Tax accounting is the financial and legal lifeblood of businesses in Vietnam. This is not only the job of recording data but also ensuring compliance with tax laws, which are constantly changing according to new Decrees and Circulars. Small errors in VAT declaration or Corporate Income Tax Finalization can lead to administrative fines, tax arrears and affect the reputation of the business before the tax authorities.
According to the General Department of Taxation, many businesses are still subject to administrative fines for late submission of declarations or incorrect declarations. For example, Circular 166/2013/TT-BTC stipulates that fines can be up to tens of millions of VND. Therefore, having a professional tax reporting accounting team or service, knowledgeable about the law and constantly updated is an important condition for businesses to operate sustainably. This article provides a comprehensive view of the process, tasks, risks and optimal solutions for tax reporting accounting in 2025.
What is tax reporting accounting?
Tax reporting accounting is the entire work including collecting, checking, processing, synthesizing arising economic information, calculating tax obligations (VAT, CIT, PIT, TDB...), preparing tax reporting forms according to regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation, then submitting to the state tax authority on time.
This job requires a deep understanding of Vietnamese Accounting Standards (VAS) and at the same time a firm grasp of the Law on Tax Administration and related Tax Laws (VAT Law, Corporate Income Tax Law, etc.). A person performing tax reporting accounting must be highly careful, capable of analyzing documents and forecasting tax risks.
Tax reporting accounting and its core importance
Tax reporting and accounting activities are not merely administrative work but a strategic function that directly affects the survival of the business.
The legal role of tax reporting accountants
The primary role of tax reporting accountants is to ensure the legality and validity of all transactions. By checking and comparing input and output invoices and related documents, tax reporting accountants help businesses strictly comply with regulations.
Practical example: A business is regularly fined for not rounding off tax figures in its VAT declaration. Although it is a small error, it still violates the provisions of Circular 156/2013/TT-BTC (has been replaced, but the compliance principle remains the same), resulting in administrative penalties and the need to amend the return. A professional tax accountant would have prevented this error.
The financial role of tax reporting accountants
Tax reporting accountants play an important role in optimizing tax expenses legally. Through document management, tax reporting accountants ensure that all valid expenses are fully recorded, thereby minimizing Corporate Income Tax must pay.
Furthermore, tax reporting helps in cash flow management. Determining the exact amount VAT deductible or payable, or provisional quarterly corporate income tax, allowing management to make financial provisions and make timely decisions on investment and business expansion. This is the solid foundation that a tax reporting accounting team provides.
Consequences of lacking a professional tax accountant
The lack or use of incompetent tax reporting accounting personnel poses great risks:
- Late payment penalty: Fine for late submission of declaration (according to Decree 125/2020/ND-CP).
- Tax collection: When the Tax Authority checks and discovers an under-declaration, the enterprise will be charged the original tax amount plus late payment interest.
- Inspection and Audit: When tax reporting accounting records show signs of irregularities (for example, input VAT is too high, corporate income tax is always 0), businesses are easily put on the inspection list, causing waste of time and explanation costs.
| Risk consequences | Level of influence | Solutions from Professional Tax Reporting Accountants |
| Late submission of declaration | Administrative fines up to 25,000,000 VND | Establish a process to control tax payment deadlines. |
| False declaration leads to tax arrears | Collect original tax + Fine 20% for tax arrears + Late payment interest | Check and compare documents carefully before declaring. |
| Being put under inspection | Loss of time, cost, risk of heavier penalties | Ensure tax reporting accounting transparent, clear. |
Detailed procedures and tasks of cyclical tax reporting accounting
Tax reporting and accounting work is carried out in a clear cycle, requiring initiative and absolute accuracy.
Daily/Regular Duties of a Tax Reporting Accountant
Tax accountants must regularly perform the following tasks:
- Collect and check documents: Ensure that input and output invoices and payment documents have full signatures, seals, and are legally valid (For example, invoices must have a Tax Authority code).
- Electronic Invoice Management (E-Invoice): Control the issuance and cancellation of E-Invoices according to the provisions of Decree 123/2020/ND-CP and Circular 78/2021/TT-BTC, avoiding errors leading to fines.
- Business accounting: Record economic transactions in accounting books, ensuring consistency between tax reporting accounting data and actual data.
- Legal updates: Always follow the latest changes in Tax Laws, Decrees, and Official Dispatches to promptly adjust tax reporting and accounting work.
Monthly/Quarterly Duties of Tax Reporting Accountant
This is a highly concentrated stage of tax reporting accounting to complete periodic obligations.
