Virtual Office in Vietnam: A Legal Registered Company Address in Ho Chi Minh City from US$21/Month

Quick answer: A virtual office is a real, verifiable address you lease in order to register your company’s head office, branch or representative office in Vietnam — including the right to display your company signboard and a service that receives and forwards your mail. It is fully legal in Vietnam. Article 42 of the Enterprise Law 2020 requires only that the head office be a contact address located in Vietnam and identifiable by administrative boundaries. It does not require you to own or fully lease premises, and it does not prohibit several companies from registering at the same lawful address. Three conditions must be met: the address must be real, it must not be a residential apartment in a condominium building, and you must hold a proper lease agreement supported by the lessor’s proof of lawful use.

Golden Star fees: VND 550,000/month (≈ US$21) for a head office, branch or representative office address — VND 880,000/month (≈ US$34) where the address is also used as the project location for an investment project, or for the representative office of a foreign company in Vietnam.

1. WHY FOREIGN COMPANIES NEED A VIETNAMESE ADDRESS BEFORE THEY HAVE A VIETNAMESE ENTITY

Most foreign founders discover the same deadlock in their first week of planning.

To apply for an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) — the first licence a foreign investor needs — the application file must demonstrate a location for the investment project. But at that point you have no Vietnamese legal entity, no local tax code and no bank account, which makes it difficult to sign a commercial lease in your own name. Landlords, meanwhile, rarely want to commit space to an applicant whose company does not yet exist.

A virtual office breaks the deadlock. You obtain a lawful lease of a real address, together with the supporting documents required by the licensing authority, without committing to a multi-year lease on premises you may not need for another year.

Three routes into Vietnam and what each requires:

Structure	Licences required	Address requirement
Foreign-invested company (FDI)	Investment Registration Certificate (IRC), then Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC)	Project location at the IRC stage; head office at the ERC stage
Representative office of a foreign trader	Establishment licence for the representative office	Head office address in Vietnam with supporting location documents
Branch of a foreign trader	Establishment licence for the branch	As above

In every case, the address comes first. Nothing moves until it is settled.

2. WHAT VIETNAMESE LAW ACTUALLY REQUIRES

2.1. The founding provision — Article 42, Enterprise Law 2020

Under Article 42 of the Enterprise Law 2020, a company’s head office must be located within Vietnamese territory, serves as the contact address of the enterprise, is identified by administrative boundaries, and has a telephone number, fax number and email address where applicable.

Three consequences follow, and they are the entire legal basis of the virtual office model:

The law does NOT require	The law DOES require
That you own the premises	An address within Vietnamese territory
That you lease an entire property	An address identifiable by administrative boundaries
That only one company use each address	That the company can be reached at that address
That staff be physically present all day	—

The head office is a contact address, not a mandatory place of production. What the law insists on is that correspondence reaches you and that the company has a verifiable presence there.

2.2. The additional layer for foreign investors — project location

This is where foreign applicants differ from domestic ones. To obtain an Investment Registration Certificate, the project must have an identified project location, evidenced by one of the following:

• a valid copy of documents on land use rights, or
• a valid copy of the location lease agreement, or
• other documents establishing the right to use the location for the project.

The practical implication matters more than the wording. Your lease must not merely exist — it must be drafted to withstand submission to the licensing authority: correct form, correct lessor details, and accompanied by the lessor’s proof of lawful right to the premises. A generic residential tenancy agreement will not survive review, and each round of supplementary requests adds weeks to your timeline.

2.3. Addresses that will be rejected

a) Residential apartments in condominium buildings. Point c, Clause 8, Article 3 of the Housing Law 2023 (in force since 1 January 2025) prohibits using a condominium apartment for any purpose other than residential. Business registration authorities therefore reject applications that name a residential apartment as the head office.

The penalty under Point e, Clause 1, Article 70 of Decree 16/2022/ND-CP is VND 20,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 (the rate applicable to individuals and organisations is determined under Article 4 of that Decree), together with a forced restoration of residential use — meaning the company must relocate its head office.

The exception that matters: in a mixed-use condominium building, a company may lawfully register its head office in the portion of the building zoned and approved for commercial, business or office use. What the law examines is the legal function of the specific floor area, not the name of the building. This distinction traps a great many foreign founders who assume that living in a building entitles them to register a company there.

b) Addresses that cannot be identified by administrative boundaries — incomplete addresses without house number, street, ward and city.

c) Addresses already flagged as high-risk by the tax authority, typically because previous occupants were declared not operating at their registered address.

2.4. Obligations that continue after registration

Display your company signboard at the head office, branch, representative office and business locations — Clause 4, Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020. This is a legal obligation, not an amenity, and it is the single most important piece of evidence during a tax inspection.

Be reachable by correspondence sent to the registered address.

Cooperate with tax authority verification of your operating status.

