The related-party transaction documentation requirement in 2026 is becoming one of the most important tax compliance aspects for FDI enterprises and multinational corporations in Vietnam, especially in the context of the application of the global minimum tax rate (Pillar 2) and stricter inspections against transfer pricing. This article focuses on a comprehensive analysis, from the legal basis under Decree 132/2020/ND-CP, the entities required to prepare and those exempted from preparing the documentation, the three-level documentation structure, to common risks leading to tax assessments and effective control solutions in 2026, helping businesses proactively comply, protect profits, and minimize long-term tax risks.
Why are related-party transaction records the "Achilles' heel" of taxation in 2026?
From 2024, Vietnam officially applies the global minimum tax rate, which means that scenarios involving profit shifting abroad through insider trading prices will be closely monitored by an internationally interconnected data system.
Many businesses, despite operating legitimately and generating profits, are still being required to pay billions of dong in back taxes. The main reason is not intentional fraud, but rather errors in preparing related-party transaction documents.
- The similarity of market prices could not be demonstrated.
- Lack of documentation proving the nature of the services provided internally within the corporation.
- Violating the prescribed limits on interest expense deductions.
To protect businesses, understanding and correctly implementing Decree 132/2020/ND-CP is a mandatory requirement for all CFOs and Chief Accountants.
Understanding Related-Party Transactions Correctly According to Current Regulations
To accurately determine the obligation to file related-party transaction records and avoid the risk of being subjected to price assessments by the tax authorities, businesses need to start by correctly understanding the concept of related-party transactions, their scope of application, and the cases considered to have a related-party relationship according to current legal regulations. Below are the core points that businesses need to understand.
Cases considered to be linked
To accurately document related-party transactions, the first step is to correctly identify the related-party relationship. According to Decree 132/2020/ND-CP, parties are considered related-party when they fall into one of the following categories:
- Ownership: One party holds at least 25% of the other party's owner's equity.
- Joint third-party ownership: Both parties have at least 25% of owner's equity held directly or indirectly by a third party.
- Largest shareholder: One party is the largest shareholder in terms of owner's equity and holds at least 10% of the other party's total shares.
- Guarantee or loan: One party guarantees or lends capital to the other party, provided that the loan amount is at least 25% of the borrower's owner's equity and accounts for over 50% of the total value of the borrower's medium and long-term debts.
- Appointment of Board of Directors: One party appoints members of the board of directors to manage or control the other party, provided that the number of appointed members exceeds 50% of the total number of board members; or a member has the authority to decide on financial policy or business operations.
- Joint management: Two businesses that both have more than 50% members on their management board, or both have a management board member with the authority to make decisions on financial policies and business operations, appointed by a third party.
- Jointly managed by individuals/family: Two businesses are managed or controlled by individuals who have close family relationships (spouse, parents, children, siblings, etc.).
- Head office – permanent establishment relationship: The relationship between a business and a permanent establishment of a foreign business in Vietnam.
- De facto control: One or more businesses are controlled by an individual through that individual's capital contribution to the business or direct participation in its management.
- Actual transactions establishing an affiliated relationship: Other cases in which one enterprise is subject to the actual management, control, and decision-making power over the production and business activities of another enterprise.
- Capital transfer relationship: The enterprise has transactions involving the transfer or acquisition of capital contributions from at least 25% of the enterprise's owner during the tax period.
Identifying the 11 cases of related-party transactions as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree 132/2020/ND-CP is only the first step in the entire compliance process. Once the related-party relationship has been legally established, the next crucial issue that businesses need to clarify is how to demonstrate the appropriateness of the transactions arising between the related parties. This is where the Related-Party Transaction Documentation becomes the central legal tool, helping businesses explain the pricing, profit margins, and nature of the transactions according to the arm's length principle.
What is a related-party transaction record?
Transfer Pricing Documentation is a set of documents prepared by taxpayers to demonstrate that the prices and profit margins in transactions with related parties are determined in accordance with the Arm's Length Principle, equivalent to transactions between independent parties.
Entities required to prepare and those exempt from preparing related-party transaction documents.
To accurately determine which businesses are required to file related-party transaction records and which are exempt under Decree 132/2020/ND-CP, taxpayers need to clearly categorize each group based on the scope of transactions, revenue scale, and specific compliance conditions. Below are the groups required to file related-party transaction records and the exempted cases, along with important notes to avoid confusion and risks during tax settlement.
Mandatory group
All taxpayers with related-party transactions falling within the scope of Decree 132/2020/ND-CP must declare information on related-party relationships and related-party transactions using Form 01/GDLK.Download Form 01/GDLK).
Specifically, related-party transactions are considered to arise when the following economic activities occur between related parties:
- Buying and selling goods: This includes raw materials, finished products, and tangible goods.
- Providing and utilizing services: Management services, technical support, consulting services, financial services, logistics, human resource management, etc.