Quarterly (or monthly, depending on revenue): Prepare VAT declaration
Tax reporting accountants must summarize invoices and prepare VAT Declaration (form 01/GTGT, or 03/GTGT, 04/GTGT depending on the case).
Note: Enterprises with revenue of 50 billion VND or less in the previous year are usually required to declare quarterly, otherwise they must declare monthly (Based on the Law on VAT). It is a very common mistake for tax reporting accountants to determine the wrong declaration period.
Quarterly: Provisional calculation and payment of corporate income tax
According to regulations, enterprises must provisionally pay corporate income tax quarterly. Tax reporting accountants must provisionally calculate profits and corporate income tax incurred to pay, ensuring that the total provisionally paid amount is not lower than 80% of corporate income tax payable according to the annual settlement. If lower, the enterprise will be charged late payment interest.
Monthly/quarterly: Prepare personal income tax declaration
If there is any deduction, the tax reporting accountant prepares the Personal Income Tax Declaration (Form 02/KK-TNCN) and submits it to the tax authority.
Year-end tasks of tax reporting accountants
This is the most important and comprehensive job of tax reporting accounting.
- Preparing Financial Statements (FS): Including Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Notes to the FS. Tax reporting accountants must ensure the reasonableness and validity of the FS.
- Corporate Income Tax Finalization and annual personal income tax: This is when the tax reporting accountant finalizes the year's figures, adjusts invalid expenses (if any), and calculates the official corporate income tax/personal income tax payable.
- Handing over books: Printing, binding and handing over all accounting books and tax reports to the management for storage.
Responsibility for explanation and inspection of tax reporting accountants
When required, professional tax accountants will represent the business in dealing with the Tax Authority. They must:
- Prepare all necessary documents, certificates and data.
- Analyze and prove the validity of transactions, especially large expenses.
- Minimize risks arising during inspection and examination.
| Cycle | Main activities of Tax Reporting Accounting | Deadline for submission as prescribed (Decree 126/2020/ND-CP) |
| Daily | Check and account for electronic invoices. | No deadline |
| Monthly | VAT and Personal Income Tax Declaration (if any) | 20th of the following month |
| Quarterly | Provisional payment of corporate income tax, VAT declaration, personal income tax (quarterly) | 30th of the first month of the following quarter |
| End of the year | Corporate Income Tax, Personal Income Tax Finalization, Financial Statement Submission | Last day of the third month of the following calendar year (March 31) |
Important taxes in tax reporting accounting
Tax accountants are experts in managing many types of taxes. Here are the three most important.
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Tax reporting accountants must understand two main principles:
- Deduction principle: This is the most common method, in which VAT payable = Output VAT – Deductible input VAT. Tax reporting accountants must ensure that the input has sufficient non-cash payment documents when the value is 20 million VND or more (According to Circular 219/2013/TT-BTC).
- Direct principle: Usually applied to business households or enterprises that cannot prove their input.
Correctly determining input/output VAT and making appropriate deductions is a key task of tax reporting accountants.
Corporate income tax (CIT)
This is the most important tax that directly affects business profits.
| Corporate income tax payable = (Taxable income – Tax-exempt income – Loss carried forward) X Tax rate (usually 20%) |
The role of tax reporting accountants in optimizing reasonable costs is extremely important. Tax reporting accountants need to carefully analyze deductible and non-deductible costs according to the provisions of Circular 96/2015/TT-BTC. For example: Advertising, marketing, and commission costs without legal invoices will be excluded from deductible costs, increasing the corporate income tax payable.
Personal income tax (PIT)
Tax accountant is responsible for deducting, declaring and paying personal income tax on behalf of employees.
- Taxable subjects: Resident and non-resident individuals with income from salaries, wages, capital investments, securities transfers, etc.
- Responsibility: The tax reporting accountant must calculate family deductions (self and dependents), then apply the progressive tax table to calculate the amount of personal income tax payable.
- Finalization: At the end of the year, the tax reporting accountant must prepare the personal income tax finalization dossier (form 05/QTT-TNCN) according to regulations, ensuring tax refund or additional payment (if any).
Other taxes
In addition to the above three types, tax reporting accountants also handle: Business License Tax (paid annually), Special Consumption Tax (for special goods, services), and Resource Tax, etc.
Outsourced tax reporting accounting service solutions
Faced with increasing workload and legal risks, many businesses choose to hire full-package tax reporting and accounting services.
When to outsource?
When managing a business, ensuring that tax reporting is done accurately and on time is extremely important. However, not all businesses have the resources to maintain a professional internal accounting department. This is the reason why many businesses choose to outsource tax reporting accounting services.
