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What is a địa điểm kinh doanh, and how does it differ from a branch?

Under Luật Doanh nghiệp 2020 (the Law on Enterprises) and Luật số 76/2025/QH15, which amends it, a địa điểm kinh doanh (a business location) is a place where the enterprise carries out specific business activities. It is not an independent legal unit.

The essential difference from a chi nhánh (a branch) is that a business location is 100% dependent on the parent company for accounting. It has no tax code of its own: it is given only a five-digit sub-code attached to the mã số doanh nghiệp (the enterprise code). Its tax declaration procedure is also far simpler than a branch's.

An enterprise may open several business locations, in the same province as its head office or in a different one, according to whether it needs to expand warehousing, points of sale or shops.

The file for notifying a business location

The file has two main components:

1. The notice of establishment of a business location, on Mẫu số 17 (form 17) issued with Thông tư số 68/2025/TT-BTC (Circular 68/2025 of the Minister of Finance, dated 1 July 2025).

2. A copy of the CCCD (the Vietnamese citizen identity card) of the person heading the business location. Where the personal identification number of the head of the business location has been declared in the file under clause 1 of Điều 11 Nghị định số 168/2025/NĐ-CP (article 11 of Decree 168/2025), this copy need not be submitted.

The whole sequence and procedure follow Nghị định 168/2025/NĐ-CP on enterprise registration, the text now in force in place of the earlier decrees on the same subject.

Rules you must observe on the name and the address

The name of the business location must contain the phrase "Địa điểm kinh doanh" followed by the name of the parent enterprise. You cannot name it freely.

The address must be clear, lawful, and it cannot be an apartment in a residential building. A wrong business line code and an address that does not fit the local zoning are the two most common reasons the Phòng Đăng ký kinh doanh (the business registration office) rejects a file.

On tax, a business location in the same province is declared together with the head office for value added tax; one in another province declares separately where it is, or the head office allocates tax to it, as set out in article 15 of Nghị định 252/2026/NĐ-CP and article 19 of Thông tư 89/2026/TT-BTC.

Where to file now that Gia Lai has merged with Bình Định

Since 1 July 2025 the former Bình Định and Gia Lai provinces have been merged into Gia Lai province under Nghị quyết 202/2025/QH15 (Resolution 202/2025), with the administrative centre in Quy Nhơn. The authority that now receives business location registrations is Sở Tài chính tỉnh Gia Lai (the Gia Lai provincial Department of Finance), specifically its Phòng Doanh nghiệp và Kinh tế tập thể (Enterprise and Collective Economy Division), at 181-183 Lê Hồng Phong, Phường Quy Nhơn, telephone 0256.3903666.

The former Sở Kế hoạch và Đầu tư (the Department of Planning and Investment) no longer performs this function: enterprise registration has been transferred to Sở Tài chính.

The file may be submitted online through the national business registration portal at dangkyquamang.dkkd.gov.vn, or in person at the Phòng Đăng ký kinh doanh of Sở Tài chính where the business location is.

Timing and what you receive

If the file is valid, the enterprise receives the result three working days after filing. If the file is rejected because of a wrong business line code or an address that does not meet the standard, it has to be corrected and filed again, which lengthens the wait.

The process

1. Prepare the file Draft the notice of establishment of a business location on Mẫu số 17 issued with Thông tư số 68/2025/TT-BTC of 1 July 2025, with a copy of the CCCD of the person heading the location only where no personal identification number has been declared.
2. File it File through the national business registration portal, or in person at the Phòng Đăng ký kinh doanh of Sở Tài chính tỉnh Gia Lai.
3. Collect the result Receive the certificate or notice of acceptance if the file is valid.