The sudden closure of numerous household businesses in large cities, especially in HCM City, has stirred public concern.

Some people attribute this to fears of electronic invoice obligations under Decree 70/2025, which amended Decree 123/2020 dated October 19, 2020, on invoices and documents.

However, field surveys have revealed other reasons, such as apprehension about inspections made to discover goods of unclear origin and counterfeit or low-quality products, coupled with misunderstandings or incomplete knowledge about tax policies and electronic invoice requirements.

Under Decree 70, only household and individual businesses using the presumptive tax method with annual revenue of VND1 billion or more, operating in certain fields such as retail, restaurants, food and beverage, hotels, supermarkets, passenger transport, and entertainment, directly serving consumers, are required to issue electronic invoices from cash registers with data transmission to tax authorities.

The General Department of Taxation reported that there are 37,576 business households subject to mandatory electronic voices from cash registers, or 1 percent of total 3.6 million business households.

Yet, many small-scale household businesses, even those not covered by the regulation, have opted to temporarily cease operations due to concerns or misconceptions that all businesses must adopt cash register technology, implying changes in processes, increased investment costs, and stricter oversight.

In HCM City, data from Tax Department Region II showed that in May 2025, when authorities intensified preparations for Decree 70 implementation, 3,763 household businesses ceased operations or closed.

However, only 440 of these (3.18 percent) had revenues exceeding VND1 billion and were required to use electronic invoices from cash registers, corresponding to VND1.4 billion in taxes. This indicates that most businesses that closed were not subject to the electronic invoice mandate.

The tax agency also reported that 15,764 household businesses have implemented electronic invoices from cash registers under Decree 70, representing 6.7 percent of the 232,798 household businesses in the area. Of these, 11,865 have used the presumptive tax method, and 3,899 paid tax as declared.

This accounts for only 42.6 percent of the nationwide businesses subject to this requirement, so this figure represents only about 0.4 percent of all household businesses in the country.

This confirmed that electronic invoice regulations apply only to businesses with annual revenues of VND1 billion or more in specific sectors, yet widespread anxiety has stemmed from incomplete or inaccurate information.

The Tax Department Region II affirmed that the regulation on electronic invoices from cash registers with data transmission to tax authorities does not alter the tax policies applied to household and individual businesses. 

It only changes the basis for determining revenue, enabling tax authorities to set presumptive tax levels for businesses with annual revenues of VND1 billion or more, aligning more closely with actual revenue.

This regulation does not impact the operations of household and individual businesses with annual revenues below VND1 billion.

According to the Ministry of Finance (MOF), in 2024, five household businesses declared revenues exceeding VND200 billion, including one retail fresh seafood business with nearly VND560 billion in revenue.

The Ministry of Finance has submitted a proposal to the Government to develop a new Tax Administration Law (a replacement).

As of December 2024, the total number of household and individual businesses had reached 3.6 million, a 106 percent increase from 2023.

The number of stable household businesses (presumptive and declaration-based) totaled 2.2 million, a 104 percent rise from 2023. Of these, 1.3 million (59 percent) had revenues exceeding VND100 million annually, requiring tax payments.

The collection from business households and individual businesses to the state budget in 2024 was VND25,953 billion, an increase of 20 percent compared to the revenue from business households and individual businesses in the same period in 2023 of VND21,638 billion.

Of these, 2.15 million businesses paid presumptive taxes (1.22 million with an average tax of VND686,000/month/business), while 84,499 businesses used the declaration method, with an average tax of VND3.29 million monthly per business.

In 2025, 1,829,920 household businesses has estimated revenues below VND500 million annually, with projected total taxes of VND5,551 billion.

Regarding high-revenue household businesses, in 2024, 860 businesses had revenues of VND30 billion or more (121 presumptive, 739 declaration-based), mostly under the cover by Tax Department Region I (226), II (140), IV (77), XV (46), XVIII (50), and XVI (46).

Notably, five businesses declared revenues exceeding VND200 billion annually, including N.T.M.T, a fresh seafood retailer (VND560 billion in 2024 revenue), and D.T.O, a food wholesaler (VND360 billion). 

Manh Ha