Bookkeeping for household businesses under Circular 152

From 1 January 2026 every household business in Vietnam keeps accounting books under Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, including households that pay no tax. Which books depends on how the household is taxed: under VND 1 billion a year you need only the sales ledger S1a-HKD; a household taxed as a percentage of revenue keeps the sales ledger S2a-HKD; a household paying personal income tax (PIT) on profit keeps four books, S2b to S2e. The owner can keep them, a close family member can, or an outside accountant can. Books and records are kept for at least five years.

Circular 152 replaced Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC. The practical change is that households used to paying lump-sum tax barely wrote anything down. Now every household has at least one book.

If you are a foreign partner in a household business

The household is registered to one Vietnamese individual, and that person is responsible for the books. In practice, the person who handles the till usually keeps them. If that is you, the books can be in a spreadsheet, and nothing stops you keeping working notes in English, but the official ledger the tax office sees should follow the Vietnamese forms.

Which book for which household

The groups depend on annual revenue (the VND 1 billion threshold comes from Decree 141/2026/ND-CP). How the groups work is in household business tax in Vietnam 2026.

The number of books follows the PIT method, not size. A group 2 household with VND 2 billion revenue on the percentage method keeps one book. The same household on the profit method keeps four, because it has to prove its costs.

Group 1: S1a, a week at a bánh mì stall

Uyên’s bánh mì stall in Đa Kao takes about VND 620 million a year: group 1. Her S1a for the first week of September 2026:

One line a day, cash and transfers together. At month end she totals it and writes the running total for the year. That running total is what tells her how far she is from VND 1 billion (see household businesses under VND 1 billion).

Group 2 on the percentage method: S2a at a fabric shop

The Bến Thành market fabric shop takes VND 2.4 billion a year on the percentage method. It only sells fabric, so it has one business line: trading goods (1% VAT, 0.5% PIT). Its S2a for the same week, written from the e-invoices its cash register issues:

A household with a second line at a different rate keeps a separate column or section for it. At quarter end, the total for each line is what goes on return 01/CNKD.

Group 3: four books, and why S2d matters

Households paying PIT on profit are taxed on revenue minus costs. The four books exist to prove those costs:

• S2b records revenue for VAT, like S2a.
• S2c records revenue and every documented cost: stock, rent, wages, utilities.
• S2d tracks goods, materials and tools in, out and in stock.
• S2e tracks cash and bank balances.

Take a phone shop with VND 6 billion revenue, paying 17% PIT on profit. If S2d gets year-end stock wrong, cost of sales is wrong, profit is wrong, and the 17% lands on the wrong number. For group 3 clients we count real stock against the book at least once a quarter.

At this size the books look a lot like a small company’s. If you are weighing that move, see should a household business become a limited company?

Who may keep the books

Circular 152 allows three arrangements:

1. The owner keeps them.
2. A family member keeps them: parents (natural or adoptive), spouse, children (natural or adopted), or full siblings.
3. The household hires a bookkeeper or an accounting service.

Nephews, cousins and friends are not on the family list; if one of them helps, treat it on paper as hiring someone. Whoever writes the book, the owner answers for the numbers.

Where and how long

Paper or electronic (spreadsheet, point-of-sale software, stored locally or online) are both accepted. Books and accounting records are kept for at least five years; invoices follow the tax rules.

Where people usually slip

• Writing the book at quarter end. Rebuilding 90 days from memory and a bank statement almost always loses cash sales. Five minutes each evening avoids it.
• The wrong book after changing method. A household moves from the percentage method to the profit method but still only has S2a, so there is no cost record when the return is due.
• Book and invoices disagree. Revenue in the book is lower than e-invoices issued. The tax office sees the invoice data, so every gap needs an explanation.
• Family money in the shop account. A spouse’s transfer, a loan to a sibling, school fees, all through one account. In a group 3 S2e these have to be separated or the cash balance never reconciles.
• No running total. A group 1 stall writes every day but never adds up, and does not know which month it crossed VND 1 billion.

When to hire help

One S1a or S2a book and one business line: you or a family member can manage. For most group 1 households, that is what we suggest.

Once you need the four S2b to S2e books, or have several business lines, the books directly decide your tax. Our tax filing service covers the sales book and quarterly returns for VND 1.5 million a month before 8% VAT. Try the fee calculator, check the 2026 tax calendar, or book a free 30-minute call and Trang will look at your current books.

Sources and update

Based on Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC of 31 December 2025 on household accounting (in force 1 January 2026, replacing Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC), Decree 68/2026/ND-CP and Decree 141/2026/ND-CP on household groups and the VND 1 billion threshold, and Circular 18/2026/TT-BTC for return 01/CNKD. The ledgers above are shortened for illustration; the full columns are in the appendix forms of Circular 152. Last checked 4 October 2026.