Verifying the Business Registration of a Vietnamese Company: 3 Best Practices

Running a successful enterprise and engaging in international trade is a task that requires a lot of supervision and vigilance. It is always subjected to risks and you have to eliminate all the possible hurdles that may impact your business negatively. An essential and foremost step involved in this would be to conduct a thorough check on the companies you deal with and their authenticity. 

If you are set up in South East Asia, it is a quite high possibility that you are involved in trade with Vietnam given the booming industries such as textiles, food, furniture, plastics and paper etc. in the country. Well, in such a case, have you ever wondered how to verify the business registration of a Vietnamese company? We bring to you certain tips on how to check company status, ensure the authenticity of the company you are dealing with and avoid all fraudulent and fake businesses.  

Why Should You Check the Business Registration?

Although Vietnam has rarely faced issues of fake business registration numbers, it does happen and may lead to severe commercial risks. There are also instances where a company is established just to scam others and once the deed is done, they tend to disappear from the market and become untraceable. The risks mostly arise in cases where the evaluation of the partner company is not a regular procedure. Merely looking at their website or brochure is not enough to prove the credentials of the company. You need to be a little more proactive and conduct an in-depth analysis of the legitimacy of the company.  

How You Can Check the Legitimacy of a Business in Vietnam

As a trader based in some other country, it is very difficult for you to check the legality of a business registration certificate in Vietnam. However, we provide you with a basic guide to check if the business certificate is authentic or not.

1. Enterprise Code Number (ECN)

The Enterprise Code Number is a sequence of numbers created by the National Business Registration Offices. It is issued to the enterprise on its establishment and is also recorded on the Enterprise Registration Certificate. Every business has a unique code that is non-transferable and can be used to identify the enterprise. The same number is used to fulfil legal procedures such as tax obligations, administrative formalities, and various other tasks. The Enterprise Law 2014 states that each enterprise is given a unique code that is called the enterprise code, which also serves for tax purposes. Businesses that were established before July 2015, have different tax identification numbers and business identification numbers. 

2. Looking up company information on the Vietnamese National Business Registration Portal

Once you open the National Business Registration Portal, enter the tax code or ECN of the company in the search box on the upper left side of the page and click on search. In the search results, you will see the business name appear. Click on the name of the business for viewing more details about the company. The details would include the Business Name in English, Vietnamese and Abbreviation used, Business Code, Tax Code, Internal Number, Enterprise Status, Founding Date, Representative, Legal Type, and the Head Office Address. These should be enough to give you a fair idea about the company and its authenticity. 

3. Check Enterprise Status

Once you are done checking the business registration information, it is essential to check whether the business is still active or has run its course. Vietnam has over 18 companies completing procedures for dissolution per day. Therefore, despite the business registration number being correct, the status of the entity is equally important. You can check this status by searching the taxpayer’s portal at the General Department of Taxation. However, a slight problem you might face here is that this website is only available in the Vietnamese language. 

Listed above are a few things that you must follow to verify the business registration of any company you decide to engage in business with. Apart from checking the authenticity of the business, you can put in place additional steps to keep your money safe. These include remote monitoring systems and platforms for cross-border transactions. 

While the above checks are very important, they do sound cumbersome and not very friendly for non-Vietnamese speaking people. If you are looking for easier solutions, you can go to online verification portals like Omoney which have linked with hundreds of government registers around the world and support 12 plus languages. You can do live verification with just a couple of clicks and even request a detailed report on any company through their concierge service.