- Leasing, lending, or using assets: This includes both tangible assets (machinery, factories) and intangible assets (intellectual property rights, trademarks, trade secrets, patents).
- Financial transactions: Borrowing, lending, loan guarantees, provision of financial resources, internal debt offsetting agreements.
- Resource agreements: Buying, selling, leasing, borrowing, personnel meetings; agreements on shared resource use and cost sharing among affiliated parties.
Businesses should note that any transaction that generates economic benefit (whether cash-bearing or not) between two related parties must be recorded and declared in the related-party transaction records.
See details: Instructions for completing the Related Party Transaction Declaration Form.
Cases exempt from preparing Related Party Transaction Documents.
Businesses are exempt from preparing the Local File, Master File, and Country-by-Country Report of Profit and Loss (CbCR) in the following specific cases:
Case 1: Revenue threshold and transaction value
Businesses that simultaneously meet the following two conditions are exempt from preparing related-party transaction documents:
- Revenue is less than 50 billion VND during the tax period;
- The total value of related-party transactions arising during the tax period is less than VND 30 billion.
Case 2: APA Agreement
Taxpayers who have signed an Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) and submitted annual reports as required must still file reports for transactions not covered by the APA unless otherwise exempted.
Case 3: Business with simple functions
Taxpayers engaged in business with simple functions, not generating revenue or expenses from the exploitation or use of intangible assets, with revenue below VND 200 billion, and applying the net profit margin before deducting interest expenses and corporate income tax (EBIT) on net revenue in the following sectors:
- Distribution: From 5% and up.
- Production: From 10% and up.
- Processing: From 15% onwards.
Case 4: Domestic transactions with the same tax rate
Domestic transactions with the same tax rate apply when the taxpayer only conducts transactions with related parties within the country and simultaneously meets all of the following conditions:
- The taxpayer only conducts transactions with related parties that are subject to corporate income tax in Vietnam.
- Both the taxpayer and the related parties apply the same corporate income tax rate.
- Neither party is eligible for corporate income tax incentives during the tax period.
Note: Even though taxpayers are exempt from filing related-party transaction records, they are still obligated to declare information on related-party relationships and transactions using Form No. 01 in the Appendix issued with Decree 132/2020/ND-CP.
Standard Linked Transaction Documentation Structure
According to the regulations of Decree 132/2020/ND-CP and international best practices (BEPS Action 13), a complete set of related-party transaction documentation includes three levels of reporting with the following specific functions:
Local File
Local files play a central role in proving the legitimacy of related-party transactions arising during the period. In fact, this is also the first part of the file that Vietnamese tax authorities examine, therefore businesses need to prepare the following information thoroughly:
- Function: Provides detailed information about the company's related-party transactions in Vietnam. This is a key document for tax authorities to verify compliance with market pricing.
- Content: Description of the company's organizational chart; business strategy; details of related-party transactions (value, payment method); functional-asset-risk (FAR) analysis; and most importantly, economic analysis to compare the company's profitability with comparable independent entities.
Master File
A Master File is created to provide a comprehensive overview of the operations of an entire multinational corporation, thereby helping tax authorities assess consistency in transfer pricing policies across countries. The content of the Master File typically focuses on the following core information:
- Function: To provide a comprehensive overview of the corporation's global business operations, enabling tax authorities to assess the overall context in which the business operates.
- Contents: Corporate ownership structure; key profit-generating business areas; supply chain for goods/services; intangible asset portfolio (IP) of the corporation; internal financial activities and global consolidated financial statements.
Country-by-Country Report (CbCR)
The Country-by-Country Report (CbCR) is designed to provide tax authorities with a comprehensive overview of the allocation of revenue, profits, and tax obligations of a multinational corporation globally. Accordingly, the CbCR focuses on reflecting the following key aspects:
- Function: As a macroeconomic risk management tool, it helps tax authorities identify profit shifting between countries by comparing the ratio of taxable profits and the scale of operations in each location.
- Content: A compilation of data on revenue, pre-tax profit, corporate income tax paid, registered capital, number of employees, and tangible assets in each country/territory where the group operates.
However, building a complete set of related-party transaction documentation according to the new three-tiered structure is only a necessary condition. The decisive factor for the documentation to truly protect the business against tax audits lies in how the price and profit margin for each related-party transaction are determined. This is also the basis for proving the arm's length principle as stipulated by law. Therefore, businesses need to understand the five legally mandated methods for determining related-party transaction prices permitted by Decree 132/2020/ND-CP.
5 Methods for Determining Transfer Pricing as per Legal Regulations
Decree 132/2020/ND-CP stipulates 5 main methods in Articles 13, 14, and 15:
- The Comparable Prices of Independent Transactions (CUP) method.
- Resale Price Method.
- Cost Plus method.
- The Profit Margin Comparison Method (PMM) – The most common.
- Profit Split method.
