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Governance · Vietnam

Corporate
Compliance
in Vietnam.

Staying compliant in Vietnam is an ongoing obligation, not a one-time task. Forra's Compliance Report gives you a full picture of your entity's regulatory standing — and a clear plan to resolve any gaps.

Compliance Calendar
Live tracking
20
Jan
VAT Declaration — Dec
Monthly filing · Completed
30
Jan
Annual Activity Report
DOIT submission · Completed
20
Feb
PIT Declaration — Jan
Monthly payroll filing · Due soon
31
Mar
Annual CIT Finalisation
Corporate income tax return · Due
30
Apr
PIT Annual Finalisation
Employee PIT settlement · Upcoming
Jun
2026
Licence Renewal Review
Branch establishment licence · Monitor
12+
Regulatory deadlines tracked per entity each year
Fixed
Fee per report — no hourly billing, no surprises
5 days
Typical turnaround from engagement to full report
What Is a Compliance Report

A structured audit of your entity's regulatory standing.

Every Vietnam-registered entity — company, branch, or representative office — has ongoing obligations. Tax filings, annual reports, licence maintenance, labour registrations. Miss one and you face fines. Miss several and you risk suspension.

Forra's Compliance Report reviews your entity against its full obligations. We identify what's current, what's overdue, and what needs attention before it becomes a problem.

Who needs it: Any foreign-owned entity operating in Vietnam for more than 12 months without a dedicated compliance function, or any company that has recently changed structure, ownership, or key personnel.

Four pillars of every report
Independent review

We assess your entity against current Vietnamese requirements — not what was required when you set up, but what is required now.

Prioritised findings

Every finding is classified by urgency — critical gaps requiring immediate action, items due within 30 days, and longer-term monitoring items.

Remediation roadmap

The report tells you exactly what to do, in what order, and what Forra can handle on your behalf — not just a list of problems.

Forward-looking calendar

A 12-month compliance calendar showing every upcoming deadline for your entity type, with Forra's recommended lead times.

Report Contents

Eight areas covered in every report.

The scope is fixed — every client receives the same comprehensive assessment. There are no abbreviated versions.

01
Licence & Registration Status

Review of the entity's establishment licence, ERC, and any sub-licences. Checks validity dates, licensed activities versus actual operations, and any required amendments not yet filed.

Corporate
02
Tax Filing Compliance

Assessment of CIT, VAT, and PIT filing history. Identifies missing declarations, late filings, and any outstanding tax debts from the General Department of Taxation.

Tax
03
Labour & Social Insurance

Review of employment contracts, labour registration, social and health insurance contributions, and work permit status for foreign employees against current Labour Code requirements.

HR
04
Legal Representative Status

Confirms the current legal representative's details match the ERC and all associated registrations. Identifies mismatches requiring amendment and any authorisation gaps.

Corporate
05
Charter Capital Compliance

Verifies charter capital has been contributed within the required timeframe and correctly reflected in the company's capital account and financial statements.

Tax
06
Accounting & Financial Statements

Review of whether annual financial statements have been prepared, audited where required, and submitted to relevant authorities within statutory deadlines.

Tax
07
Registered Address & Signage

Confirms the entity's registered address matches all official records and signage meets current requirements. Flags any discrepancy between registered and actual address.

Corporate
08
Annual Reporting Obligations

Checks all annual reports due to licensing authorities — including the DOIT activity report for ROs and branches — have been filed on time. Identifies consecutive missed filings that could trigger revocation risk.

Corporate
Key Deadlines

What's due — and when.

Recurring compliance deadlines for a typical Vietnam-registered company or branch. Your specific entity type may add further obligations. Forra tracks all of them.

Monthly
By the 20thVAT DeclarationOutput minus input VAT remittance
By the 20thPIT Withholding DeclarationFor monthly declarants
OngoingSocial Insurance ContributionsEmployer + employee share
OngoingE-Invoice IssuanceRequired for all taxable sales
Quarterly
30 days after quarter-endProvisional CIT PaymentEstimated corporate income tax
Last day of Q1 followingPIT Declaration (quarterly)For qualifying smaller entities
As requiredRelated-Party Transaction ReportIf intercompany transactions exist
Annual
30 JanuaryAnnual Activity ReportDOIT — ROs and Branch Offices
31 MarchAnnual CIT FinalisationWith audited financial statements
30 AprilPIT Annual FinalisationEmployee income tax settlement
Within 90 days of year-endAnnual Financial StatementsSubmitted to tax authority
Event-triggered
Within 10 daysTax Code RegistrationAfter licence issuance
Within 60 working daysLicence AmendmentAfter any change in key details
30 days before expiryLicence Renewal ApplicationRO and Branch — 5-year term
Before departureLegal Rep AuthorisationWhen legal rep leaves Vietnam
Five-step process
1
Intake & Scoping
Day 1

We confirm your entity type, registration history, and known compliance issues. Forra sends a secure document request list.

