Towards an equal business environment

Hai Phong City Tax officials discuss and guide business households to declare taxes using the new method (Photo provided by the facility).

Business households self-declare and self-pay

On October 14, 2025, the Ministry of Finance approved the Project "Converting the model and method of tax management for business households when eliminating lump-sum tax". This is considered an important turning point in the process of modernizing tax management, creating a foundation for building an equal business environment between business households and enterprises.

According to the Project, starting from January 1, 2026, the lump-sum tax mechanism will officially end nationwide. Instead, business households will switch to self-declaration, self-payment and self-responsibility for tax obligations, complying with modern tax management principles.

The goal of this transition is to simplify administrative procedures, reduce compliance costs for taxpayers by at least 30%, and shorten the time it takes to process documents. Along with that, the system of related legal documents is also amended and supplemented to ensure consistency and feasibility in implementation.

The project stipulates that all business households that are required to use electronic invoices generated from cash registers according to Decree 70/2025/ND-CP must complete registration and implementation before the new model is applied.

The Ministry of Finance requires ensuring that 100% of business households have access to information, receive guidance and support throughout the process of converting from the contract method to declaration, as well as in the roadmap to upgrading to an enterprise when meeting all conditions.

According to Deputy Head of City Tax Pham Tuan Anh, the lump-sum tax form has long revealed many shortcomings, causing inequality among business households. Because lump-sum tax is a form of determining annual revenue and fixed tax rates for business households; business households do not implement accounting books, invoices and documents. Business households are required to declare and account for actual revenue, expenses and profits, similar to the small business model. Therefore, eliminating lump-sum tax aims to create fairness and transparency, people with lower revenue have to pay less tax. Switching to automatic tax declaration and payment not only helps tax authorities manage more effectively but also promotes transparency, creating a foundation for digital transformation in the public finance sector.

Strengthening support for taxpayers

Scene of the seminar "Converting from tax collection to tax declaration - Deploying electronic invoices" organized by the City's Electronic Information Portal in coordination with the City Tax on the morning of October 24.

Eliminating lump-sum tax is considered an important step in the process of modernizing tax management, moving tax collection from an administrative model to one based on data and electronic invoices, in line with the digitalization trend of the economy . However, many business households expressed concerns about switching to the tax declaration method, because this could cause many difficulties and compliance costs.

Ms. Vu Thi Hong Nhung, a food business owner in Hong Bang ward, said that for many years, her business has paid a lump-sum tax of about more than 1 million VND/month. According to the new regulations, from 2026, businesses like hers will have to declare taxes based on actual revenue. “The new policy is more transparent and convenient for business operations, but we are still concerned because most of the input materials are purchased at traditional markets without invoices or documents. Accounting for revenue and expenses based on specific invoices is very difficult to do,” Ms. Nhung said.

Sharing the same concern, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Huong, a business owner in Hai Duong Ward, said that the issue of accounting books is what worries her the most. According to her, if switching to declaration, the tax payable may be lower, but the business owner must store input and output electronic invoices, track expenses, hire accountants... This creates many additional procedures and costs.

The concerns of Ms. Nhung and Ms. Huong are also common concerns of many individual business households today. At the discussion with the topic " Converting from tax contract form to tax declaration form - Deploying electronic invoices " organized by the Hai Phong City Electronic Information Portal in coordination with the City Tax on the morning of October 24, comrade Le Viet Anh, Head of the Department of Taxation for individuals, business households and other areas (Hai Phong Tax) affirmed that business households should not be too worried about tax obligations or declaration. The new policy is flexibly designed, ensuring harmony between management requirements and taxpayers' rights. Tax declaration and payment will have its own mechanism, suitable to the actual operations of each household.

According to Hai Phong City Tax, as of September 2025, the whole city has more than 73,000 business households, of which about 3,300 households are implementing the declaration method, and 40,000 households pay taxes in the form of lump-sum tax.

To help business households feel secure in their conversion, Hai Phong Tax is synchronously implementing many solutions in the spirit of the Project "Converting tax management models and methods for business households when eliminating lump-sum tax", with the motto "Accompanying taxpayers". The Tax Department is reviewing and cleaning business household data, promoting propaganda, supporting taxpayers, and upgrading the Etax Mobile application.

Connecting business households with technology solution providers and establishing Zalo groups to disseminate new policies quickly and directly. In addition, the Tax sector also coordinates with relevant agencies in standardizing personal tax codes, unifying the use of personal identification numbers instead of tax codes, monitoring tax risks; strengthening coordination with local authorities in preventing revenue loss, handling tax debts and supporting business households to transform into enterprises.

“Currently, we are implementing the Peak Month of accompanying taxpayers to support the transition from lump-sum tax to declaration. More than 200 working groups have been established, going directly to wards, communes, and residential groups to guide people to install the Etax Mobile application and create electronic invoices from cash registers,” said Deputy Head of City Tax Pham Tuan Anh.

HA VY

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/huong-toi-moi-truong-kinh-doanh-binh-dang-525019.html