This form is especially suitable for startups, micro-enterprises, FDI enterprises that need experts with good knowledge of Vietnamese law, or enterprises that want to focus all resources on core business activities, while reducing risks and tax management burden.
- Startup/Micro Business: Don't have enough budget to hire an experienced and highly specialized internal accountant, but still need to ensure compliance.
- Foreign Enterprises (FDI): Need experts with knowledge of Vietnam's tax law system, able to communicate in English or other languages.
- Businesses want to focus on the core: Management wants to devote all resources to business operations, transferring risks and tax reporting accounting work to a third party.
Benefits of full package tax reporting accounting services
Professional tax reporting accounting services bring many benefits:
- Cost savings: Instead of paying salaries, insurance, bonuses, and training costs for accounting staff, businesses only have to pay a fixed monthly fee for the service.
- Ensure accuracy and timeliness: Service units are more legally responsible and have a team of in-depth expertise, always updating the law, helping to minimize the risk of errors in tax reporting accounting.
- In-depth consulting: Businesses receive advice on optimal corporate income tax, VAT, and risk management strategies from experts.
Criteria for choosing a reputable unit
To choose the best tax reporting accounting service provider, consider:
- Experience and Certifications: The unit must have a legal operating license and the team must have an Accountant/Auditor Certificate.
- Transparent working process: There must be a clear process from receiving documents, processing, reporting, to delivering results.
- Liability Commitment: Guarantees a commitment to compensation if any errors arise from their tax reporting accounting services.
About MAN – Master Accountant Network and its specialized services
MAN – Master Accountant Network is not only a traditional tax reporting accounting service provider, but also a strategic partner in finance and tax compliance. MAN team includes experts with Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification and experience working with FDI enterprises, large corporations, and listed companies. MAN provides specialized services:
- Full Tax Accounting and Reporting Service: Includes all operations from AZ (checking documents, accounting, declaring VAT/PIT/CIT provisionally, preparing Financial Reports, Year-end tax settlement).
- Tax Planning Consulting: Analyze business models to provide legal solutions to optimize corporate income tax and VAT, helping businesses save maximum tax costs.
- Tax Compliance Review: Conduct an in-depth review of accounting records and tax reports prior to Tax Authority audit, to detect and address potential risks.
- Tax Audit Support: Business representatives work directly with the Tax Authority, prepare explanatory documents, protect accounting data and tax reports during the inspection and examination process.
- Management Accounting Services: Providing in-depth management reports (cost analysis, cash flow, profit by product/project) to support the Board of Directors' decision making.
Reference quote for full package tax reporting accounting service 2025
The cost of tax reporting accounting services is calculated based on the scale and volume of monthly transactions of the business. Below is a reference price list:
| Service packages | Transaction size (Average number of input/output invoices/month) | Reference cost (VND/month) | Core service scope |
| Start-up Package (Basic) | Under 20 bills | 1,000,000 – 1,500,000 | Declare VAT, PIT; Prepare report on invoice usage; Basic cost consultation. |
| Development Package (Standard) | 20 – 50 bills | 1,600,000 – 2,500,000 | Including Startup Package + Financial Statement Preparation, Annual Corporate Income Tax/PIT Finalization; Support for data explanation via phone/email. |
| Premium Package | Over 50 invoices or with FDI/Production elements | Negotiable (From 3,000,000 and up) | Includes Development Package + In-depth Tax Strategy Consulting; Representation in tax audits (Limited number of times); Management Accounting. |
Note: The above quotation is for reference only and does not include VAT. The official cost will be determined after MAN conducts a detailed survey of the business model and actual volume of documents of the enterprise.
Common problems and notes in tax reporting accounting
In the process of tax accounting, many businesses and accountants often encounter problems such as invalid invoices, late declaration submission or incorrect accounting, affecting the final figures and possibly leading to administrative fines. Understanding the deadline for submitting reports, using HTKK software proficiently and constantly updating knowledge of tax laws are necessary to ensure that work is carried out accurately, promptly and in compliance with the law, helping businesses maintain stable operations.
Common mistakes
New tax reporting accountants or inexperienced accountants often make the following mistakes:
- Invalid invoice: Input invoice does not have enough signatures, does not have Tax Authority code, or invalid payment documents (cash payment for invoices over 20 million).
- Late filing: Forgetting or confusing the filing deadline between month/quarter/year.
- Incorrect accounting: Simple accounting errors, for example, accounting for payable expenses as prepaid expenses, affect the accounting figures for the final tax report.