Although the law has stipulated five relatively comprehensive methods for determining transfer pricing that are close to international practices, in reality, choosing and applying the appropriate method is the decisive factor in the acceptance of the documentation during a tax audit. Even slight discrepancies in comparison, data, or interpretation of the transaction's nature can lead to the tax authorities rejecting the entire documentation and imposing a tax assessment. This is also why, even when "following the correct method," many businesses still fall into the high-risk group that needs to be identified and addressed promptly in the following section.
Why are businesses often subject to tax assessments?
During the inspection process, tax authorities not only examine whether a business has prepared related-party transaction records, but also conduct a thorough assessment of the quality of the records, the reasonableness of the comparative data, and the readiness to provide documentation. In reality, most tax assessment decisions stem from the following recurring errors. The following summary table helps businesses quickly identify key risks in their related-party transaction records and understand the potential tax consequences.
| Risk | Reality | Tax consequences |
| Choose dissimilar objects for comparison. | Using businesses that differ in function, size, or risk level for comparison, or using outdated or unreliable data. | The application was rejected, and the tax authorities determined the profit margin themselves based on industry data and proceeded to assess the tax. |
| Interest expense exceeding the ceiling as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 16 of Decree 132/2020/ND-CP | Total interest expense exceeding 30% EBITDA is common in FDI enterprises or debt-intensive enterprises. | The portion of expenses exceeding the ceiling is not deductible when calculating corporate income tax, resulting in an increase in the amount of tax payable. |
| Related party transaction records are not available. | Failure to prepare documents in advance, or delaying their submission when requested by the tax authorities (more than 15 working days). | Businesses lose the right to determine prices independently, face fixed taxes, and risk administrative penalties for violations. |
The summary shows that risks in related-party transaction records do not stem from intentional violations by businesses, but mainly from technical errors, lack of preparation, and inadequate assessment at the beginning of the tax period. Proactively reviewing comparable entities, controlling the ceiling on interest expense deductions, and preparing documentation in advance of inspections will help businesses retain the right to determine prices themselves, minimizing the risk of being assessed for tax arrears and retroactive collection in 2026 and subsequent periods.
Conclude
In the context of increasingly stringent global minimum tax rates and transfer pricing audits, filing related-party transaction records is no longer an option but a vital obligation for businesses dealing with related parties. Accurate, complete, and timely filing in accordance with Decree 132/2020/ND-CP not only helps businesses avoid the risk of tax assessment but also allows them to proactively control costs, protect profits, and maintain long-term reputation.
Taking action at the beginning of the tax period will help businesses avoid unnecessary risks. If your business has transactions with related parties or is unsure about the security of your related-party transaction records, reviewing and standardizing your records early will help detect inconsistencies promptly and make legal adjustments before the tax authorities intervene. Being proactive today is the most effective way to protect your profits and ensure the long-term stability of your business. Contact MAN – Master Accountant Network for detailed support and advice on related-party transaction regulations.
Contact information MAN – Master Accountant Network
- Address: No. 19A, Street 43, Tan Thuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City
- Mobile/Zalo: 0903 963 163 – 0903 428 622
- E-mail: man@man.net.vn
Frequently Asked Questions about Affiliate Transaction Profiles
Will there be a penalty if the related-party transaction documentation is incomplete by the time of corporate income tax settlement?
Businesses are required to have all necessary documents ready by the time of filing their corporate income tax return. If the documents are incomplete or not provided within the deadline (15 working days) when requested by the tax authorities, the business risks having its tax assessed and being subject to administrative penalties.
If a company is exempt from filing related-party transaction records, does it need to conduct any further analysis?
Yes. Even if exempt from filing under Article 19 of Decree 132, businesses must still fully declare Appendix I, Form No. 01/GDLK, along with the corporate income tax return and retain supporting documents proving the exemption conditions (revenue, transaction value, profit margin, etc.) for explanation during tax audits.
Is it possible to file a tax return without comparative market data?
Businesses still have to file their tax returns on time; however, the lack of comparative data poses a significant risk. In the event of an audit, the tax authorities may reject the pricing method and use industry data to determine the tax liability. Therefore, the period from January to March is crucial for completing the comparative analysis.
Can the tax authorities request related-party transaction records during the tax filing season?
Yes. In fact, many tax offices/departments send official letters requesting related-party transaction documents immediately after the tax return submission deadline. If businesses are not prepared, the risk of missing the 15-day deadline and having their taxes assessed is very high.
How are interest expenses exceeding 30% EBITDA handled during tax settlement?
The portion of interest expense exceeding the 30% EBITDA ceiling is not deductible when calculating corporate income tax for the year, but can be carried forward for deduction in subsequent years if it meets the conditions under Decree 132. Businesses need to track this expense separately to avoid omissions or incorrect declarations during tax settlement.
Content production by: Mr. Le Hoang Tuyen – Founder and CEO of MAN – Master Accountant Network, CPA Vietnam with over 30 years of experience in accounting, auditing, and financial consulting.
MAN Editorial Board – Master Accountant Network