Summary
Once a Vietnamese company is operating, its exposure shifts from licensing to maintenance: labour and social insurance registrations, work permits that expire, annual filings, transfer pricing documentation for any transaction with the parent, and amendments whenever capital, address or legal representative changes. Most penalties we see are not the result of bad advice but of a missed date. We hold the calendar, prepare the filings and flag what needs a decision before it becomes a deadline.
What the engagement covers
Employment and labour
Employment contracts, internal labour rules, collective agreements, social and health insurance registration and termination procedure under the Labour Code.
Work permits and residence
Work permits, temporary residence cards and visa arrangements for expatriate management, including the document legalisation that has to start abroad.
Corporate maintenance
Amendments to the investment and enterprise certificates on any change of capital, address, activity, ownership or legal representative.
Regulatory filings
Investment reporting, statistical and sector filings, and the periodic reports the licensing authority expects from a foreign-invested company.
Tax and transfer pricing
Coordination of corporate income tax, VAT and withholding positions, and transfer pricing documentation for related-party transactions under Decree 255/2026/ND-CP, which replaced Decree 132/2020/ND-CP from the 2026 tax period.
Compliance calendar
A dated calendar of every recurring obligation for the coming twelve months, with responsibility and lead time marked against each.
The annual cycle, and when each obligation falls
Q1 — annual accounts and CIT
Statutory financial statements, annual corporate income tax finalisation and audit where required.
Q1 — transfer pricing file
Related-party disclosure and contemporaneous documentation prepared alongside the CIT finalisation.
Ongoing — labour and insurance
Monthly social insurance declarations, headcount changes, and labour reporting to the provincial authority.
Ongoing — investment reporting
Periodic investment implementation reports to the licensing authority and statistical filings.
On event — amendments
Certificate amendments for changes of capital, address, activity, ownership or legal representative.
Indicative only. Conditional sectors, land or construction elements, legalisation of foreign corporate documents and provincial practice all change the timeline.
Where compliance quietly breaks
FAQ
What does a foreign-invested company have to file annually?
At minimum: statutory financial statements and corporate income tax finalisation, related-party disclosure and transfer pricing documentation where thresholds are met, investment implementation reports to the licensing authority, labour reports and continuing social insurance declarations.
When is transfer pricing documentation required?
Decree 255/2026/ND-CP — in force 1 July 2026 and applying from the 2026 corporate income tax period, replacing Decree 132/2020/ND-CP — requires disclosure of all related-party transactions with the annual tax return, and contemporaneous local file, master file and country-by-country documentation once revenue and transaction value thresholds are exceeded. Certain small taxpayers are exempt from the full file but not from disclosure.
How long does a work permit take?
Around four to six weeks in practice, plus the time needed to obtain and legalise the criminal record, health check and qualification documents. Approval of the demand for foreign labour must be secured before the permit application itself.
Can you take over compliance for a company set up by someone else?
Yes. We begin with a review of the licences, filing history and registrations, return a list of what is current and what is outstanding, and then take the calendar forward from there.
Do you work alongside our accounting provider?
Yes. We coordinate with the client’s accountant or with ECOVIS accounting colleagues, so that the tax filings and the legal filings rest on the same set of facts.
Not sure what your Vietnamese entity still owes?
We review the filing history, licences and registrations of an existing company and return a single list: what is current, what is late, and what needs a decision.