Selling 28 boxes of sticky rice per day must pay tax: Business households say the threshold of 200 million is too low

From 2026, if the average revenue is about 553,000 VND/day, the business household will have to pay tax. For small businesses that only sell 28 boxes of sticky rice, they have to pay tax up to 4.5%/revenue, making many small traders worried.

Revenue over 550,000 VND/day has to pay tax

At the discussion session on the afternoon of November 19 on the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended) and the Law on Personal Income Tax (amended), Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang affirmed that the drafting agency will absorb the maximum opinions of delegates, focusing on research to build a reasonable tax threshold, reflecting the reality for business households, ensuring fairness for salaried workers.

According to the draft, the Ministry of Finance proposed a taxable revenue threshold applicable to individuals and business households from 200 million VND/year or more, expected to be applied from January 1, 2026.

Ms. Nguyen Thu, owner of a shop specializing in selling sticky rice for breakfast in Hanoi , is concerned about this regulation and thinks that the revenue of 200 million VND/year that must pay tax is too low. She calculated that with an average price of 20,000 VND/box of sticky rice, she only needs to sell 28 boxes of sticky rice per day, the revenue of 560,000 VND must pay tax.

“If we have to pay tax up to 4.5% of revenue ( 3% value added tax and 1.5% personal income tax - PV) it is unreasonable when small businesses like us all hope for revenue to increase every day to cover costs and reduce difficulties,” said Ms. Thu.

With a revenue threshold of 200 million VND/year, not only Ms. Thu but many other breakfast food businesses such as selling only 14 bowls of pho (average 40,000 VND/bowl), 22 sandwiches (20,000-30,000 VND/piece)... every day are at risk of having to pay taxes.

Many business households are worried about the tax revenue threshold of 200 million VND, applied from 2026. Photo: Nguyen Le

Mr. Van Tuan, owner of a grocery store in Hoang Liet Ward (Hanoi), also commented that the taxable revenue of 200 million VND/year for a business household is too low. Customers buying two cases of beer, soft drinks or milk... already have millions of VND. Just selling 18-20 million VND worth of goods per month is already over the threshold.

According to Mr. Tuan, grocery stores often have high revenue but profit is only about 10%, while tax is calculated based on revenue; a threshold that is too low will create great pressure.

Should the turnover threshold be raised and the tax rate reduced?

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, lecturer at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, assessed that the threshold of 200 million VND/year is low compared to reality. He questioned the scientific basis of this number.

He analyzed that value added tax (VAT) is an indirect tax, the final consumer bears the tax, the business household only collects and pays on their behalf. The business household does not use invoices, so when selling a bowl of pho for 50,000 VND, the VAT is included in it. VAT is calculated on consumer goods, the consumer pays, there is no threshold, as long as there is revenue, there is tax.

However, in Vietnam, the threshold is regulated because of low income and low revenue, if tax is calculated, the collection cost is very high. Therefore, the revenue threshold is regulated to exempt or collect tax.

“The VAT Law has stipulated a tax threshold of 200 million VND/year, applicable from January 1, 2026. The regulation in the Personal Income Tax Law is to synchronize with VAT. It is very difficult for the Personal Income Tax Law to set a different rate, because the same business household cannot have two different rates. This is the difficulty of the Ministry of Finance when formulating policies: one side is revenue, the other side is income,” said Mr. Tu.

In principle, personal income tax applies family deductions mainly to income from salaries and wages, according to the practice of many countries. As for business households, the nature of their operations is almost similar to small businesses, so the principle of calculating tax can be based on revenue.

“With a revenue threshold of 100 million VND, about 1 million households are exempt from tax; when it is raised to 200 million VND from 2026, the number of tax-exempt households could increase to about 2 million (more than 40% of the total number of households). If the tax threshold is raised, the number of tax-exempt households will be even greater. The question is what is the basis for determining whether a household actually has a revenue of less than 200 million VND/year?”, Mr. Tu raised the issue.

Due to the lack of a basis for assessment, it is easy for many business households with high revenue to still 'cover' with low income to be exempt from tax. According to Mr. Tu, temporarily keeping the level of 200 million VND/year for the Ministry of Finance to assess the impact is reasonable, because the newly amended VAT Law will take effect from January 1, 2026, so it cannot be amended immediately.

Previously, when giving comments on tax management and tax policies, invoices for business households, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc - General Director of Trong Tin Accounting and Tax Consulting Company Limited, proposed that non-taxable revenue should be from 1 billion VND.

Mr. Duoc explained that from 2026, the family deduction for taxpayers will be increased to 15.5 million VND/month and 6.2 million VND/month for each dependent. Meanwhile, from 2026, business households will only be exempt from tax for revenue under 200 million VND/year.

This regulation is unfair to taxpayers who are business households compared to taxpayers with income from wages and salaries, especially taxpayers with two sources of income from business and wages, who receive two incentives: family deductions and non-taxable revenue.

Therefore, to ensure fairness and equality, it is necessary to establish a non-taxable revenue level that is close to and similar to the family deduction level of taxpayers with income from salaries and wages according to the plan of 15.5 million VND/month, or 186 million VND/year.

“The proposal to exempt tax on revenue of 1 billion VND not only ensures fairness but is also consistent with the regulation that business households with revenue of 1 billion VND or more must use cash registers connected to tax authorities (according to Decree 70/2025 of the Government). This helps to synchronize tax policies and make them convenient for taxpayers, while creating a basis for more effective tax management,” said Mr. Duoc.

Regarding the tax rate, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu said that the 4.5% revenue rate for food and beverage businesses is not too high in absolute terms, the issue is that the profit after expenses determines the ability to pay taxes.

But for distribution, supply of goods, retail with profits of 5-10%, VAT of 1% and PIT of 0.5% of revenue is acceptable. However, for wholesale (profit of 1-2%), 1.5% may be too high.

How to calculate tax for business households according to the declaration method from 2026 From January 1, 2026, the lump-sum tax mechanism will end. All business households with taxable revenue will self-declare and pay tax according to the actual revenue generated. So, how to calculate tax for business households from 2026?

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ban-28-hop-xoi-ngay-phai-nop-thue-ho-kinh-doanh-noi-nguong-200-trieu-qua-thap-2465561.html