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What conversion actually involves

Converting a hộ kinh doanh (a household business) into a công ty TNHH (a limited liability company) is not an upgrade of the old licence. In law it means forming a new enterprise and then closing the old household business. There is only one file, the enterprise registration; the registration offices close the household business themselves (article 27 of Nghị định 168/2025/NĐ-CP).

Within two working days of issuing the Giấy chứng nhận đăng ký doanh nghiệp (enterprise registration certificate), Sở Tài chính informs the commune-level registration office where the household business is based; that office marks the household business as being closed and, once the tax office reports its tax obligations settled, as closed (clause 3 of article 27). The household business may not trade from the day the company receives its certificate (clause 4 of article 27). The household business's tax code is the owner's personal identification number, while the company's tax code is its newly issued enterprise code (clauses 1 and 2 of article 11 of Luật Quản lý thuế 108/2025/QH15).

Why convert

A limited liability company has legal personality, which separates personal assets from business assets. The owner or members are liable only up to the capital contributed, unlike a household business, whose owner is liable with all of their personal assets.

Legal personality makes it easier to sign contracts with large counterparties, to issue value added tax invoices, to borrow from a bank in the company's name, and to expand beyond Gia Lai province. This is the most common reason a household business with rising revenue decides to convert.

The documents to prepare

A copy of the household business registration certificate (clause 2 of article 27 of Nghị định 168/2025/NĐ-CP); since 23 July 2026 Sở Tài chính retrieves it from the database itself and asks for it only if it cannot (clause 7 of article 4, added by Nghị định 296/2026/NĐ-CP).

No separate tax registration certificate is needed: the household business registration certificate is also its tax registration certificate (clause 1 of article 85).

The formation file for a single-member limited liability company or for one with two or more members, according to how many people are contributing capital.

The personal legal documents (a CCCD, the Vietnamese citizen identity card, or a passport still in date) of the legal representative and of the owner or the contributing members.

If a foreign investor is contributing capital and the case is one that must be registered under khoản 3 Điều 21 Luật Đầu tư 143/2025/QH15 (clause 3, article 21 of the Law on Investment), also the investment registration authority's notice that the conditions for the contribution or share purchase are met.

Which authority receives the file after the provincial merger

Since 1 July 2025 the provinces of Bình Định and Gia Lai have been merged into a single Gia Lai province, with its administrative centre in Quy Nhơn, under Nghị quyết 202/2025/QH15 (Resolution 202/2025). The former Sở Kế hoạch và Đầu tư (the Department of Planning and Investment) is no longer a separate licensing authority.

Conversion files now go to Sở Tài chính tỉnh Gia Lai (the provincial Department of Finance), Phòng Doanh nghiệp và Kinh tế tập thể (its Enterprise and Collective Economy Division), at 181-183 Lê Hồng Phong, Phường Quy Nhơn, telephone 0256.3903666.

The process in five steps

Step 1: advice on the right form (single member or two or more members), the charter capital, the business lines and the company name.

Step 2: draft the formation file for the limited liability company and file it with the Phòng Doanh nghiệp và Kinh tế tập thể at Sở Tài chính tỉnh Gia Lai.

Step 3: receive the enterprise registration certificate. On Tư Vấn Sao Việt's own figures, the result comes in three working days.

Step 4: the commune-level registration office closes the old household business on the information sent by Sở Tài chính; the household business settles its taxes so that it can be recorded as closed.

Step 5: register for tax, open a bank account, obtain a digital signature and e-invoices for the new company.

Incentives on conversion

Under article 16 of Luật Hỗ trợ doanh nghiệp nhỏ và vừa (Law 04/2017/QH14 on support for small and medium enterprises), a small or medium enterprise converted from a household business that was registered and trading continuously for at least one year is exempt from the enterprise registration fee and the first-time enterprise information fee.

Since 1 January 2026 enterprises no longer pay the thuế môn bài (the annual business licence fee): it has been abolished. The three-year licence fee exemption for enterprises converted from household businesses therefore no longer matters: since 1 January 2026 no enterprise pays the fee (clause 7 of article 10 of Nghị quyết 198/2025/QH15).

Service fees at Tư Vấn Sao Việt

The all-inclusive conversion fee is 1.500.000 đồng. It covers drafting and filing the formation of the new company together with the termination of the old household business.

The enterprise registration certificate takes three working days. There is an express package that returns the licence in one day, with a surcharge agreed case by case.

You pay the service fee only once the file is complete and the enterprise registration certificate has been issued.

The process

1. Advice and preparation Settle the form of limited liability company, the charter capital, the business lines and the company name. Prepare the personal legal documents of the representative and of the contributing members.
2. File the formation of the LLC File with the Phòng Doanh nghiệp và Kinh tế tập thể at Sở Tài chính tỉnh Gia Lai, 181-183 Lê Hồng Phong, Phường Quy Nhơn.
3. Receive the enterprise registration certificate The business registration authority processes the file and issues the result.
4. Terminate the household business The commune-level registration office closes the old household business on the information sent by Sở Tài chính; the household business settles its taxes.
5. Complete the post-formation steps Register for tax, open a bank account, obtain a digital signature and issue e-invoices for the new company.