. Ask who holds the USB token and the passwords. With us, the e-tax account and digital signature are in your company’s name, the passwords are handed to you on paper, and if you leave we hand everything back within five working days at no charge.

Underestimating the bank. Opening an account with a foreign legal representative takes longer than for a Vietnamese one, because of identity checks. Start the conversation with the bank as soon as the certificate is in hand.

What to do next

If your company is already registered, or the IRC is in progress, we can start the monthly books from your first month. See the pricing page or try the fee calculator with your expected invoice count and headcount. For a sense of what monthly accounting looks like for a foreign-owned team, read the story of the eight-person software company we have kept books for since 2024.

To talk it through with one of us, book a free 30-minute call. If you are comparing an outside firm with a hire, our article on outsourced or in-house accountants does the full sum.

Sources and update

Checked on 4 October 2026.

• Business licence fee abolished from 1 January 2026: Resolution 198/2025/QH15.
• CIT rates of 15%, 17% and 20%, and the exemption up to VND 1 billion of revenue: CIT Law 67/2025/QH15; Decree 141/2026/NĐ-CP amending Decree 320/2025/NĐ-CP.
• Company-first route and twelve-month IRC deadline: Investment Law 143/2025/QH15 and Decree 96/2026/NĐ-CP, as reported by Dreamplex. Secondary source; confirm with a law firm.
• 90-day capital contribution: Law on Enterprises 2020. The DICA route follows State Bank rules on foreign direct investment; your bank confirms the documents.
• Registration and publication fees: Circular 47/2019/TT-BTC; Circular 64/2025/TT-BTC. Secondary sources disagree, so check the amount on the National Business Registration Portal when you file.
• Supplier prices, FDI setup costs, bookkeeping and audit ranges: ACC Group, Emerhub, Viet An Law and Dreamplex, read in October 2026. Supplier prices change over time.