Traders are still struggling
Walking around the An Dong Commercial - Service Center (District 5, Ho Chi Minh City), many stalls were still open but there were no customers, traders were sitting and surfing their phones. The third floor area, many kiosks were closed quietly. Some traders said they opened a few hours in the morning and closed early, not daring to import more goods because they were worried about inventory, while the electronic invoice software required the invoice to be issued immediately at the time of sale.
"This is a wholesale market, so customers are allowed to exchange products, debt pillows, and many customers return their inventory a few months later. With this new regulation, if customers are not allowed to exchange, they will lose customers and traders will have to pay monthly taxes according to issued invoices, so we are very concerned. The stalls are not paid to avoid taxes or check, but they are still confused about how to do it properly" - Ms. D.H, a trader at An Dong Trade - Service Center shared.
Recorded at An Dong Trade - Service Center (District 5) and Ben Thanh Market (District 1), after Decree 70/2025/ND-CP officially took effect, traders have begun to convert the form of tax payment from contract to registration and declaration according to actual revenue. Unlike the previous method of paying fixed monthly contract tax, traders now have to use electronic invoices, which has confused many people in the initial stage.
Ms. Lan - a trader at Ben Thanh market shared: "Before the new regulation took effect, the local tax authority had instructed the implementation of issuing electronic invoices generated from cash registers. I had to invest in a computer system, a stamp printer, an invoice printer, a product line scanning machine, etc. This process is really complicated. I had to recruit more personnel who knew accounting and technology to help avoid mistakes.
Supporting digital transformation and tax transparency
In the context of many confused traders, Ho Chi Minh City has proactively implemented a series of support measures and tightened the tax management system to ensure fairness and transparency in business.
Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has directed to strengthen tax management for business households and individuals, while promoting the implementation of electronic invoices. Accordingly, the tax sector must review all operating business households but have not been included in the management list, and at the same time build a digital map for effective monitoring.
At the same time, the financial sector and tax authorities have proposed support policies for business households that are still having difficulty in applying technology. The Department of Industry and Trade will play a connecting role, providing relevant data to closely coordinate with tax authorities in tax management for individuals doing business through e-commerce platforms.
The City People's Committee also directed the Market Management Department to coordinate with tax authorities to strengthen legal propaganda on trading of goods and services on the market, as well as related fields.
According to Dr. Tran Du Lich - former Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Institute, business households are a particularly important economic force, accounting for 30% of the total number of business units nationwide, the rate is even higher than private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises. With the roadmap to eliminate contract tax in 2026 and the application of electronic invoices from June 1, 2025, he said that there should be a suitable conversion policy for business households, especially free support for accounting systems and professional consulting.
The representative of the Region II Tax Department said that it had been propagandized for months with business households that were compulsory to convert under Decree 70. The determination of business households paying for a revenue of over 1 billion VND/year is based on the data of the tax book set in 2025. ward. This multi -party coordination process ensures that the determination of contracting is accurate and objective.
