What are the regulations on issuance of tax identification number in Vietnam?

What is tax identification number?

Pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration 2019 and related guiding regulations, tax identification number or TIN means a series of 10 or 13 digits and other characters assigned by tax authorities to taxpayers to serve tax administration. Types of TINs include:

- 10-digit TINs shall be issued to enterprises and organizations that are legal persons; representatives of households, household businesses and other individuals;

- 13-character TINs shall be issued to dependent units and other entities;

Structure of TIN

N1N2N3N4N5N6N7N8N9N10 - N11N12N13

Where:

- The first two digits N1N2 indicate the province that issues TINs

- Seven digits N3N4N5N6N7N8N9 are formed in a definite element in ascending order from 0000001 to 9999999.

- N10 is the check digit.

- Three digits N11N12N13 are formed in ascending order from 001 to 999.

- A dash (-) is used to separate the first 10-digit element and the last 3-digit element.

A business identification number, cooperatives identification number, identification number of affiliated entity of enterprise or cooperative that is issued in accordance with the law on registration of enterprises or cooperatives is also a taxpayer identification number.

Taxpayers must apply for taxpayer registration and shall be issued with TINs by tax authorities before beginning their business operations or incurring amounts payable to the state budget. The following entities shall apply for taxpayer registration:

- Enterprises, organizations and/or individuals shall apply for taxpayer registration through the interlinked single-window system together with enterprise, cooperative or business registration (hereinafter referred to as “business registration”) as prescribed in the Law on Enterprises and other relevant regulations;

- Organizations and individuals beside those stipulated in Point a of this clause shall register directly with tax authorities as regulated by the Minister of Finance.

What are the regulations on issuance of tax identification number in Vietnam? (Internet image)

Regulations on issuance of tax identification number in Vietnam

Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 30 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the issuance of TINs is as follows:

- Each enterprise, business organization or other organization is issued with 01 unique TIN to use throughout its entire operation, from the date of taxpayer registration to the date of TIN deactivation. A taxpayer’s branches, representative offices and/or dependent units that pay their own tax shall be issued with separate TINs.

In case an enterprise, organization, branch, representative office or dependent unit combines taxpayer registration via the interlinked single-window system with business registration, the number of the certificate of enterprise registration, cooperative registration and/or business registration (hereinafter referred to as “business registration certificate”) is also the TIN;  

- Each individual is issued 01 unique TIN to use throughout their whole life. Any dependant of that individual shall be issued with a TIN for the purpose of claiming personal exemption for personal income taxpayers. The TIN issued to the dependant is also his/her personal TIN, which is used when paying his/her tax;

- Enterprises, organizations and individuals responsible for deducting and paying tax on behalf of taxpayers shall be issued with separate TINs for use when deducting tax;

- Issued TINs shall not be reissued to another taxpayer;

- TINs of enterprises, business organizations and other organizations shall remain unchanged after they are converted, sold, gifted or inherited;

- TIN issued to a household, household business or individual business is issued to the individual representing the household, household business or individual business.

Mai Thanh Loi

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