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Setting Up A Representative Office In Vietnam

Setup rep office in Viet Nam, LHD Law Firm as professional advice in matters established representative offices of foreign traders, With a team of attorneys and experienced associates, we will give customers peace of mind about service quality as well as legal security, We help customers to save time to focus on his work.

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Set up a rep office in Viet Nam, LHD Law Firm as professional advice in matters established representative offices of foreign traders, With a team of attorneys and experienced associates, we will give customers peace of mind about service quality as well as legal security, We help customers to save time to focus on his work.

Representative Office The establishment of a representative office is permitted for foreign companies for market research, and sales promotion activities (and therefore not for trading). To set up a representative office, the foreign company must satisfy certain conditions including, amongst others, that the company is already legally recognised in the country of its business registration and has been in operation for at least one year from the establishment date. The functions of a representative office include: • Exercising the function of a liaison office. • Market research to promote business opportunities for the foreign company that it represents. For the Representative Office, no Financial Statements need to be submitted anywhere and there is no requirement for a local audit. Any Financial Statements will be consolidated into the Parent organisation’s Financial Statements.

What are the functions of a representative office? With a representative office you can:

  • Do marketing and promotion activities for the parent company.
  • Sign business contracts on behalf of the parent company.
  • Hold exhibitions and open showrooms for your products.
  • Import necessary goods for promotion and marketing.

Generally speaking, a representative office can do all of the business activities that the parent company does except direct trading in Vietnam. All contracts must be signed by the parent company and all of the payment MUST go to the parent company.

What are the advantages of a representative office? With the representative office, you will have the following benefits

  • There is no company or corporate tax applied to the representative office. Only personal income tax for employees.
  • There is no requirement for a minimum amount of capital to run the Rep. office.
  • Either a Vietnamese or a foreigner can be the chief representative. If the chief representative is a foreigner, he/she can obtain a resident card which is valid for 2 or 3 years.
  • Every year there is only one report that is MUST be returned to the government. This is quite an easy task.

What are the procedures for setting up a representative office? There are four steps that need to be fulfilled to set up a representative office and operate legally:

  1. Obtain the main license.
  2. Submit the chief representative's income tax and labour declaration.
  3. Obtain the operation license.
  4. Obtain the representative office stamp

What should I plan before setting up a representative office? Before setting up a representative office you should

  • Decide who will be the chief representative, a Vietnamese or a foreigner.
  • Collect information related to the chief representative, typically: full name, passport number or ID card number, address, nationality etc.
  • Other items such as choosing the location of the representative office, recruiting staff etc., can be done after you get the main license.

What kind of documentation should I prepare for the application? To process the application some basic papers are required

  • A copy of your parent company's license in English or French. This copy MUST be notarized by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a similar department.
  • A letter of appointment and a labour contract between the Parent company and the chief representative signed by both parties. These documents should declare the salary and the allowances for the chief representative and MUST be also notarized by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a similar department.
  • NOTE: All of the documents MUST translated into Vietnamese by the VN notarization department. Before translating into Vietnamese, documents MUST be notarized by your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Vietnam Embassy or Consulate in your country. An alternative is to courier the original documents to Vietnam and ask your embassy or consulate to produce notarized copies. If the chief representative is Vietnamese additional documents will need to be signed by the parent company.

Set up rep office in Vietnam

How much time does it take to finish everything? Assuming all documents are available then it should take approximately

  • 10 workings to get the main license (2 weeks)
  • 5 working days to get the operation license. (1 week)
  • 5 days to get the representative office stamp. (1 week)

How much does it cost?

Typically cost is about US $600 plus administration fees (see below)

Administration fees: translation fees, notarization fees, license fees and the stamp fee which typically cost US $250 to $450.

Can AccessVietnam process my application?

We no longer provide this service and you should seek the help of a law office or an office/individual specializing in business-related matters. It is also possible to complete the application yourself. However, you will need the assistance of a translator to ensure that you fully understand the requirements of the official processing of your request

Contact us:

Ha Noi: hanoi@lhdfirm.com

Ho Chi Minh: all@lhdfirm.com

Da Nang: danang@lhdfirm.com

In spite of the limited operational scope, the establishment of representative office in Vietnam will provide the following advantages:

– Easier to establish and register compared to a subsidiary company.

– No requirement for minimum paid up capital and other legal requirements.

– The representative office can decisively control the employees, manage the business and trading in Vietnam and can do many works other than liaison.

– Regarding tax obligations, no taxes are applicable to RO’ s operations, besides the personal income tax payable by their staff.

– Applying the License for the representative office:            25 working days

– Applying for the seal of the representative office:              05 working days

– Applying for the tax code of the representative office:      05 working days

– Publication of the RO’s establishment:   5 days

The license shall be valid for five years and can be renewed. In such case of renewal, an application shall be submitted at least thirty days prior to the due date.

According to Vietnam’s laws, a RO is not permitted to perform any activities generating profit or any trade activities. The establishment of a RO is not considered as a legal commercial presence in Vietnam. For more detail, please refer to the scope of permissible activities of a RO:

– Operating as liaison office.

– Promoting the cooperation projects of foreign company in Vietnam.

– Researching market to push up chances to purchase commodities, supply and consume commercial services of foreign businesses in Vietnam.

– Supervising the implementation of foreign company’ contracts signed with Vietnamese partners or related to the Vietnamese market.

Comment

Anh Hoàng
hoangngocngaanh1912@gmail.com
VIVA is the one in charge of proficiency and reliability, management and is fully responsible for all compliance procedures for a foreign representative office in Vietnam and also directly supporting to the chief and head office, who are representative on behalf for any query question at the local competent State agencies. VIVA would like to share some useful knowledge based on our practical experience and solutions offered to thousands of cases related to foreign representative offices and subsidiaries in Vietnam: https://representative-office.vivabcs.com.vn/ For more information, please contact us through hotline: 18001243 or through Email: support@vivabcs.com.vn
Wilson
Wilsonnn2815@yahoo.com.hk
Want to set up rep office at vietnam
igor snoy
igorsnoy@hotmail.com
Hi, Is it possible for a foreign company to set up multiple representative offices in Vietnam ? Kind regards, Igor Snoy