Vietnam Guide - Representative Office vs. Branch Office vs. Subsidiaries in Vietnam

Business structures
	Representative Office	Branch Office	Subsidiary (limited liability company
Separate legal entity	No	No	Yes
Liability	Extension of parent company	Extension of parent company	Limited Liability
Entity Name	Must be same as parent company	Must be same as parent company	Can be the same or different from parent company
Allowed Activities	Can only conduct market research or coordinating activities. Not allowed to conduct business activities that yield profit.	Commercial activity within parent company's scope	Can be the same or different from the parent company
Set up time	6 to 8 weeks	12 weeks	8 to 16 weeks
Annual tax return required?	No, but responsible for declaring employees' personal income tax	Yes	Yes
Audit required?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pros	Easy registration procedure	Can remit profits abroad	Limited liability to capital contribution Freely engage in any registered business lines that are not banned by local laws
Cons	Cannot conduct revenue generating activities Parent company bears liability	Limited to certain industry sectors Parent company bears liability	Cannot issue shares Maximum of 50 shareholders

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