Hundreds of millions of VND in costs to dissolve businesses
A business ceased operations in 2007, but nearly 20 years later it still could not close the dissolution procedures. During that time, unpaid obligations continued to accumulate, from membership fees, late payment fees to fines for late payment of declarations.
The story was shared by Mr. Le Van Tuan - Director of Keytas Tax Accounting Co., Ltd. - when talking about businesses that have stopped doing business for many years but still exist on the system due to not completing the necessary procedures.
According to Mr. Tuan, as of July 30, 2026, the amount of money the above enterprise had to handle had reached more than 78.27 million VND. Of which, the fee for licensing incurred in the period 2007-2025 was 28 million VND, including 1 million VND/year in the period 2007-2016 and 2 million VND/year from 2017-2025. Due to prolonged overdue obligations, late payment interest accumulated to more than 27.27 million VND.
Thus, the tuition fee and late payment fee alone have reached more than 55.27 million VND. An additional 23 million VND in administrative fines for late submission of declarations. In total, as of July 30, 2026, the amount of money the enterprise must handle is more than 78.27 million VND.
Need appropriate handling mechanisms to reduce the burden on businesses
Mr. Tuan said that this is not the entire cost of completing procedures. For businesses that have stopped operating for many years, accounting records, invoices, and documents may be in shortage, and they have to hire services to review and supplement financial statements and declarations that are still in shortage with a cost of about 10-30 million VND, or even higher depending on the dossier status.
Mr. Tuan said that it is necessary to have appropriate solutions for the group of businesses that have stopped operating for many years, creating conditions for taxpayers to overcome shortcomings and complete dissolution procedures. According to him, it is possible to consider not retroactively collecting business license fees during the time the business is not actually operating, avoiding the situation of cumulative fees causing difficulties when dissolving.
In case of late submission of tax declaration dossiers, Mr. Tuan proposed to have appropriate handling mechanisms for declarations that do not incur tax obligations. In particular, it is possible to consider reducing penalties.
The important thing is to have solutions so that taxpayers can overcome, not be financially exhausted and have the opportunity to start over," Mr. Tuan stated his point of view. However, removing fees and fines does not mean exemption from tax obligations. The actual tax debts that have arisen must still be handled according to legal regulations.
Regarding the situation of tax registration management of enterprises and the "Tax Code Cleanup" campaign, Mr. Nguyen Duc Huy - Deputy Head of Professional Affairs Department, Tax Department (Ministry of Finance) - said that the tax authority has grasped the difficulties of businesses, households and individual businesses when carrying out dissolution procedures.
Representatives of the Tax Department said that there are nearly 600,000 businesses nationwide that need to be reviewed and handled. Of which, about 325,500 businesses are no longer operating at registered addresses and have tax debts; about 270,000 businesses have stopped operating and have not completed procedures to terminate the validity of tax codes.
The Tax Department is continuing to review obstacles in policies, tax obligations and sanctions, and study reporting to competent authorities appropriate solutions to create conditions for businesses to soon fulfill their obligations to the State budget, restore operations or terminate operations according to regulations.
