Registered business lines in Vietnam: what industry codes tell you about a company, and what they do not

A Vietnamese company's registered business lines tell you what it has declared it will do, coded under the national standard industry classification (often called VSIC), with one line marked as the main line. They are useful for a quick plausibility check — does this supplier's registration fit what it is selling you? — and for spotting activities that need a separate licence. They do not tell you whether the company actually does that work, whether it holds the licence, or which tax rate applies to a given sale.

Foreign readers tend to either ignore business lines entirely or treat them as a certificate of capability. Both are mistakes. This guide explains how the lines are structured, how to use them in counterparty checks, what is different for foreign-invested companies, and the few places where registered lines genuinely affect tax.

How business lines are recorded

When a company registers, it selects its activities from the national industry classification and they appear in the business registration record. You can see them by looking up the company by tax code on the National Business Registration Portal. Each line has a code and a Vietnamese description; one line is designated as the main line.

Three details are worth knowing before you read a list:

• Companies often register many lines. Twenty or thirty lines is common, because adding lines at incorporation costs little and saves an amendment later. A long list is not evidence of a broad business.
• The description can be narrower than the code. A company may register a code with a specific description underneath it, limiting what it is actually registered for. Read the text, not just the number.
• The main line is a declaration, not a measurement. It is chosen by the company. A distributor might register manufacturing as its main line because it plans to build a factory; the record will not show that the factory does not yet exist.

Using business lines to vet a counterparty

The simplest use is a fit test. Put the goods or services on the purchase order next to the registered lines:

A mismatch is a question, not a conclusion. Small companies trade outside their registered lines more often than they should, usually through carelessness. But invoices for activities that a supplier is not registered or licensed to carry out attract questions from the tax authority, and the buyer is the one who then has to show the purchase was genuine.

Conditional business lines and licences

Vietnamese law treats some activities as conditional: the company must meet additional requirements — a licence, a certificate of eligibility, qualified staff, minimum facilities — before it may operate, beyond simply registering the line. Examples include many activities in construction, healthcare, education, logistics, financial services, security and food.

For a buyer, the point is simple: the business line proves registration, not permission. Where the service you are buying legally requires a licence — a customs broker, a waste handler, a construction contractor for certain categories of work — ask for the licence itself, check its scope and expiry, and keep a copy. For a foreign-invested company, this is also a question about its own suppliers' ability to issue compliant documents: a waste handler without the right licence can create an environmental problem that no invoice will cure.

What is different for foreign-invested companies

For a company with foreign ownership, business lines are shaped by investment law as well as company registration:

• Market access. Vietnam restricts or conditions foreign investment in certain sectors, and Vietnam's international commitments set limits on foreign ownership or on how an activity may be carried out. A line that a domestic company can register freely may be closed or conditional for a foreign investor.
• Investment registration. Most foreign-invested companies operate a project under an investment registration certificate, and the activities of that project must be consistent with the company's registered lines. Adding a new activity may require amending the investment registration as well as the business registration.
• Trading and distribution. Import, wholesale and retail by foreign-invested companies are subject to their own licensing rules. A manufacturing FIE that starts selling goods it did not produce should check whether it needs a separate licence before it invoices those sales.

Before a foreign-invested company starts a new revenue stream — a service contract, a trading line, a rental of spare space — confirm that it is within the registered lines and the investment registration. Retrofitting the registration after the revenue has been invoiced is possible, but it is slower and draws attention.

Where business lines touch tax

Registered lines do not set tax rates. VAT rates depend on the goods or services actually supplied: under Law 48/2024/QH15 the rates are 0%, 5% and 10%, with lists of exempt items, and a temporary 2% reduction for certain groups under National Assembly resolutions (check which periods it applies to). The rate follows the transaction, not the code on the registration.

Lines matter to tax in narrower ways:

• Tax incentives. Corporate income tax incentives under Law 67/2025/QH15 attach to qualifying projects, sectors and locations. Incentivised income must come from the qualifying activity; income from other lines is taxed at the ordinary rate and must be separated.
• Consistency checks. Tax risk systems compare what a company declares with what it is registered to do. Large revenue from an activity outside the registered lines, or input invoices that do not fit the business, are the kind of mismatch that generates questions.
• Household and small business sectors. For household businesses, the activity group determines how tax is calculated. Presumptive taxation of household businesses is being ended no later than 2026 under Resolution 198/2025/QH15, which makes correct registration of activities more important for them than before.

Adding, removing and correcting lines

A company changes its business lines by notifying the business registration authority; foreign-invested companies may also need an investment registration amendment. The tax authority receives the updated registration data. In practice:

1. Check the correct code and description for the new activity in the national classification, and whether it is conditional or restricted for foreign investors.
2. Update business registration (and investment registration if needed) before the first invoice for the new activity.
3. Check that the e-invoice setup, product codes and VAT rates in the ERP reflect the new activity.
4. Remove lines the company will never use when convenient; a long list of dormant lines rarely helps and can confuse counterparties doing their own checks.

For more on industry codes as seen from the Vietnamese side, including how the main line is chosen, see ThueSo.com (in Vietnamese).

Patterns that deserve a second look

Business lines are most useful when read together with the rest of the record. A few combinations come up again and again in supplier reviews:

• A recent, large expansion of lines into unrelated sectors shortly before the company starts invoicing you. Sometimes a genuine pivot; sometimes a company being repurposed.
• A service company invoicing goods — or a trading company invoicing specialised technical services — with no line covering either.
• A main line that changed together with the owners and legal representative. Each change is lawful; together they describe a different company from the one that built its reputation.
• A conditional activity with no licence produced on request. The simplest check and the most often skipped.

None of these patterns proves anything. Each is a reason to ask for references, delivery evidence and, where relevant, the licence before the first large payment. The cost of asking is a short delay; the cost of not asking can be an input VAT claim you cannot defend.

Where to check

• National Business Registration Portal — registered lines and the main line, by tax code.
• The licensing authority for the sector — licences and certificates for conditional activities; ask the counterparty for a copy and verify its scope.
• Your investment registration certificate — for your own company, the approved project activities.
• Taxpayer information lookup — status and managing tax office, to complete the basic picture.

A dated record of these checks, kept with the vendor file, is part of the evidence that a purchase was made with care.