Common mistakes in corporate tax filing

Fulfilling tax obligations is mandatory for companies operating legally in Vietnam. Therefore, tax accounting is an extremely important and indispensable position for businesses. To do this job well, you must understand tax laws. In addition, you also need to know how to apply those regulations to your business to handle arising situations most effectively. Depending on personnel conditions, companies will choose to use tax accounting services or do tax accounting themselves. If you have staff to do it yourself, pay attention to key documents required for tax filing and avoid making the 23 common mistakes of a non-professional tax accountant below.

1. What is tax accounting?

Tax accounting is also an accounting job but it specializes in taxes. This is the job that connects businesses with state agencies. Tax accountants help the state manage the economy more easily. In addition, they help businesses operate stably, legally and completely legally.

2. Common mistakes of non-professional tax accountants

Tax accounting is a job that requires understanding, carefulness and meticulousness. So if you are not a professional doing this, you will easily encounter the following common mistakes in corporate tax filing:

2.1 Five common mistakes when declaring personal income tax

Declaring personal income tax is a monthly task for tax accountants. If you are a non-professional tax accountant, pay attention to the following 5 issues:

  • Declaring incorrectly the target
  • Not remembering to deduct tax from individuals without labor contracts with income of 2 million or more
  • Not determining exactly when to declare personal income tax monthly and when to declare personal income tax quarterly.
  • Not deducting the amount of social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance when calculating personal income tax.
  • Not remembering to deduct the meal allowance that the Enterprise must pay to employees (not exceeding 620,000 VND) when calculating personal income tax.

Steps to prepare and file corporate taxes in Vietnam

2.2 Five common mistakes that non-professional tax accountants make when declaring corporate income tax

Declaring corporate income tax is the job of tax accountants. This job always requires 100% accuracy. So, don’t make the following 5 mistakes:

  • Not completing the fixed asset records, purchasing fixed assets without valid invoices.
  • Accounting for salary expenses but lacking a labor contract; payroll without a signatory. Timesheet
  • Missing a list of tax settlement records (list the attached records to avoid loss).
  • Not selecting the tax payment extension option when there is a corporate tax payable when there is a decision to extend the tax payment by the General Department of Taxation.
  • Not excluding non-deductible expenses when determining corporate income tax.

2.3 Ten common mistakes when declaring VAT by non-professional tax accountants

Declaring VAT is also one of the main tasks of tax accountants.

  • Wrongly determining the monthly or quarterly declaration deadline
  • Declaring the wrong item of the input list, not distinguishing between shared and separate invoices for taxable and non-taxable goods.
  • Declaring the missing VAT index that can be deducted from the previous period.
  • Declaring invalid invoices when declaring VAT: wrong tax code, business name, address, invoices being edited, deleted, etc.
  • Offsetting the negative tax amount arising in this period with the unpaid VAT debt of the previous period.
  • Calculating the input VAT amount for imported goods according to the Customs’ notification, while the VAT on that imported goods has not been paid.
  • Declaring the import declaration without including the payment receipt.
  • Not noting the payment deadline when the input VAT invoice is over 20 million.
  • Not declaring PL01-3/GTGT for businesses trading in motorbikes and cars.
  • Not filling in complete information about the business.

To be able to have full experience and do accurate tax accounting, you often have to go through many years of experience. However, normal accountants will have difficulty in tax accounting. That is why businesses often seek the services of accounting service companies like S4B Vietnam for steps to prepare and file corporate taxes.

Many businesses seek the services of accounting service companies like S4B Vietnam

3. Deadlines and submission requirements

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 44 of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, the deadline for submitting value-added tax declarations is specified as follows:

“1. The deadline for submitting tax declarations for taxes declared monthly and quarterly is specified as follows:

  • a) No later than the 20th day of the month following the month in which the tax liability arises in the case of monthly declaration and payment;
  • b) No later than the last day of the first month of the quarter following the quarter in which the tax liability arises in the case of quarterly declaration and payment.
  • …”

Accordingly, the deadlines and submission requirements for submitting value-added tax for the first quarter of 2025 will be no later than the last day of the first month of the second quarter of 2025, i.e. April 30, 2025

Accordingly, April 30, 2025 and May 1 are public holidays according to Notice 6150/TB-BLDTBXH in 2024 (specifically The holiday schedule for April 30 and May 1, 2025 for civil servants is from April 30, 2025 to May 4, 2025, i.e. 5 consecutive days). Thus, the deadline for paying value added tax for the first quarter of 2025 will be moved to the next working day, i.e. May 5, 2025.

Running a small business is no small feat. Between managing operations, serving customers, and growing your brand, taxes can easily become an overwhelming burden. That’s where professional tax accounting services come in — and outsourcing could be one of the smartest decisions you make for your business. Let S4B help you with steps to prepare and file corporate taxes!

>>>Rear more: Accounting compliance in Vietnam 2025

S4B Vietnam

  • Address: Unit 701B – 701C, Tower A, Handi Resco 521 Kim Ma Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
  • Tel: + 84 24 3974 4181
  • Email: service@s4b.com.vn

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