Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 on a number of special mechanisms and policies for private economic development

Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15, regulating a number of special mechanisms and policies aimed at developing the private economy, was approved by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at its 15th session, 9th session on May 17, 2025. Resolution 198/2025/QH15 was developed and promulgated to concretize and implement Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW of the Politburo on private economic development.

Tax incentives in Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

Corporate Income Tax (CIT) incentives

• For innovative start-up activities: The Resolution stipulates the exemption of CIT for a period of 02 years and a 50% reduction of the payable tax amount for the next 04 years for incomes from innovative start-up activities of the following subjects: creative start-up enterprises, innovative startup investment fund management company, and an intermediary organization to support innovative startups.
• For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): SMEs are exempt from CIT for 03 years from the date of issuance of the first Enterprise Registration Certificate.
• For capital transfer in innovative start-up enterprises: Exemption from CIT and PIT for income from transfer of shares, contributed capital, capital contribution rights, share purchase rights, and capital contribution rights in innovative start-up enterprises.
• Deductible training expenses: Expenses for training and retraining human resources of large enterprises for SMEs to participate in the supply chain are included in the deductible expenses to determine taxable income when calculating CIT.

Personal Income Tax (PIT) incentives

• For experts and scientists in the field of innovation: PIT exemption for a period of 02 years and a 50% reduction of the payable tax amount for the next 04 years for incomes from salaries and wages of experts and scientists received from creative start-up enterprises, research and development centers, innovation centers, and intermediary organizations to support innovative startups.
• For capital transfer in innovative startups: As mentioned in the above section, the tax exemption policy also applies to PIT on income from the transfer of shares/contributed capital in innovative startups.

Abolition of Fees and Taxes

• License fees: One of the most notable changes is the termination of the collection and payment of license fees from January 1, 2026 for enterprises, business households, and business individuals.
• Presumptive tax for business households and individuals: From January 1, 2026, business households and individuals will not apply the presumptive tax calculation method. Instead, these subjects will “pay taxes according to the law on tax administration”.

Other financial support

The Resolution also stipulates the exemption of charges and fees for organizations, individuals and enterprises for papers that must be re-issued or re-issued when rearranging and reorganizing the state apparatus in accordance with law. This is a practical measure, avoiding businesses from having to bear additional costs arising from the state’s administrative reforms.

Summary table of tax incentives and fees according to Resolution 198/2025/QH15

Enhancing access to resources for support in Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

Access to land and production premises has always been one of the major issues for businesses, especially SMEs and new businesses. Resolution 198/2025/QH15 proposes solutions to remove this.

Facilitating access to industrial land and infrastructure

The Resolution allows localities to use their budgets to support investment in the construction of technical infrastructure of industrial parks and industrial clusters, in order to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese SMEs, high-tech enterprises, and innovative start-ups. This decentralization can help localities be more proactive in developing infrastructure in accordance with their needs and characteristics.  Another regulation is the requirement to reserve at least 20 hectares of each industrial park or 5% of the total industrial land area of the industrial park to lease or sublease to high-tech enterprises in the private economic sector, SMEs, and creative start-ups. This mechanism ensures a certain part of the land fund for priority subjects, avoiding the situation of being occupied by larger enterprises.

In order to reduce initial costs, these priority enterprises will be entitled to a minimum 30% reduction in land sublease in the first 5 years from the date of signing the land lease contract with the investor in the infrastructure of industrial parks, industrial clusters, and technology incubators. This support will be reimbursed by the State to the investor. This is a form of direct subsidies, which significantly reduces fixed costs for businesses in the investment and development stages.

Broader legal reforms on land, planning and investment

Resolution 198/2025/QH15 sets a specific deadline of December 31, 2026 at the latest, to complete the review, amendment, supplementation and completion of the law on land, planning and investment. The parallel existence of specific measures to support land access in the Resolution (such as rent reduction, priority land fund) and the goal of comprehensive reform of major laws on land, planning and investment shows a combination of situational solutions and long-term strategies. Immediate incentives are important to alleviate difficulties for businesses, but their effectiveness and long-term sustainability depend greatly on the success of future amendments to the Land Law, Planning Law, and Investment Law.

Reform of inspection and examination in Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

Resolution 198/2025/QH15 sets out many regulations to reform this sector in the direction of reducing the burden and enhancing equity.

Reduce the frequency and burden of inspections and inspections

The limitation of inspection activities in Article 4 of the Resolution, the inspection of enterprises, business households and business individuals must not exceed 01 time/year, except for cases where there are obvious signs of law violation. This directly solves the situation of overlapping inspections and examinations, often causing disruption and cost to businesses.

The Resolution also prohibits both inspection and examination of the same management content in the same year for the same subject, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication.

The Resolution requires priority to carry out inspections, remote examinations, digital transformation applications and minimize physical inspections for units that comply well with the provisions of the law. At the same time, there is a regulation on exemption from physical inspection at enterprises, business households and individuals that comply well with regulations.

Principles of handling violations and ensuring fairness

The Resolution sets out important principles in handling violations in Article 5, in order to ensure fairness and minimize risks to business activities:

• Clearly distinguish between the responsibilities of legal entities and the responsibilities of individuals; between criminal liability and administrative and civil liability. This helps to accurately attribute responsibility, avoid criminalization of economic and civil relations or unsatisfactory attribution of collective responsibility.
• For civil and economic violations and cases, priority shall be given to the application of civil, economic and administrative measures first. Enterprises, business households and individuals are allowed to proactively remedy violations and damages. This represents an approach that focuses on remediation rather than imposing immediate sanctions, especially for non-serious violations.
• In case the practice of applying the law may lead to criminal handling or no criminal handling, criminal handling shall not be applied. For violations to the extent of criminal handling, priority shall be given to proactive, timely and comprehensive measures to remedy economic consequences first, and this is an important basis for the procedure-conducting agencies to consider. This is an important step to reduce the risk of criminalization in business activities, creating a safer environment for businesses.
• It is not allowed to apply retroactive provisions of law to handle disadvantages to enterprises, business households and individuals. This principle ensures the certainty of the law and protects businesses from being sanctioned based on regulations or interpretations of laws that have not yet taken effect at the time the act takes place.
• For cases where the information, documents and evidences are not clear enough to conclude that there has been an act of violating the law, a conclusion must be made soon in accordance with the provisions of the procedural law and this conclusion must be publicly announced. This regulation aims to avoid prolonged uncertainty in the investigation process and ensure transparency.

Prevent from Harassment and Misinformation

The Resolution requires strict handling of acts of abuse of inspection to interfere and cause difficulties for business households and enterprises. At the same time, emphasizing the strong shift from pre-inspection to post-inspection, reducing interference in regular business operations.

Another point is that the regulations strictly prohibit media agencies, press, organizations and individuals from engaging in corrupt and negative acts, spreading false information affecting businesses, entrepreneurs, business households, and business individuals. This is to protect the reputation of businesses against false or ill-intentioned information, recognizing the role of information in the modern business environment.

Streamlining the legal framework and administrative procedures in Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

In addition to reforming supervision, Resolution 198/2025/QH15 also focuses on streamlining legal regulations and administrative procedures, which are inherent barriers to the development of enterprises.

Improving bankruptcy procedures

The Resolution allows the expansion of cases of application of simplified bankruptcy procedures in Article 6 for enterprises. The National Assembly requires a minimum of 30% shortening of the processing time compared to the usual process to reduce the burden of procedures and costs. Shortening time and costs is not only about making the process more efficient, but also a catalyst for the dynamism of the economy, allowing capital and labor to be more efficiently reallocated from failed projects to new, more promising and promising projects.  thereby promoting innovation.

Review business conditions and administrative processes

The Government is tasked to, no later than December 31, 2025, complete the review and elimination of unnecessary business conditions, overlapping and inappropriate regulations, hindering the development of private enterprises. Excessive or irrational business conditions are a major source of complaints and barriers to market entry and growth. The Resolution also sets specific goals: reduce the time to handle administrative procedures by at least 30%, reduce the cost of legal compliance by at least 30%, and reduce the number of business conditions by at least 30%, and continue to cut sharply in the following years.

Regular Legal Review

The Resolution requires the continued review, amendment, supplementation and completion of other laws related to business investment in order to fully institutionalize the Politburo’s Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW on private economic development.

Support policies on finance, technology and human resource development in Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

In order for the private sector to develop sustainably and have high competitiveness, Resolution 198/2025/QH15 provides support policies for finance, technology and human resource development.

Financial and Credit Assistance

Enterprises in the private economic sector, business households and business individuals are supported by the State with an interest rate of 2%/year when borrowing capital to implement green and circular projects and apply the environmental, social and governance (ESG) standard framework. This financial incentive directly promotes sustainable business practices and links the development of the private sector to national and global sustainable development goals.

Promoting science, technology, innovation and digital transformation

• Science and Technology Fund of Enterprises: Enterprises are entitled to deduct up to 20% (previously 10%) of CIT income to set up the enterprise’s science, technology, innovation and digital transformation development fund. Enterprises may use this fund to deploy or place external orders for scientific and technological research and development and innovation under the mechanism of product contracting. The increase in the fund setting limit encourages businesses to invest more in R&D and innovation.
• Increase the deduction of R&D expenses: Enterprises are included in the deductible expenses to determine the taxable income for expenses for research and development activities of enterprises equal to 200% of the actual cost of this activity when calculating CIT according to the Government’s regulations. This “super deduction” mechanism significantly reduces the actual cost of R&D activities, creating a strong incentive for businesses to invest in innovation.
• Digital platforms and free software: The State allocates funds to provide free digital platforms and shared accounting software for small and micro enterprises, business households and business individuals. This is a practical measure to reduce barriers to the digitization process and improve financial management for small units, especially important in the context of the transition from flat tax to official tax accounting regime for business households.

Human Resource Development

• CEO training program: The state budget will be allocated to implement the program to train and foster 10,000 executives by 2030. This is a remarkable investment in human capital at the leadership level, showing a vision that goes beyond immediate economic stimulus measures to build a team of skilled managers.
• Free consulting and training services: Provide a number of free legal consulting services, training on corporate governance, accounting, taxation, and human resources for small and micro enterprises, business households, and business individuals.

Summary of Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15

Aim to implement Resolution 68-NQ/TW, Resolution 198/2025/QH15 represents a comprehensive and ambitious effort by the State of Vietnam to create a breakthrough in private economic development. With a series of special mechanisms and policies ranging from fiscal reform, streamlining administrative procedures, to increasing access to resources and capacity development, this Resolution promises to create a significantly more favorable business environment for private enterprises.  business households and business individuals.

However, its ultimate impact depends on the serious, transparent and consistent implementation at all levels of government under the guidance of plans such as Resolution 139/NQ-CP. In addition, the active participation of the private sector itself in adapting and taking advantage of new opportunities also contributes very important.