According to the provisions of the Enterprise Law 2020, enterprises are allowed to adjust their business lines to reflect development needs. However, to do this, they need to notify the Department of Planning and Investment where they are registered of any changes or additions to their business lines. The following article shares about the additional business services.

1. What is a business line?

A business line is defined as the activities that a business registers when carrying out procedures to establish a company. After receiving a business registration certificate, the enterprise will operate in the registered business fields.

Currently, although there is no official definition of a business line, a list of business lines has been established according to the Vietnamese economic sector system, published in the appendix of Decision 27/2018/QD-TTg.

In addition, the Enterprise Law 2020 stipulates the following in Article 7:

• Enterprises have the right to freely conduct business in industries and occupations that are not prohibited by law.
• Enterprises are free to decide on the form of business organization and can choose industries, occupations, locations and forms of business autonomously.
• Enterprises have the right to adjust the scale and industries and occupations of their business as they wish.

2. What is meant by adding or changing business lines?

The process of adding business lines is when a business wants to expand its business activities by adding one or more previously unrecorded business lines to its business registration certificate. This procedure is carried out at the Department of Planning and Investment.

Changing business lines is the process by which a business adjusts or readjusts the business lines that have been confirmed in the company’s business line confirmation certificate. This procedure is also carried out at the Department of Planning and Investment.

3. Conditions for implementing additional business lines?

To carry out the additional business services, you need to comply with the following conditions:

• Registering additional business lines must comply with the Vietnam Economic Industry Code System. In case the business line is not included in the Vietnam Economic Industry Code System, it is necessary to comply with specific regulations in other legal documents.
• The additional business line is not included in the group of 7 business lines prohibited from investment and business according to the provisions of law.
• If the business line is included in the list of 277 conditional business lines, it is necessary to meet the conditions prescribed for that business line.
• The additional business line must not overlap with the previously registered business line. In case you want to add details of the business line, you need to reduce the old business line code and add a new business line code instead.
• If a newly established enterprise has not registered a phone number/email/fax, when performing the procedure of adding/reducing the business line code, it is necessary to supplement the company’s contact information.

4. What is the process of performing the additional business services line?

The process of performing the procedure of adding a business line will follow the following steps:

4.1. Step 1: Prepare information

The enterprise needs to decide whether it wants to change its business line by adding or removing it.

In the case of adding a business line, the enterprise needs to prepare the business line codes that it intends to add. Meanwhile, when deciding to remove a business line, the enterprise will need to list the business lines that it wants to remove from its business registration.

4.2. Step 2: Prepare the required documents according to regulations

The necessary documents for the process of performing the service of adding a business line will include the following items:

4.2.1. Additional documents for a 2-member LLC

The following are the necessary documents for the process of adding business lines of a 2-member LLC:

• One (01) Notice of change in business registration content according to the prescribed form. If you do not have this notice form, you can contact VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING Company for support.
• One (01) Decision and copy of the minutes of the Board of Members’ meeting, detailing the changes in the Company Charter.
• One (01) Copy of documents such as Investment Certificate, Tax Registration Certificate, and Business Registration Information Update Supplement (if any).
• One (01) Power of Attorney, if the company representative authorizes another organization to carry out the procedure. A valid copy of one of the personal identification documents of the authorized person to carry out the procedure (if any).

4.2.2. Additional documents for Joint Stock Company

The following documents are required in the additional business line dossier of a Joint Stock Company:

• One (01) Notice of change of business line according to the prescribed form.
• One (01) Decision and copy of the minutes of the General Meeting of Shareholders, detailing the changes in the Company Charter.
• One (01) Copy of documents such as Investment Certificate, Tax Registration Certificate, and Business Registration Information Update Supplement (if any).
• One (01) Authorization Letter, if the company representative authorizes another organization to carry out the procedure, together with a valid copy of one of the personal identification documents of the authorized person (if any).

4.2.3. Additional documents for a partnership

The following are the documents required in the additional business line dossier of a partnership:

• One (01) Notice of change of business line according to the prescribed form.
• One (01) Decision and copy of the minutes of the meeting of the partners, detailing the changes in the company’s Charter.
• One (01) Copy of documents such as Investment Certificate, Tax Registration Certificate, and Business Registration Information Update (if any).
• One (01) Authorization Letter, if the representative of the partnership authorizes another organization to carry out the procedure.
• A valid copy of one of the personal identification documents of the authorized person to carry out the procedure (if any).

