Right to establish business households
According to Article 82 of Decree 168/2025/ND-CP stipulating the right to establish business households as follows:
- Business households registered for establishment by an individual or family members and responsible for all of their assets for the business activities of the household. In case the business household is registered for establishment by family members, members shall authorize in writing one member to be the representative of the business household in the process of business activities. The written authorization of family members to one member to be the representative of the business household must be notarized or certified in accordance with the law.
- Individuals and family members who are Vietnamese citizens with full civil act capacity according to the provisions of the 2015 Civil Code have the right to establish business households according to the provisions of Decree 168/2025/ND-CP, except for the following cases:
+ People being prosecuted for criminal liability, being temporarily detained, serving prison sentences, serving administrative handling measures at compulsory drug rehabilitation facilities, compulsory educational institutions or being prohibited from holding positions, prohibited from practicing professions or doing certain jobs by the Court;
+ People who are not allowed to establish business households according to the provisions of the law.
- (*) Households engaged in agricultural, forestry, fishery production, salt making and street vendors, snack vendors, wholesalers, mobile businesses, seasonal businesses, providing services with low income are not required to register business households, except for cases of business in industries and occupations with conditional investment and business. The People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities stipulate low income levels applied within the locality.
- In case of needing to establish business households, subjects in clause (*) register business households according to the provisions of Decree 168/2025/ND-CP.
Penalties for non-registered business households
The penalty for violations of business household registration is as follows:
(1) A fine of between 5,000,000 VND and 10,000,000 VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts:
- Individuals and household members registering for business more than one business household;
- Not allowed to establish business households but still establish business households;
- Not registering to establish business households in cases where registration is required according to regulations;
- Not registering to change the content of the Business Household Registration Certificate with the district-level business registration agency within 10 days from the date of change.
(2) A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:
- Declaration that is not truthful, inaccurate business household registration dossiers or registration dossiers that change the content of business household registration.
In case of tax law violations, they shall be handled according to regulations on administrative violations in the tax field;
- Continue to do business in conditional business lines when requested to temporarily suspend by the district-level business registration agency.
In addition to fines, it is mandatory to register for the establishment of business households according to regulations for acts of not registering for the establishment of business households in cases where registration is required according to regulations.
Obligation to register for changes in the content of the Business Household Registration Certificate in cases where the content of the Business Household Registration Certificate has not been registered for changes with the business registration agency within 10 days from the date of change.
The above penalty level is the penalty level for individuals. The penalty level for organizations is 2 times the penalty level for individuals (Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 122/2021/ND-CP).
