Good to know
Good to Know
- You do not need to be physically present in Vietnam for most of the process — a power of attorney lets a local representative or law firm file the IRC and ERC on your behalf using notarized/legalized documents from your home country.
- The IRC and ERC must be obtained sequentially, not in parallel — the IRC has to be issued before you can even apply for the ERC, so front-loading document preparation (notarization, translation, consular legalization) is the biggest lever for speeding things up.
- Da Nang's Department of Planning and Investment is reported to scrutinize declared charter capital a bit more closely than Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, so under-declaring capital relative to your stated business plan is a common cause of delay here.
- Budget real time and money for a bank account: opening the mandatory Direct Investment Capital Account (DICA) needed to bring in your charter capital typically adds two to four extra weeks on top of the registration timeline.
- If you're running a company that legally exists in Vietnam (an LLC), it pays 20% corporate tax on its worldwide profit — this is a company-level tax, separate from your personal income tax residency status as an individual.
- The lower 10%/15%/17% preferential CIT rates you'll see quoted online are aimed at small Vietnamese-owned enterprises or specific incentivized sectors — don't assume a small foreign-owned LLC will automatically qualify.
- There is no legal path for a foreigner to be the sole, direct owner of a Vietnamese 'sole proprietorship' (doanh nghiệp tư nhân) — if you see this claimed online, treat it skeptically; the standard, legally clean route for foreigners is a 100% foreign-owned LLC.
- Vietnam's corporate tax rules were significantly rewritten in 2025-2026 (new CIT Law, Decree 320, Circular 20) — get current, Da Nang-specific guidance from a licensed local accountant before filing, rather than relying on older blog posts.
- If you invoice Vietnamese companies without a local entity, expect the client to withhold Foreign Contractor Tax from your payment rather than you filing corporate tax yourself.
Core Steps
Investment Registration Certificate (IRC)
- Step
- 1
- Detail
- Establishes the foreign investor's right to invest in Vietnam. Requires investor legal documents, a project proposal, proof of financial capacity, and a legal project location/address.
- Authority
- Da Nang Department of Planning and Investment (Enterprise/Investment Registration Office), or the High-Tech Park / Industrial Zones Authority for projects located inside those zones
- Statutory Duration
- 15 working days from receipt of a valid dossier (up to 45 days in Da Nang if the project needs additional review against city planning/market-access rules); longer if a sector requires prior investment-policy approval.
Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC)
- Step
- 2
- Detail
- Issued only after the IRC. The ERC number doubles as the company's tax code.
- Authority
- Da Nang Department of Planning and Investment, Business Registration Office
- Statutory Duration
- 5–7 working days in Da Nang from receipt of a complete, valid dossier.
Post-licensing Procedures
- Step
- 3
- Detail
- Company seal registration, publishing the business registration on the National Business Registration Portal (within 30 days of ERC issuance), opening a Direct Investment Capital Account (DICA) and a current account at a licensed bank, registering with tax authorities, and paying the annual business license fee.
- Statutory Duration
- Typically a further 2–4 weeks.
Charter Capital Contribution
- Step
- 4
- Detail
- Committed investment capital must be transferred into the company's DICA.
- Statutory Duration
- Within 90 days of ERC issuance.
Sub-licenses (Only If Applicable)
- Step
- 5
- Detail
- Conditional sectors need extra permits after the IRC/ERC — examples include work permits for foreign staff, food-safety/hygiene certificates for F&B, liquor licenses, or retail-outlet establishment licenses.
Estimated Cost
- Government Fees
- ₫3,945,000
Approximate range of official filing/registration fees, roughly $100–200 USD equivalent.
Annual Business License Fee
- Charter Capital Over 10 Billion VND
- ₫3,000,000
- Charter Capital Under 10 Billion VND
- ₫2,000,000
Typical All In Cost With Local Agent Or Law Firm
- Low
- ₫26,300,000
- High
- ₫78,900,000
- Note
- Covers filing assistance, document translation/notarization, and standard legal fees for a straightforward services LLC. Regulated or capital-intensive sectors cost more.
