According to the Government Electronic Information Portal, Ms. Phan Thi Quynh Nhu is operating affiliate marketing activities on the TikTok platform and has registered to establish a business household to fulfill tax obligations as well as issue invoices according to regulations.
TikTok is a foreign legal entity, directly paying commissions to Ms. Nhu's bank account in Vietnamese Dong.
Currently, revenue has exceeded the threshold of 1 billion VND/year and she has made tax declarations. However, due to the lack of specific guidance for this operating model, Ms. Nhu has not determined how to make invoices and the appropriate tax rate, leading to not issuing invoices for fear of errors and violations of the law.
Ms. Quynh Nhu asked, is affiliate marketing activities on the TikTok platform of business households subject to the 7% or 10% tax rate according to current regulations?
In case of having to make electronic invoices, will business households issue invoices to which unit or entity when TikTok is a foreign legal entity that directly pays commissions?
What are the specific regulations on the contents recorded on the invoice, the time of invoice issuance and the method of implementation for income received from TikTok affiliates?
Regarding this issue, the Basic Tax Department of 5 provinces of Ha Tinh has the following opinions:
Value-added tax and personal income tax rates
Point b, Clause 2, Article 12 of the Value Added Tax Law No. 48/2024/QH15 and Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 69/2025/TT-BTC dated July 1, 2025 and Appendix I attached stipulate that groups of goods and services are subject to application according to the percentage% to calculate personal income tax. Groups subject to 5% value-added tax include:
... Services, construction without bidding for raw materials as prescribed in point b2, clause 2, Article 12 of the Value Added Tax Law
d) Brokerage, auction and agent commission services...".
Point c, Clause 3, Article 7 of the Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 253/2026/ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 and Appendix attached stipulate the list of sectors and occupations for calculating personal income tax at the tax rate on revenue for resident individuals with business activities. The group subject to a tax rate of 2% includes:
- Services, construction without bidding for raw materials specified in point c, clause 3, Article 7 of the Personal Income Tax Law.
- Brokerage, auction and agent commission services...".
Based on the above regulations and according to the information she provided, if it is a marketing service enjoying product commissions, value-added tax is 5% and personal income tax is 2% on revenue for business households.
Because the information provided by Ms. Nhu does not clearly show whether this is a marketing service enjoying commissions on products or a product advertising service, Base Tax 5 requests her to base on the actual situation of business operations and carefully study Clause 2, Article 12 of the Value Added Tax Law No. 48/2024/QH15 and Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 69/2025/TT-BTC dated July 1, 2025 and Clause 3, Article 7 of the Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 253/2025/ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 to apply in accordance with regulations.
Time of preparation and content recorded on electronic invoices
Point d, Clause 1, Article 6 of Decree No. 254/2026/ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 of the Government stipulates:
d) Business households, individual businesses with annual revenue over 1 billion VND or business households, individual businesses selling assets must register ownership and use rights, then they must apply electronic invoices with codes of tax authorities, electronic invoices created from cash registers with data connection with tax authorities...".
Clause 2, Article 9 of Decree No. 254/2026/ND-CP stipulates:
2. The time of issuing invoices for service provision is the time of completion of service provision (including providing services to foreign organizations and individuals) regardless of whether money has been collected or not. In case the service provider collects money before or during service provision, the time of issuing the invoice is the time of collecting money (excluding cases of collecting deposits according to the provisions of the Civil Code to ensure the performance of the service provision contract)".
Based on the above regulations and the information she provided that the business household has income from marketing and receives commissions, has registered a business household establishment license, has revenue of over 1 billion VND, then it falls under the case of having to use electronic invoices, the time of issuance of invoices is the time of completion of services, the content written on the invoice must clearly state that it is affiliate marketing commissions on the TikTok platform.
Because she did not provide complete information about the contract or marketing contract agreement enjoying commission, payment method, payment time, the Basic Tax of 5 provinces of Ha Tinh did not have enough grounds to determine specifically, so it is requested that she base on the actual situation and compare with the specific regulations in Article 6, Article 7, Article 9 of Decree No. 254/2026/ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 of the Government to apply.
The Basic Tax Department of 5 provinces of Ha Tinh will answer for Ms. Quynh Nhu to know. In the process of business operations, if encountering problems or wishing to be guided on tax policies, please contact the Basic Tax Department of 5 provinces of Ha Tinh (Group No. 2 of Management and Support of Individuals and Business Households) for guidance on implementation.
