The guiding text of the 2019 Law on Tax Administration has recently been issued by the Government with a series of new provisions designed to create convenience for taxpayers and reduce tax-related compliance costs while increasing the effectiveness of tax administration activities.

Foreign traders and organizations that set up websites with Vietnamese domain names or in Vietnamese language or establish e-commerce trading floors with 100,000 transactions per year from Vietnam would have to register e-commerce activities with competent agencies.

Last year, Facebook and Google came under fire for allegation that their online advertising arms, while profiting in millions of US dollars from the Vietnamese market, had evaded tax obligations with the Vietnamese state[1]. The claim was after all unfounded[2] but it did raise some interesting questions about the state’s ability to tax in a new world where the internet plays an increasingly important role in promoting business while traditional brick-and-mortar model, i.e., physical shops and stores, are in many cases rendered redundant. [1] “Facebook’s, Google’s agents suspected of evading tax in Vietnam”, VietNamNet Bridge, 9 March 2012, retrievable at http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/19568/facebook-s--google-s-agents-suspected-of-evading-tax-in-vietnam.html [2] “Google and Facebook did not evade tax in Vietnam” [Vietnamese], ICT News, 10 April 2012, retrievable at http://www.ictnews.vn/home/Internet/77/Google-Facebook-khong-tron-thue-tai-Viet-Nam/101814/index.ict