Minimum Capital
- Local Nuance
- Da Nang and nearby Hoi An are reported to apply somewhat stricter scrutiny of declared capital adequacy than Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, so under-capitalizing the IRC application is more likely to trigger queries or delays here.
- Legal Requirement
- Vietnam sets no universal statutory minimum charter capital for most sectors (exceptions: banking, insurance, real estate, a few other licensed fields).
Practical Benchmark
- Amount Local Low
- ₫263,000,000
- Amount Local High
- ₫1,315,000,000
- Note
- For a typical services/trading LLC, founders commonly declare between these amounts — enough to plausibly fund 6–12 months of operations as described in the business plan submitted with the IRC application.
Official Resources
- Name
- Da Nang eRegulations (Foreign Investment Agency / MPI + Da Nang People's Committee)
- Description
- Official step-by-step database of investment procedures specific to Da Nang, including forms, fees, and durations.
Da Nang Investment Promotion Agency (IPA Da Nang)
- Description
- City government investment promotion portal.
Ministry of Planning and Investment
- Description
- National ministry overseeing the Investment Law and business registration framework.
Local Partner Or Sponsor Requirement
- General Rule
- No local partner or sponsor is required for most service, trading, IT, consulting, and F&B businesses; foreigners can hold 100% ownership.
- Notes
- A company also needs a Legal Representative resident in Vietnam; this person can be a foreigner (who then needs a work permit or work-permit exemption certificate) or a Vietnamese national.
Exceptions
- Advertising services require forming a joint venture with an already-licensed Vietnamese advertising company (foreign ownership share inside that JV is not capped).
- Road freight transport allows foreign ownership only up to 51%.
- Sending Vietnamese workers abroad and a short list of other 'negative list' sectors do not permit any foreign capital participation.
- Retail, education/language training, tourism (inbound-only), and a few other conditional sectors require extra sub-licenses or approvals on top of the standard registration.
Business Tax And Structure Options
Corporate Income Tax
- Standard Rate
- 20% flat, on net taxable profit, for any enterprise legally established in Vietnam (including a 100% foreign-owned LLC in Da Nang)
- Preferential Rates Note
- Reduced rates of 10%, 15%, or 17% exist, but a typical foreign-owned FDI company in Da Nang almost never qualifies — a 2026 industry guide notes most FDI companies either exceed the revenue threshold or are subsidiaries of a foreign parent, both of which disqualify them, since those lower rates are aimed at small/micro Vietnamese-owned enterprises
- Tax Base
- A Vietnamese-established company is taxed on worldwide income, not just Vietnam-sourced income
- No Pe Scenario
- If you invoice Vietnamese clients from abroad without setting up a local entity, you (or your Vietnamese payer) instead fall under Foreign Contractor Tax (FCT) — a withholding tax covering both VAT and a CIT-equivalent element that the Vietnamese paying party deducts and remits on your behalf, calculated on gross revenue rather than net profit
- Global Minimum Tax Note
- Large multinational groups (consolidated revenue ≥ EUR 750 million) are subject to a separate Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax from 2024 onward — irrelevant to almost all solo-founder/small nomad-run companies
Representative Office Option
- Description
- A Representative Office is a lighter-touch alternative to an LLC, useful for market research/liaison functions, but it cannot sign local revenue-generating contracts or invoice Vietnamese customers directly, so it doesn't solve the tax question for an actively trading nomad business
Freelancer Vs Company For A Foreigner
- Setup Timeframe
- A 100% foreign-owned LLC generally takes about 3 to 4 months to fully establish; a representative office (which cannot generate direct local revenue) is faster, roughly half that time
- Work Permit Link
- Setting up and running the company does not by itself authorize you to work in it — foreign owners/directors/employees of the company still generally need a Vietnamese work permit, with narrow exemptions such as being an owner or capital-contributing member with a capital contribution of VND 3 billion or more
- LLC Company Route