Register any change of head office within 10 days of the change.

2.5. Two recent changes foreign clients should know about

Enterprise registration procedure. Company registration now follows Decree 168/2025/ND-CP, effective 1 July 2025, which replaced Decree 01/2021/ND-CP and prioritises online submission through the National Public Service Portal.

Administrative restructuring. From 1 July 2025 Vietnam reorganised its local administrative units and removed the district tier. In Ho Chi Minh City, addresses are now written as ward directly under the city — so “District 1” and “Binh Thanh District” no longer appear in new addresses. If you researched Vietnam before mid-2025, expect to encounter both formats. Under Decree 168/2025/ND-CP, where a change in administrative boundaries changes a company’s registered address, the company is not required to file a change-of-address registration; it may simply request an update when convenient or when filing another amendment.

3. THE PROBLEMS AND RISKS FOREIGN INVESTORS RUN INTO

3.1. Committing to premises too early

Signing a two- or three-year commercial lease with a substantial deposit, before you know whether the market will support your plan, converts an exploratory step into a fixed liability. Many foreign companies spend their first year with a team of two to five people who work remotely or spend their days visiting clients.

3.2. Applications rejected because of the address

The recurring causes: a condominium apartment named as the head office; a landlord unwilling to allow business registration or unwilling to release copies of land use right documents; an address written incompletely; or a lease that omits the elements the licensing authority expects.

3.3. The most serious risk: being declared “not operating at the registered address”

This is the risk foreign investors underestimate most, because it has no direct equivalent in many home jurisdictions.

How it is triggered. Under Article 17 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC, where the tax authority sends a document by post and it is returned because nobody received it or the address does not exist — or where the taxpayer fails to file tax returns after a second notice — the taxpayer is moved to a status of “pending verification of operating status at the registered address.” The tax authority then coordinates with the commune-level People’s Committee and the police to verify the premises in person and record the findings. If there is no signboard and nobody present, the taxpayer is declared “not operating at the registered address.”

What follows is a chain reaction:

• E-invoices can no longer be issued — you cannot invoice customers, which effectively halts revenue
• Tax returns can no longer be filed
• No amendments to the enterprise registration can be processed
• The company is published on the tax authority’s public list, visible to banks and counterparties
• Revocation of the Enterprise Registration Certificate may be requested
• Even voluntary dissolution is blocked: under Clause 3, Article 14 of Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC, a company under this status must first attend its managing tax office to settle tax obligations and terminate the validity of its tax code
• For a foreign-invested company, the consequences reach further than the local operation: blocked invoicing and a public non-operating status complicate profit repatriation, audit sign-off and reporting to the parent company.

The current enforcement climate. Vietnam’s tax sector is running a “tax code clean-up” campaign. Under Official Telegram No. 18 issued by the Tax Department on 13 July 2026, tax offices were instructed to deal with 325,500 enterprises that are not operating at their registered address and owe tax; where a company has not operated for a year or more without notification, the tax office issues a request to the business registration authority to handle the violation and revoke the Enterprise Registration Certificate. A further 291,962 enterprises that ceased operations without completing dissolution were required to finalise their filings and obligations. From 1 July 2026, tax authorities may request the opening of bankruptcy proceedings against companies that owe tax and have abandoned their registered address for more than three years.

3.4. Nobody in Vietnam to receive correspondence

This is the specific vulnerability of foreign-owned companies. A founder based in Singapore, Seoul or Frankfurt will not know that a tax notice was delivered and returned. By the time the problem surfaces, the company may already be in the verification pipeline described above.

3.5. Choosing the wrong virtual office provider

Warning signs worth taking seriously:

• The address sits inside a residential condominium apartment — non-compliant from day one
• No signboard permitted — a breach of Clause 4, Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020 and the loss of your best evidence during inspection
• No one on site to receive mail
• A thin lease with no supporting proof of the lessor’s right to the premises
• The provider is not a licensed professional firm and cannot assist when the tax authority asks for explanations
• The address has a history of companies declared not operating there

3.6. Language and procedure

Filings, notices and inspections are conducted in Vietnamese. Foreign corporate documents require consular legalisation and notarised translation. A misunderstanding at the wrong moment is expensive in time rather than money — and in licensing, time is the scarce resource.

4. THE SOLUTION: GOLDEN STAR VIRTUAL OFFICE SERVICES

Golden Star Accounting and Consulting Company provides virtual office addresses in real commercial buildings in central Ho Chi Minh City, structured specifically around the risks described above.