Note on tax reporting deadline
Time is a crucial legal factor in tax reporting accounting:
- 20th of every month: Deadline for submitting monthly tax declaration (applicable to businesses that declare monthly).
- 30th of the first month of the following quarter: Deadline for submitting quarterly tax declarations (applicable to businesses that declare quarterly).
- March 31 of the following year: Deadline for submitting Financial Reports and Corporate Income Tax and Personal Income Tax Finalization documents for the year.
Tax reporting accountants must create detailed tracking tables so as not to miss any milestones.
HTKK software instructions
HTKK (Declaration Support) is a mandatory tool. Tax reporting accountants use this software to enter data and export XML files to submit via the Electronic Tax Portal.
Basic steps: Install the latest version → Enter business information → Select the declaration form (eg: Corporate Income Tax Finalization) → Enter tax reporting accounting data → Export XML file → Submit via the Electronic Tax system.
Learn and improve knowledge of tax accounting and reporting
For those who want to become tax reporting professionals, continuous learning is a must. In-depth tax courses, especially online tax reporting courses that focus on real-life situations, are necessary to keep up with the changing laws.
In-Depth Analysis: Legal Tax Optimization with Tax Reporting Accountants
Tax optimization is not about tax evasion, but about intelligently applying the laws to minimize tax liability.
Reasonable cost management
Good tax accountants know how to turn actual expenses into valid, legal expenses:
- Salary and benefits costs: Ensure that labor contracts, payrolls, payment vouchers, and internal regulations (bonuses, allowances) are fully developed as a basis for this cost to be deducted when calculating Corporate Income Tax.
- Fixed asset repair costs: Based on Accounting Standards, tax reporting accountants must distinguish between major repair costs (increase original cost) and regular repair costs (recorded as expenses).
VAT optimization
Smart strategies from tax reporting accountants:
- Choosing the time to purchase: Choose the time to purchase large fixed assets (with large input VAT) in the quarter with high output VAT to maximize deduction.
- VAT refund: For export enterprises or newly established enterprises in the investment stage, tax reporting accountants will advise on VAT refund conditions.
The tax planning role of tax reporting accountants
Tax planning is a strategic function of senior tax reporting accountants. It includes estimating corporate income tax payable over the quarters, from which to plan business adjustments (e.g., accelerating depreciation expenses, or delaying revenue recognition) to optimize cash flow and minimize late payment interest. This helps businesses to be proactive, not passive in the face of end-of-period tax reporting accounting obligations.
FAQ – Frequently asked questions about tax reporting accounting
How to do tax reporting for new company?
For new companies, tax reporting accountants need to immediately perform the following steps: Register tax calculation method (deduction or direct); Register to pay Business License Tax; Purchase and register to use Electronic Invoices; Set up an accounting system and document storage process right from the first transaction.
How much does it cost to hire tax reporting accounting services?
The cost of hiring accounting and tax reporting services depends on: the size of the business (micro, small, medium), the number of invoices generated monthly, and the field of operation (trade, service, production). The cost can range from 1,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND/month.
What are the responsibilities of tax reporting accountants during tax audits?
If it is an internal accountant, they are responsible for the accuracy of the records and are accountable to the tax authorities. If it is an outsourced service, the tax reporting accounting service company will represent the business to explain and often have a clause to be responsible for compensation if the error is due to their professional error.
Instructions for submitting VAT, CIT, PIT declarations on time?
After making a declaration on the HTKK software, the tax reporting accountant needs to export the XML file and submit it via the portal thuedientu.gdt.gov.vn. The process consists of 3 main steps: Upload → Electronic signature → Submit declaration. The most important thing is to receive a notification of acceptance of the application from the Tax Authority.
Conclude
Tax accounting is an indispensable function, requiring professionalism, prudence and extensive legal knowledge. A solid tax accounting system not only helps businesses comply with the law but is also a strategic tool to optimize financial resources, ensuring that cash flow is used effectively and legally. Investing in quality tax accounting services is investing in the safety and sustainable development of the business.
If your business is looking for a complete tax reporting accounting solution, auditing services and full package tax accounting services For professional, accurate and timely advice on optimal corporate income tax and legal VAT strategies, please contact MAN - Master Accountant Network immediately. We are committed to protecting assets, minimizing legal risks and helping you focus all your energy on core business activities. Let MAN's tax accounting experts accompany your success.
Service contact information at MAN – Master Accountant Network
- Address: No. 19A, Street 43, Tan Thuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City
- Mobile/Zalo: 0903 963 163 – 0903 428 622
- Email: man@man.net.vn
