Household businesses under VND 1 billion: no tax, but three things to do

A household business with annual revenue under VND 1 billion pays no VAT and no personal income tax in 2026. It still has three jobs: send a revenue notice once a year (form 01/TKN-CNKD, due 31 January of the following year), keep a daily sales book, and track cumulative revenue so you know the month you reach VND 1 billion. Skip any of the three and the problem tends to appear when you least expect it.

The VND 1 billion figure comes from Decree 141/2026/ND-CP and applies from 1 January 2026. If you see VND 500 million somewhere, that is the earlier figure from Decree 68/2026/ND-CP before it was amended. The full picture of the four household groups is in household business tax in Vietnam 2026.

Who this is for

Most foreigners we meet in this situation run a small café, bar or shop with a Vietnamese partner whose name is on the household registration. The tax account belongs to that person, and so does the legal responsibility. If you handle the money day to day, the three jobs below are effectively yours.

Job one: the annual revenue notice

Households under the threshold do not file quarterly returns. Instead, once a year they tell the tax office what they actually sold, on form 01/TKN-CNKD from Circular 18/2026/TT-BTC.

There is no tax amount on the form. It gives the tax office a revenue figure to compare with what else it can see: money through your bank account, invoices from your suppliers’ side, marketplace data.

You send it through the e-tax portal, the eTax Mobile app, or on paper at the local tax office (Thuế cơ sở). Ho Chi Minh City has 29 of these since the 2025 reorganisation.

Job two: the sales book

Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, in force from 1 January 2026, requires every household business to keep books, including those that pay no tax. Under VND 1 billion you need one book: the sales ledger, form S1a-HKD.

It is three columns: date, description, amount. Uyên, who runs a bánh mì stall in Đa Kao, writes one line each night while counting the till:

Paper, a spreadsheet or your point-of-sale software all work. The owner or a close family member can keep it, and the book and its records stay for at least five years. Which book applies at each size is in household bookkeeping under Circular 152.

The book also protects you. If the tax office asks why more money went through your account than you reported, a book written up daily is how you show that some of it was a relative’s transfer or a refunded deposit.

Job three: watch the VND 1 billion line

This is the one people forget, because no form reminds you.

A simple rule: VND 1 billion over 12 months is about VND 83 million a month. If your monthly average so far this year is above that, you are heading over the line. Add up the book at the end of each month and write the running total somewhere you will see it.

A household open for part of the year annualises: actual revenue divided by months open, times 12. A shop opened in July that takes VND 560 million in six months is running at VND 1.12 billion a year, already above the threshold.

Worked example: a café that crosses in October

A café in Bàn Cờ ward took VND 870 million in 2025, so it started 2026 under the threshold, keeping the book and filing nothing quarterly. This year it opened in the evenings too:

Around 22 October the running total passed VND 1 billion. Three new jobs followed:

1. Register for e-invoices within 30 days, either invoices coded by the tax authority or invoices generated from a cash register linked to it. Guidance currently counts the 30 days two ways (from the moment cumulative revenue passes the line, or from the end of the tax period), so we use the earlier reading and register before 21 November 2026.
2. File a return for the quarter it crossed. Q4 2026 on form 01/CNKD, due 31 January 2027, moved to Monday 1 February 2027.
3. Change books, from S1a-HKD to S2a-HKD, the book for households taxed as a percentage of revenue.

Which part of 2026 revenue is taxed once the line is crossed in Q4 is a point we are still checking against the original text of Decree 141, so we do not give a tax figure for that quarter. On a real file we work it out from the text before filing.

2027 is clearer. If the café stays around VND 1.25 billion, it is in group 2 from January and files quarterly. Food and drink is taxed at 3% VAT and 1.5% PIT. VAT would be about 1.25 billion × 3% = VND 37.5 million a year. PIT on the percentage method, if applied only to revenue above VND 1 billion, would be about 0.25 billion × 1.5% = VND 3.75 million.

Where people usually slip

• Treating “no tax” as “nothing to do”. No book, no notice, and then nothing to show when the tax office compares your bank account with your declared revenue.
• Counting transfers only. Some shops write the book from the bank statement and leave out cash. Revenue ends up under-declared, and correcting it later means a supplementary return.
• Using last year’s figure. Being under VND 1 billion in 2025 does not exempt all of 2026. What counts is actual revenue during the year.
• Not annualising a new shop. VND 560 million in six months looks far from the line. Annualised, it is over.
• Missing the mid-year notice. Households that opened in the first half of the year have an extra 31 July date that does not match any quarterly deadline, so it slips.

Do you need an accountant?

Honestly, if you sell one kind of thing, revenue is steady under VND 1 billion and someone writes the book every night, you do not need a monthly accounting package. One notice a year is manageable.

It is worth bringing someone in when you are getting close to the line, when you sell through several channels (counter, delivery apps, marketplaces), or when a letter from the tax office has arrived. Book a free 30-minute call and we will look at your book and tell you where you stand. Once you are over the line, our tax filing service is VND 1.5 million a month before 8% VAT. All 2026 dates are on the tax calendar.

Sources and update

Based on Decree 68/2026/ND-CP, Decree 141/2026/ND-CP (VND 1 billion threshold from 1 January 2026), Circular 18/2026/TT-BTC (forms 01/TKN-CNKD and 01/CNKD), Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC (household books) and Decree 70/2025/ND-CP (e-invoices). Food and drink rates follow guidance in use in 2026. Last checked 4 October 2026; the tax treatment of the quarter in which the threshold is crossed will be updated once we finish checking the original text.