1. Accounting regulations for microenterprises

From the financial year commencing from or after April 1, 2019, microenterprises shall apply accounting regulations under Circular No. 132/2018/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance, in specific:

A microenterprise shall not be required to appoint a chief accountant; if available, it is entitled to engage chief accountant services.

A microenterprise paying CIT in the CIT-to-sales ratio (%) is not bound to prepare and submit a financial statement to the tax authority.

A microenterprise, at their discretion, may choose accounting regulations under either Circular 132 or Circular 133/2016/TT-BTC on accounting regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Circular 132 comes into force from February 15, 2019.

2. Indexation of monthly salary and income after payment of social insurance contributions

Circular No. 35/2018/TT-BLDTBXH on indexation rates of monthly salaries and income after payment of social insurance contributions comes into force from February 15, 2010, in specific:

The indexation rates of monthly salaries after payment of compulsory social insurance contributions for employees subject to the pay scheme under the State’s regulations and the pay scheme decided by employers are specified in Table 1 of Article 2.

The indexation rates of monthly salaries after payment of social insurance contributions for voluntary social insurance participants shall be specified in Table 2 of Article 3.

The above indexation rates shall apply from January 1, 2019.

3. Eligibility requirements for an outward investment loan

Circular No. 36/2018/TT-NHNN on lending by credit institutions and foreign branch banks for outward investment (hereinafter referred to as “credit institutions”) comes into force from February 15, 2019.

In specific, a credit institution shall consider granting a decision to offer a loan to a customer for outward investment if he/she meets the following eligibility requirements:

- If that customer is an individual (including the one who is the member or authorized person of a household, artel or organization that does not have a legal status) aged 18 or older, he/she must have full legal capacity in accordance with regulation of law;

If that customer is a juridical person, it must have legal personality in accordance with regulations of law.

- The customer has been issued with the outward investment registration certificate and has its/his/her investment permitted or approved by a competent authority of the host country;

If the host country’s law does not cover investment licensing or approval, the investor shall provide documents proving his/her right to make investment in that country.

- There is an outward investment project or plan appraised to be feasible by the credit institution and the customer is capable of repaying the credit institution.

- The customer has not incurred any bad debts for 02 consecutive years by the time of applying for loans.

4. Civil defence training and drills in administrative divisions

Decree No. 02/2019/ND-CP sets forth civil defence training and drills for entities other than civil defence forces in provinces, districts, communes and agencies and organizations as follows:

- Students and trainees in institutes, schools, agencies, unions: The civil defence training duration shall be included in the national defense and security curriculum in each academic year.

- Officials, Party members, public employees, dignitaries, religion posts: the civil defence training shall be included in the national defense and security training program, at least accounting for 5% of total program duration for each entity.

- Ministries, central agencies, local governments, agencies and units shall conduct civil defence drills at least once every 5 years; the drill of prevention and response to incidents, disasters and search and rescue shall be included in the civil defence drill.

Decree No. 02/2019/ND-CP comes into force from February 16, 2019.