Under Decree 296/2025, effective from 1/1/2026, which regulates the enforcement of administrative penalty decisions, if a business household lacks sufficient common assets to fulfill an enforcement decision, funds and assets of the individual members within the business household may be seized.

This means that family members who are not officially registered as part of the business household will not have their funds or assets seized in such cases.

People buying and selling at Dong Xuan Market. Photo: Hoang Giang

While current law does not explicitly define a business household, Decree 168/2025 states that "a business household is established by an individual or family members and is responsible for its business activities with all its assets" (Clause 1, Article 82).

Vietnamese citizens with full civil capacity, as stipulated by the Civil Code, are eligible to establish a business household, with certain exceptions.

The business household owner is responsible for tax and financial obligations. While they may hire others to manage and operate the business, the owner and registered members remain fully liable for the business operations, debts, and other financial obligations arising from these activities.

Key administrative penalties for common violations concerning business households include:

Business registration violations

Additionally, Article 62 of Decree 122/2021 mandates remedial measures, such as requiring the establishment of a business household or the registration of changes to the business household registration certificate if not already done.

Reporting and information regime violations

Decree 122/2021 was drafted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in 8/2024 to replace existing regulations. Consequently, the penalty provisions outlined in Articles 62 and 63 may undergo changes in the near future.

Tax declaration and registration violations

Tax evasion

Regulations also require violating business households to remedy the consequences, including fully paying the evaded tax into the state budget. If the statute of limitations for penalties has expired, the household will not be penalized for tax evasion but must still pay the full evaded tax amount, plus late payment fees calculated on the evaded tax, into the state budget within the prescribed period.

Vietnam currently has over 5,2 million business households, which generate 8-9 million jobs, a figure comparable to the private company sector, according to data from the General Statistics Office for the years 2018-2020.

Among these, over 100,000 business households currently report annual revenues exceeding 1 billion dong, according to the Tax Department.

Hai Thu