Amendment of certificate of representative office establishment

A.: Hello, thank you for placing your trust in consulting department of Ha Thi. We have scrutinized your question and this is our response:

1. Legal grounds:

Decree no. 07/2016/ND-CP on representative office, branch of foreign trader in Vietnam.

II. Consultation:

1. Changing location and Head of representative office

In accordance with Clause 3 and Clause 6 Article 15 Decree 07/2016/ND-CP on cases which trader shall amend Certificate of Representative Office and Branch Establishment as follow:

“ Article 15. Cases which trader shall amend Certificate of Representative Office and Branch Establishment

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3. Changing the Head of representative office and branch.

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6. Changing location of representative office in a province, city belongs to Central or in an area which is controlled by a Board of Management”.

Hence, in this case, You must amend your Certificate of representative office establishment.

2. Documents required:

1. Certified copy of MOU or agreement on rental of location or certified copy proving the right of trader to use, exploit this location to locate the representative office.

2. Certified copy of expected location of represetative office (certified copy of Certificate of right to use land, in case that the company needs to provide Certificate of Business Registration related to real estate. Location of representative office of foreign trader must adhere to Vietnamese regulations on security, order, laboring safety and hygiene and other conditions in accordance with the laws.

3. Certified copy of passport or ID card (in case of Vietnamese citizen) or certified copy of passport (in case of foreigners) of the Head of representative office;

4. Documents proving that the former Head of representative office paid personal income tax until the current time.

5. Official copy of Certificate of Representative office establishment

3. Head of representative office has not declared, finalized and paid personal income tax (PIT)

The head of representative office working in Vietnam must declare and pay temporary counted PIT. Not promptly payment or no payment of PIT shall be punished in accordance with laws. It is necessary to have the confirmation of tax agency that the former Head paid fully PIT until current time. In fact, as details provided by customer, from 2017, the Head did not declare, finalize and pay tax. Therefore, Ha Thi Law would like to propose 02 solutions:

- The first solution: Submitting documents for additional declaration and pay the fine in accordance with decision of Hanoi Tax Department. The amount of fine depends on payable-tax income, overdue time to declare, finalize and the amount of PIT. Ha Thi Law is willing to support You to work with Tax Department. However, this solution is time-consuming and fee of additional declaration, finalization, PIT and fine.

- The second solution: Ha Thi Law will work directly with the Department of Industry and Trade in order to explain and commit in the way that the former Head has no payable-tax income during the time working in Vietnam to mitigate declaration and fine.