What is the structure of the TIN issued for foreign contractors by the tax authority from February 6, 2025?

What is a foreign contractor in Vietnam?

According to Clause 29, Article 4 of the Law on Bidding 2023, the regulation is as follows:

Definitions

In this Law, the following terms are construed as follows:

...

27. A subcontractor is an organization or individual that enters into a contract with the main contractor to participate in performing construction work; consultancy; non-consultancy; related services of a goods supply package; work belonging to a mixed package.

28. A special subcontractor is a subcontractor employed to perform important tasks of the package as proposed by the contractor in the bid dossier, proposal dossier based on the requirements for competence, experience specified in the invitation to bid, invitation for proposals.

29. A foreign contractor or foreign investor is an organization established under foreign law or an individual with foreign nationality participating in the bidding.

30. A domestic contractor or domestic investor is an organization established under Vietnamese law or an individual with Vietnamese nationality participating in the bidding.

31. The bidding closure time is the deadline for receiving the expression of interest documents, pre-qualification documents, bid documents, proposal documents.

32. The validity period of the bid documents, proposal documents is the number of days specified in the invitation to bid, invitation for proposals and is calculated from the bidding closure time to the last day of validity as stipulated in the invitation to bid, invitation for proposals. From the bidding closure time to the end of 24 hours of the closing day is counted as 01 day.

33. Construction includes tasks related to the construction and installation of works, project items.

Thus, according to the above regulations, a foreign contractor is an organization established under foreign law or an individual with foreign nationality participating in the bidding.

What is the structure of the TIN issued for foreign contractors by the tax authority from February 6, 2025? (Image from the Internet)

What is the structure of the TIN issued for foreign contractors by the tax authority in Vietnam from February 6, 2025?

Based on Point d, Clause 4, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC (effective from February 6, 2025) stipulates the TIN structure as follows:

- Foreign contractors, foreign subcontractors as stipulated at Point đ, Clause 2, Article 4 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC registering to pay contractor tax directly to the tax authority shall be issued a 10-digit TIN for each contract. If there are several foreign contractors required to pay direct tax to the tax authority under the same contractor contract signed with a Vietnamese entity and the contractors wish to declare and pay taxes separately, each foreign contractor shall be issued a separate 10-digit TIN.

- If a foreign contractor partners with Vietnamese economic organizations to operate in Vietnam under a contractor contract and the participating parties establish a joint operating board, with the joint operating board managing accounting, having a bank account, and being responsible for invoice issuance; or a Vietnamese economic organization participating in the joint venture is responsible for joint accounting and profit distribution among participating parties, a 10-digit TIN shall be issued for tax declaration and payment for the contractor contract.

- If a foreign contractor, foreign subcontractor has an office in Vietnam already having tax declaration, deduction, and payment made on its behalf for contractor tax by the Vietnamese entity, the foreign contractor, foreign subcontractor shall be issued a 10-digit TIN to declare all other tax obligations (excluding contractor tax) in Vietnam and to provide the TIN to the Vietnamese entity.

Simultaneously, as per Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC, the TIN issued by the tax authority is structured as follows:

N1N2 N3N4N5N6N7N8N9 N10 - N11N12N13

Where:

- The first two digits N1N2 denote the TIN range.

- The seven digits N3N4N5N6N7N8N9 are specified with a predetermined structure, increasing sequentially from 0000001 to 9999999.

- N10 is the check digit.

- The three digits N11N12N13 are serial numbers from 001 to 999.

- The dash (-) is a separator between the initial group of 10 digits and the final group of 3 digits.

Thus, the TIN for foreign contractors is a 10-digit code structured as N1N2 N3N4N5N6N7N8N9 N10.

How many types of TINs are there in Vietnam according to Circular 86?

Based on Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC (effective from February 6, 2025), there are two types of TINs: TINs for enterprises, organizations and TINs for households, household businesses, individuals. In which:

- TINs for enterprises, organizations are issued by the tax authority as stipulated in Clauses 2, 3, and 4, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC.

- TINs for households, household businesses, individuals are issued by the tax authority for cases stipulated at Points a, đ, e, h, Clause 4, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC; are personal identification numbers issued by the Ministry of Public Security in accordance with the law on identification for cases using personal identification numbers instead of TINs as specified in Clause 5, Article 5 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC.