Vietnam Household Business Accounting: New Guidelines under Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC

On December 31, 2025, the Ministry of Finance officially issued Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, introducing a revised accounting regime for business households and individuals. Effective from January 1, 2026, this new regulation will replace Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC. Below, Viet An Law highlights the 5 key takeaways regarding Vietnam household business accounting: New guidelines under Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC.

Summary the 5 key takeaways regarding Vietnam household business accounting: New guidelines under Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC

• Household businesses restricted from applying micro-enterprise accounting regime
• The head of a household business may have their parents, spouse, siblings, or other close relatives act as accountants
• All household businesses must keep accounting records from 2026 according to Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC
• The minimum retention period for accounting documents of household businesses and individual businesses is 5 years
• Detailed guidance on accounting records for household businesses is provided for each specific case.

Household businesses restricted from applying micro-enterprise accounting regime

Previously, Clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC stipulated:

“Household businesses and individual business owners shall implement the accounting regime guided in this Circular or may choose to apply the micro-enterprise accounting regime to suit their management needs and the characteristics of their production and business activities.”

Accordingly, Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC stipulates that household businesses and individual businesses shall implement the accounting regime guided in Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC or may choose to apply the micro-enterprise accounting regime to suit their management needs and the characteristics of their production and business activities.

However, according to the new regulations in Clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC on the organization of accounting work, household businesses will apply the accounting regime for household businesses as stipulated in Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC.

Household business heads permitted to appoint relatives as accountants

According to Article 2 of Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, the representative of a household business or individual business may keep their own accounting records, or appoint an accountant, or hire accounting services for the household business or individual business in accordance with the law.

Notably, the representative of a household business or individual business can also appoint their biological father, biological mother, adoptive father, adoptive mother, spouse, biological child, adopted child, or sibling to act as the accountant for the household business or individual business.

Mandatory accounting records for all household businesses from 2026

Previously, according to Article 2 of Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC, household businesses and individuals paying taxes using the declaration method as prescribed by tax law were required to apply the accounting regime as stipulated in Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC. In addition, household businesses and individuals not subject to the accounting regime but wishing to implement it according to Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC were encouraged to do so.

However, according to Clause 2, Article 1 of Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, the subjects to which Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC applies are household businesses and individual businesses (including business households/individual businesses with revenue less than 500 million VND/year).

Therefore, according to the new regulations, all household businesses will be required to keep accounting records starting from 2026.

However, the key new feature of Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC is the increased flexibility in accounting record keeping. Instead of being constrained by rigid forms, household businesses now have more autonomy:

• Customizable to needs: Household businesses maintain accounting records according to the Ministry of Finance’s guidelines, but can add more types of ledgers or adjust the forms to better suit their internal management needs.
• Ensuring legal validity: Any changes or additions to ledgers must retain the core information, including: ledger name, creation date, full name, and signature of the household business representative. This ensures that accounting data always has legal validity when reconciled with tax authorities.

The minimum retention period for accounting documents of household businesses and individual businesses is 5 years

To align with the national digital transformation roadmap, the new Circular allows individuals and household businesses to choose the most optimal storage method, namely storing accounting documents in traditional paper form or on electronic devices (cloud, hard drives, accounting software). This regulation facilitates the gradual transition of business households to electronic bookkeeping, in line with the trend of digitizing business operations.

Specifically regarding the retention period, Article 3 of Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC requires a minimum retention period of 5 years for accounting documents of household businesses and individual businesses. Previously, the retention period stipulated in Clause 3, Article 3 of Circular 88/2021/TT-BTC was not clearly defined.

This new regulation helps reduce the burden on storage space and makes it easier to retrieve data when needed.

Detailed guidance on accounting records for household businesses by specific case

Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC clearly categorizes the accounting system based on the tax obligations of each household business:

Household businesses are exempt from tax

• Target: Household businesses with annual revenue under 500 million VND, not subject to VAT and not required to pay personal income tax.
• Sales Revenue Register: Sales Revenue Register (Form S1a-HKD).
• Accounting Record Keeping: Includes basic columns such as Serial Number, Date, Description of Sales, and Amount. The recording method is very simple; just record all sales transactions in chronological order.

The purpose is simply to track revenue to determine whether it still falls within the tax-exempt category.

The group that pays taxes based on a percentage of revenue.

• Target group: Household businesses with annual revenue from 500 million to 3 billion VND that choose to pay personal income tax based on a percentage of revenue.
• Accounting documents: Invoices and other documents determining revenue as per tax regulations.
• Sales revenue register: Sales revenue register for goods and services (Form S2a-HKD).
• Accounting record-keeping method: Record revenue by industry group with the same tax rate; From the revenue, determine: Value Added Tax payable and Personal Income Tax payable.

Group paying VAT on revenue & PIT on taxable income

• Applicable entities: Household businesses with annual revenue from 500 million to 3 billion VND that choose the method of paying personal income tax on taxable income, and household businesses with revenue exceeding 3 billion VND.
• Accounting documents: Invoices; Purchase order lists (when purchasing from suppliers without invoices); Other legitimate accounting documents.
• Sales revenue register for goods and services: Form S2b-HKD.

In addition, household businesses must also maintain the following types of accounting records:

• Sales Revenue Register – S2b-HKD: Determines VAT-taxable revenue
• Detailed Revenue and Expense Register – S2c-HKD: Determines personal income tax-taxable income
• Detailed Materials, Tools, and Goods Register – S2d-HKD: Tracks inventory (inflow, outflow, and stock)
• Detailed Cash Register – S2e-HKD: Tracks cash and bank deposits

Groups subject to specific types of taxes

• Target: Household businesses that incur import/export tax, special consumption tax, environmental protection tax, resource tax, land use tax, etc.
• Supplementary register: Register for tracking other tax obligations (Form S3a-HKD).

This regulation helps household businesses reduce costs, making it suitable for small businesses and family-run enterprises.

Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC, issued in 2025, marks the completion of the accounting guidance framework for household businesses in the period from 2026 onwards. With regulations that are flexible and suitable to business realities while still ensuring tax management requirements, this Circular provides a basis for household businesses to proactively review their bookkeeping and document storage methods and prepare for the correct application of regulations from the time they come into effect.

Above is Vietnam household business accounting: New guidelines under Circular 152/2025/TT-BTC. If you have any related questions or require legal advice on tax and accounting, please contact Viet An Law – Tax Agency for the best advice and support!