Corporate tax, FATF status, sanctions exposure, data-protection law and arbitration enforceability for Vietnam — the facts a founder or counsel checks before incorporating or signing cross-border. Last reviewed 2026-06-10.
The headline corporate income tax rate in Vietnam is 20%. Free zones, small-business reliefs and participation exemptions can change the effective rate — treat this as the starting point.
Vietnam is on the FATF grey list (increased monitoring). Expect slower bank onboarding and more KYC questions for the company and its counterparties — not a prohibition on doing business.
Vietnam is not subject to broad sectoral sanctions programs in our dataset.
The applicable data-protection statute is Decree 13/2023/ND-CP (in force since 2023). If you process EU/UK personal data you also need a valid transfer mechanism into Vietnam.
Vietnam is a party to the 1958 New York Convention, so a foreign arbitral award can generally be enforced by local courts — the single most important box to tick before agreeing to arbitration with a counterparty here.
Vietnam is a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. Public documents — corporate certificates, powers of attorney, notarised papers — need only a single apostille to be recognised in other member states, with no consular legalisation. This materially speeds up cross-border paperwork.
100% foreign ownership is restricted in Vietnam — a local partner or specific structure is typically required. Price this into the setup.
Vietnam requires a resident/local director. This adds real cost and a governance dependency — include it in the structure.
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