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Many enterprises only discover tax errors when the tax authority comes to inspect – by which time tax arrears usually come with late-payment interest and penalties that may have accumulated over several years. A Tax Health Check lets enterprises have a periodic "tax check-up" and fix issues before risks materialise.

1. What is a tax health check?

A tax health check is a review by an independent expert of the enterprise's tax filings, accounting books, contracts, invoices and documents for one or more tax periods to assess compliance with tax laws, identify items at risk of tax arrears, disallowed expenses or penalties, and propose corrective actions.

2. When should enterprises carry out a tax health check?

• Before preparing the annual CIT and PIT finalisation returns.
• Upon receiving a tax inspection/audit notice, or before dissolution, capital transfer or merger.
• When the chief accountant or person in charge of tax changes, or when accounting software is changed.
• When tax policies change significantly, as in 2025–2026 (CIT Law 67/2025/QH15, Law on Tax Administration 108/2025/QH15, Decree 252/2026/ND-CP, etc.).
• When preparing a VAT refund claim.

3. Main review areas

• VAT: reconciling declared revenue with books and invoices; input VAT credit conditions and non-cash payment documents; applicable rates; non-taxable goods.
• CIT: revenue recognition timing; deductible and non-deductible expenses (expenses without valid invoices, cash payments of VND 5 million or more, excessive welfare expenses, interest expenses, etc.); loss carry-forward; incentive conditions; the 15%/17% rates for small enterprises.
• PIT: taxable income, allowances and benefits; family deductions; withholding for casual workers and non-residents; finalisation on behalf of employees.
• Foreign contractor tax: overseas payments (royalties, services, interest) and application of double taxation agreements.
• Related-party transactions: declaration obligations, transfer pricing documentation and the interest expense cap.
• Invoices and documents: validity, adjusting and replacement invoices; risks of invoices from absconded enterprises.

4. ATAX tax health check process

1. Survey: understand the business, applicable taxes and tax audit history.
2. Planning: define review periods, key risk areas and the list of documents required.
3. Fieldwork: sample testing, data analysis, reconciling returns – books – invoices.
4. Reporting: issue a report detailing each issue, the legal basis, estimated financial impact (tax, late-payment interest, penalties) and risk level.
5. Remediation: guidance on supplementary declarations, adjustments to books and improvement of internal procedures.

5. Benefits of a tax health check

• Proactively file supplementary declarations, reduce late-payment interest and limit penalties under Decree 310/2025/ND-CP (in Vietnamese).
• Work confidently with the tax authority with explanations ready.
• Identify lawful tax-saving opportunities such as incentives, R&D expenses and loss carry-forward.
• Improve the quality of the internal accounting and tax function.
• Provide reliable information to owners and investors in M&A transactions.

Contact ATAX for an initial free consultation and a fee proposal tailored to your business: https://atax.vn.