4.2.4. Additional documents for a single-member LLC

The following are the documents required in the additional business line dossier of a single-member LLC:

• One (01) Notice of additional business line according to the prescribed form.
• One (01) Decision and copy of the meeting minutes of the company owner, detailing the changes in the Company Charter.
• One (01) Copy of documents such as Investment Certificate, Tax Registration Certificate, and Business Registration Information Update Certificate (if any).
• One (01) Authorization Letter, if the company representative authorizes another organization to carry out the procedure.

4.3. Step 3: Submit the application for additional business lines to the business registration office

The application submission process after completion of preparation will be done online through the national information portal for the application to be assessed. Below are the steps:

Step 1: Scan all the documents to be submitted.

Step 2: Access the website dangkykinhdoanh.gov.vn.

Step 3: Register an online account by filling in the required information (need to prepare email, phone number, citizen identification number).

Step 4: Log in to the registered account and submit the application for additional or changed business lines.

4.4. Step 4: Wait for assessment from the registration agency

Within 03 working days from the date of receiving the application from the enterprise, the business registration office is responsible for assessing the content of the application in accordance with the provisions of law.

If the application is complete, the officer receiving the application will proceed to change or add the business line to the enterprise registration. In case the application is not qualified, the officer will explain the reason and guide the applicant to supplement the documents according to the regulations.

4.5. Step 5: Receive the result

After completing the process of submitting the application for changing the registered business line, the business registration office will receive the application and issue a receipt, and schedule an appointment for the date to return the results. The enterprise will receive the original copy of the business line confirmation via postal service.

5. Record the industry code in the business line supplement dossier

When filling in the business line code in the dossier, the enterprise must comply with the level 4 industry code stipulated in Decision 27/2018/QD-TTg on the Vietnam Economic Sector System issued by the Prime Minister.

In the case of adding a business line, especially the industries regulated by specialized laws (Vietnam will give priority to applying specialized laws when there are many similar regulations on the same issue), the enterprise must record the business line according to specialized legal documents and then apply the corresponding code to the level 4 industry code in the dossier for supplementing and changing the business line.

In the case of a business line requiring conditions and a practice certificate to operate, the enterprise must also apply the corresponding code to the level 4 industry code in the dossier for supplementing and changing the business line.

Note that, currently, when adding a business line requiring a practice certificate, businesses do not need to submit a practice certificate application for the changed or added business line.

Businesses must complete the application within 10 days from the date the decision to add or change the business line is made.

For businesses that have been granted a registration certificate before August 20, 2018, when changing or adding a business line, it is mandatory to update according to the new economic sector code (if there is a sector code that needs to be adjusted in the list of existing business lines).

6. Additional business services line registration at VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING

VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING Company, with a team of senior legal experts, has been registering additional business lines for many organizations and individuals nationwide.

After more than 12 years of operation and development, we have provided consulting services to thousands of businesses in Vietnam. What makes us very proud is the absolute satisfaction of our customers.

At VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING, we not only ensure the quality of service but also commit to protecting the rights and reasonable costs for customers.

Experts at VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING perform the following tasks in the process of providing consulting services on changing and adding business lines:

• Advice on the process and procedures for changing and adding business lines.
• Advice on choosing a business line code in accordance with legal regulations, as well as requirements on capital and professional qualifications.
• Guide clients to prepare necessary documents.
• Draft and represent clients in submitting business line change applications to the business registration office.
• Follow up on applications and supplement or adjust as required by experts.
• Receive a certificate of new business lines for the company.
• Advice on other related legal issues after implementing business line changes.

7. Cost of additional business services

The cost of additional business lines in the business registration certificate includes two main items: fees paid at state agencies and service fees.

In the fee paid at state agencies, according to the provisions of Article 33 of the Enterprise Law and Decree No. 01/2021/ND-CP, enterprises must pay fees for publishing business registration contents in the following cases:

Registering to establish a business.
Changes in the contents of the Business Registration Certificate.
Notification of changes in business registration contents related to business lines, business lines, founding shareholders and shareholders who are foreign investors.

This fee when published on the National Information Portal – Department of Planning and Investment is 100,000 VND.

Regarding the service fee for adding a business line, there are many units on the market that provide the service of changing the business line, each unit will have a different calculation and quotation method. Among them, there are units that choose low prices to attract customers. However, VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING Company focuses on service quality rather than price. We do not emphasize low prices, but focus on enhancing the value that customers receive.

Therefore, the service fee for adding a business line at VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING Company ranges from 900,000 VND.

On the website VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING, information about the service of adding a business line has been provided. Hopefully this information will be useful to readers. If you are interested and want to use our services, please do not hesitate to contact us for the most dedicated advice.