Amendments to the Law on Enterprises (effective date: 1 July 2025)
A significant new development is the introduction of the "beneficial ownership" concept, a move designed to boost corporate transparency and align Vietnam with international standards. A beneficial owner is defined as "the individual who actually owns the company's charter capital or who has the power to control the company" (excluding government representatives in state-owned entities).
Companies in Vietnam are now required to take the following actions:
- Include lists of beneficial owners in their registration documents.
- Collect, update and store beneficial ownership information, providing it to competent state agencies upon request.
- Retain beneficial ownership information for at least five years after dissolution or bankruptcy.
- Notify the business registration authority of any changes in beneficial ownership (except for publicly listed companies).
The government will issue a new decree to provide detailed guidelines on beneficial owners and the implementation of new procedures relating to beneficial owners under the Amendments Law.
e-ID Vietnam account for enterprises (effective date: 1 July 2025)
Under Decree 69/2024/ND-CP, from 1 July 2025, companies will be required to register an e-ID Vietnam account (organizational digital identity) to conduct online administrative procedures with the authorities in Vietnam.
To register an e-ID Vietnam account for the company, the legal representative must register the company via their VNeID account. Alternatively, the legal representative can authorize in writing a company's local member of staff to perform the registration. The timeline is from three to 15 working days and the outcome will be sent to the applicant's VNeID account. To register an e-ID Vietnam account for the company, the following conditions must be met:
- The (Vietnamese or foreign) legal representative or the local authorized person must have their Level 2 VNeID account.
- The personal data of the legal representative recorded in the VNeID account and on the ERC must be consistent.
Foreigners are eligible to apply for a Level 2 VNeID account if they hold valid legal residence documents in Vietnam (e.g., visa, work permit, or temporary residence card) as per Article 11 of Decree 69/2024/ND-CP. However, in practice, the process for foreigners to register for a Level 2 VNeID has yet to be fully established. This means companies with foreign legal representatives are currently unable to register for an e-ID.
By law, the e-ID account will be required for conducting administrative procedures with the relevant Vietnamese authorities starting from 1 July 2025. As the concept of a company e-ID is still relatively new, there remains some uncertainty regarding how it will be managed in practice. It appears that the General Department of Taxation has unofficially announced that foreign-invested enterprises will continue using their existing accounts for tax filing purposes until the Ministry of Public Security resolves the matter of issuing VNeID accounts for foreigners.
Further information and guidance from the authorities on this matter are being prepared. We understand that the government is aiming to put the registration system for foreigners' VNeID into operation by 19 August 2025.
