Vietnam operates a rapidly modernizing tax administration under the General Department of Taxation (GDT). With the mandatory nationwide implementation of e-invoicing (Hóa đơn điện tử) under Decree 123, compliance is no longer optional—it is embedded into every transaction.
For international businesses, especially cross-border digital platforms, the landscape is shifting. Recent reforms effectively merge the personal tax ID with the Citizen ID (SDDCN) for locals, while enforcing a strict 10% VAT on foreign digital services. Verifying the MST (Mã số thuế) is now the primary gateway to validating business legitimacy and ensuring VAT deductibility.
Introduction
The backbone of Vietnam’s fiscal infrastructure is the GDT (Tổng cục Thuế). The system is currently in a “Digital Transformation” phase, transitioning from legacy tax numbers to a unified database linked with the National Population Database.
For global enterprises, the challenge is verifying the MST. A crucial nuance in Vietnam is the distinction between a “Headquarters” code (10 digits) and a “Branch” code (13 digits). Failing to validate the correct suffix can lead to rejected e-invoices and invalid input VAT claims.