- This is the standard vehicle for foreigners: Vietnam allows 100% foreign ownership in most sectors, there is generally no minimum charter capital requirement, but the process requires an Investment Registration Certificate followed by an Enterprise Registration Certificate, a registered local legal address, and a Legal Representative (who typically needs a Vietnam residential address)
- Practical Conclusion
- For a foreigner in Da Nang, the realistic legal options are: (1) work purely for clients/employers based outside Vietnam and keep that income out of the Vietnam-sourced tax net (a personal-tax question, not a local-company one), (2) use an Employer-of-Record/contractor-payment platform rather than a Vietnamese legal entity, or (3) incorporate a full 100% Foreign-Owned Enterprise (LLC or Joint Stock Company)
- Household Business Route Limited
- A 'business household' registration is Vietnam's other informal small-business format, but it is fundamentally a Vietnamese-citizen structure; foreign participation is typically only possible indirectly through a Vietnamese partner or proxy, which carries the same legal risk as name-lending arrangements
- Sole Proprietorship Route Generally Not Available
- Vietnam's Enterprise Law 2020 (Article 188) restricts ownership of a sole proprietorship (doanh nghiệp tư nhân) to a Vietnamese citizen with full civil capacity and permanent residence — a foreigner cannot legally be listed as the direct owner of this entity type, and 'name-lending' arrangements where a Vietnamese citizen holds the license on a foreigner's behalf are explicitly illegal and carry penalties for both parties
Filing Obligations For A Local Company
- VAT
- Standard VAT rate is 10%; registration and monthly or quarterly VAT filing is required once a company's turnover crosses the VAT threshold
- Accounting And Audit
- Companies must keep statutory books under Vietnamese Accounting Standards; many FDI companies are subject to mandatory annual independent audit depending on size/structure
- Annual Cit Finalization
- Companies self-declare, pay provisional CIT quarterly through the year, then file an annual CIT finalization return after year-end reconciling actual profit
- Regulatory Flux Warning
- Vietnam's CIT rules were substantially rewritten via a new CIT Law (67/2025/QH15), Decree 320/2025, and Circular 20/2026/TT-BTC effective from the 2025 tax year, with further Tax Administration Law changes taking effect 1 July 2026 — this area is actively being rewritten, so filing specifics should be re-checked with a local accountant each tax season
- Annual Business License Fee
- A yearly 'license tax' (thuế môn bài) applies based on registered charter capital tier — e.g. companies with registered capital over VND 10 billion pay a top-tier annual fee
Foreigners can incorporate a business in Da Nang without a mandatory local partner for the great majority of sectors — 100% foreign ownership is permitted via a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (typically structured as a Limited Liability Company, or LLC). A local partner/joint-venture is only required in specific conditional or restricted sectors.
Entity Types
Entity Types
- Limited Liability Company (LLC) — most common for a foreign-owned SME; can be single-member (100% foreign-owned)
- Joint Stock Company (JSC) — used for larger operations or where outside capital-raising is planned
- Representative Office — liaison/market-research only, cannot invoice or generate revenue
- Branch Office — restricted to specific regulated sectors (banking, insurance, law)
Realistic Timeline
- Statutory Minimum
- About 4–5 weeks if every document is accepted on first submission (IRC 15 working days + ERC 5–7 working days + tax/seal registration).
- Realistic Practical Range
- 1 to 4 months in practice. Some sources citing Da Nang specifically estimate roughly 1–2 months end-to-end; broader Vietnam-wide guides estimate 2–4 months, since IRC supporting documents are frequently returned for clarification and bank account opening (DICA) can add further weeks.
- Representative Office Alternative
- Roughly half the time of a full LLC/FIE, but a Representative Office cannot invoice clients or generate revenue directly.
Recent Legal Change To Note
A new national Law on Investment (No. 143/2025/QH15) was passed in December 2025 and took effect 1 March 2026, updating parts of the investment registration framework nationwide, including Da Nang.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
Sources cited for this category
These are the sources cited in this business permits & incorporation for foreigners research for this city. Individual figures may not each trace to one of them.
More About Da Nang
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.