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Temporary Exit Suspension: New Tax Compliance Risks for Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Vietnam continues to support businesses through temporary tax relief measures. Vietnam’s Decree No. 252/2026/ND-CP, clarified by Official Dispatch No. 5622/CT-NVT dated 5 August 2026, introduces a more structured framework for Temporary Exit Suspension (TES) arising from tax-related circumstances. Importantly, TES is an administrative rather than punitive measure under the Law on Tax Administration, and the framework now provides greater clarity on both its application and removal.
The rules are particularly relevant to businesses, legal representatives, beneficial owners, entrepreneurs and internationally mobile individuals. A taxpayer classified as not operating at its registered address (Status 06) may face TES even without tax debt if its status is not regularized within the prescribed 120-day period. For active businesses, TES generally applies where overdue tax reaches VND 50 million for household and individual businesses or VND 500 million for enterprises, cooperatives and unions of cooperatives, with the debt outstanding for at least 120 days. Separate, stricter rules apply to foreign and overseas Vietnamese individuals.
The framework also provides defined routes for lifting TES once tax and related obligations are resolved, with electronic systems intended to accelerate revocation.
For businesses and entrepreneurs, proactive monitoring of tax debt, tax registration status and electronic notifications is therefore critical, particularly before international travel.
Contributed by Luther Vietnam
Vietnam’s High-Risk AI Regime Takes Shape: What Decision 33 Means for Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Vietnam’s regulatory reforms also extend to emerging technologies. As the country develops its AI governance framework, Decision No. 33/2026/QD-TTg, effective 15 August 2026, brings greater certainty to Vietnam’s risk-based AI regulatory framework by identifying 46 categories of high-risk AI systems across education, healthcare, banking, transport, judicial activities, and ethnic affairs and religion. The Decision does not create new substantive obligations. Instead, it determines which systems fall within the enhanced compliance regime established by the Law on Artificial Intelligence and Decree No. 142/2026/ND-CP.
The classification captures AI applications capable of materially affecting individuals’ rights, safety or access to essential services, including systems supporting medical diagnosis, educational assessment, credit approval, autonomous banking transactions, transport infrastructure and judicial or administrative decision-making. Once classified as high-risk, providers – and, in certain circumstances, deployers – face enhanced requirements covering risk classification, documentation, notification, risk management, human oversight and, where applicable, conformity assessment, with compliance extending throughout the system lifecycle.
The Decision also provides transition periods: most high-risk systems must comply by 1 March 2027, while qualifying systems already operating in healthcare, education and banking have until 1 September 2027. Businesses should use this period to identify affected systems, including overseas-developed systems deployed in Vietnam, and assess whether existing governance and controls meet the enhanced requirements.
Contributed by Luther Vietnam