2
Document Review
Days 1–3

We review your ERC, tax filings, financial statements, licence documents, HR records, and authority correspondence.

3
Authority Cross-Check
Days 2–4

We verify your entity's status directly with the tax authority, DOIT, and other registries to identify discrepancies.

4
Report Drafting
Days 3–5

Findings are classified — critical, required, advisory — and written up with the 12-month deadline calendar attached.

5
Briefing & Handover
Day 5

We walk through the report on a 30-minute call, answer questions, and confirm which items Forra will manage ongoing.

How It Works

From engagement to report in five structured steps.

Forra manages the review end-to-end. You provide access to your entity's records; we deliver a structured report with prioritised findings and a clear action plan — typically within five working days.

The most common delay is document gathering on the client side. Forra sends a structured checklist at intake — having those documents ready cuts the timeline significantly.

No travel required. All document sharing is handled securely online. Your team stays wherever they are — we handle all authority liaison and verification in Vietnam.

Why Forra

What makes our compliance review different.

Most compliance checks are reactive — triggered by a penalty notice or an authority inspection. Forra's review is proactive, structured, and designed to prevent problems before they occur.

Because we also handle formation, HR, payroll, and global mobility, we identify compliance gaps that cut across functions — not just what's visible in corporate filings.

We fix what we find. Forra can remediate every finding in-house — filing overdue reports, submitting amendments, catching up on tax obligations — all within the same engagement.

Three reasons clients choose Forra
Scope is fixed, not negotiated

Every report covers all eight areas for every client. No abbreviated reviews. You get the full picture, or we don't do it.

Cross-service visibility

Forra handles HR, payroll, and global mobility — so we catch compliance gaps that span multiple functions, not just corporate filings.

We fix what we find

Filing overdue reports, submitting licence amendments, catching up on tax obligations — Forra can remediate every finding in-house.

Pricing

Fixed-fee. No surprises.

All compliance reviews are fixed-fee based on entity type. Remediation work is quoted separately once findings are known. No hourly rates or retainers for a first review.

Entry
Representative Office

For ROs with limited activity, no revenue, and a single Chief Representative.


  • All 8 compliance areas reviewed
  • Licence and DOIT registration check
  • PIT and social insurance review
  • 12-month deadline calendar
  • 30-minute findings briefing
Request a review
Extended
Group / Multi-Entity

For groups with two or more related entities in Vietnam, or entities with complex structures.


  • Everything in Standard — per entity
  • Cross-entity consistency review
  • Related-party transaction check
  • Consolidated findings report
  • Group-level compliance calendar
  • Scoped quote provided on request
Request a quote
Common Questions

Questions before commissioning a report.

How long does the review take?

The standard turnaround is five working days from the point we receive all documents. For an RO or simple entity structure, often three days. For a group review, we advise on a specific timeline at intake.

The most common delay is document gathering on the client side. Forra's structured checklist at intake helps significantly.

What do you need from us to get started?

At intake we'll ask for your ERC or establishment licence, recent tax filing records (VAT and CIT), latest financial statements, employment contracts and work permit records for foreign staff, and any correspondence from Vietnamese authorities in the past 12 months.

If you don't have all of these, that's fine — identifying what's missing is part of the review itself.

What if the review uncovers serious issues?

Finding problems is the point. The report classifies findings by severity and recommends the correct sequence of remediation. Where immediate action is needed — an imminent licence expiry or an overdue tax filing — we flag this at the briefing and can begin remediation immediately.

Remediation is quoted separately once findings are known, so you're never committed without knowing the cost.

Can Forra fix the issues it finds?

Yes — and this is one of the main advantages of using Forra rather than an external auditor. We have in-house teams for tax, corporate secretarial, HR, and global mobility. Most findings can be remediated entirely within Forra without engaging a separate firm.

How is this different from a statutory audit?

A statutory audit produces an auditor's opinion on your financial statements. Forra's Compliance Report is a regulatory review — it checks your entity's status across corporate, tax, labour, and licensing obligations. The two serve different purposes and are not substitutes for each other.

Can you provide ongoing compliance management after the review?

Yes. Most clients who commission a one-off review subsequently engage Forra for ongoing management — annual reports, licence renewals, amendment filings, and regulatory monitoring. The compliance report gives us — and you — a clean baseline to work from.

Is the report confidential?

Yes. The report is prepared exclusively for your company and subject to Forra's standard client confidentiality terms. If the engagement is for due diligence purposes and you intend to share the report with an acquirer or investor, let us know at intake — we can adjust the format accordingly.

Start with a clear picture.

Commission a compliance review and know exactly where your entity stands — before the authorities tell you.

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