4.1. What the service includes

a) Use of the leased address to register a new company and to establish your head office, branch or representative office address.

b) The right to display your company signboard at the leased address — satisfying the obligation under Clause 4, Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020 and providing physical evidence of presence.

c) Golden Star receives correspondence on your behalf and notifies you immediately by email, telephone and SMS. For a company whose decision-makers are abroad, this is the single most valuable component of the service.

d) Golden Star forwards mail and documents to any address you nominate, including overseas (postal charges payable by the client).

e) You receive your own visitors at the leased premises.

f) A location lease package prepared to the standard required for submission with an investment registration or enterprise registration file.

Package	Purpose	Fee
Standard	Head office, branch or representative office address	VND 550,000/month (≈ US$21)
Investment / FDI	Company address and investment project location, or representative office of a foreign company in Vietnam	VND 880,000/month (≈ US$34)

USD figures are indicative and depend on the prevailing exchange rate. Supporting services — accounting, tax filing, payroll, legal advice — are quoted separately.

4.3. How it works

Step 1 — Consultation. We advise on the address that fits your structure, intended business lines and the specific file you will submit (FDI company, representative office, branch or domestic company).

Step 2 — Agreement and document pack. You receive the lease agreement together with the supporting documents needed for your investment or enterprise registration file.

Step 3 — Filing. Golden Star prepares and submits the investment registration, enterprise registration, initial tax registration, e-invoice and digital signature applications.

Step 4 — Ongoing protection. Signboard displayed, correspondence received and reported to you immediately, and professional support whenever the tax authority verifies your operating status.

4.4. Who this suits

• Foreign investors establishing a first entity in Vietnam
• Foreign companies opening a representative office or branch
• Investors still assessing the market who do not want a long lease commitment
• Foreign-owned consulting, technology, e-commerce, trading and service companies with distributed teams
• Regional groups needing a Ho Chi Minh City address alongside operations elsewhere
• Companies already leasing space in an inconvenient location who want a central business address

5. WHY CLIENTS CHOOSE GOLDEN STAR

5.1. A licensed accounting and tax agent firm, not a space broker

This is the difference that matters when something goes wrong. Golden Star has operated since 2009 (Business Registration Certificate No. 0308929524, issued 29 May 2009 by the Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City) and holds both a Certificate of Eligibility to Provide Accounting Services and a Certificate of Eligibility to Provide Tax Procedure Services.

When a tax officer arrives to verify the address, when an explanatory letter is required, or when a filing is queried, the matter is handled by licensed accounting and tax practitioners — not by a receptionist at a serviced office.

5.2. Addresses with the correct legal function

Our addresses are in commercial buildings and areas where company head offices are permitted — not residential condominium apartments. This removes the Housing Law 2023 exposure at the point of filing, before it can become a penalty.

5.3. Correspondence handled proactively

Immediate notification by email, telephone and SMS. Given the current tax code clean-up campaign, one returned envelope is enough to start a verification process — and you should hear about it the same day, not months later.

5.4. One provider for the entire lifecycle

Address → investment registration → company incorporation → tax and accounting → work permits, temporary residence cards and visas for foreign personnel. Available services include tax declaration, tax finalisation and refunds, bookkeeping, payroll and social insurance, legal advice on accounting, tax and corporate matters, contract drafting, e-invoicing and digital signatures.

5.5. Bilingual support

Vietnamese and English throughout, with an English version of our website.

5.6. Central, recognisable locations

Addresses in Tan Dinh (central Ho Chi Minh City) and in Park 7 Tower, Vinhomes Central Park — locations that read as credible on contracts, bank files, tender submissions and company searches performed from abroad.

6. WHAT YOU GET

✔ A lawful head office address in Vietnam, compliant with Article 42 of the Enterprise Law 2020 and clear of the Housing Law 2023 prohibition

✔ A location lease package suitable for submission with your investment registration file — the bottleneck at the start of every FDI project

✔ Your enterprise registration approved without address-related rejections or supplementary requests

✔ Your company signboard displayed at the registered address, as the law requires

✔ Someone in Vietnam receiving your tax correspondence — sharply reducing the risk of being declared not operating at your registered address, having your tax code suspended, or facing revocation of your Enterprise Registration Certificate

✔ Fixed costs of about US$21–34 per month instead of a commercial lease, deposit, management fees, utilities and furniture

✔ No long-term commitment while you are still assessing the market

✔ A credible central address for banks, partners and tender documents

✔ A single provider for address, licensing, tax, accounting and foreign personnel matters

✔ Licensed professionals beside you whenever the tax authority inspects or requests explanations

7. OUR ADDRESSES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

a) Tan Dinh — central Ho Chi Minh City (formerly District 1) No. 9 Phan Ke Binh, Tan Dinh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City Best suited to consulting, legal, financial and trading companies that need a core central address.

b) Thanh My Tay — Vinhomes Central Park (formerly Binh Thanh District) Floor 38, Park 7 Tower, Vinhomes Central Park, 720A Dien Bien Phu, Thanh My Tay Ward, Ho Chi Minh City Best suited to technology, startup and foreign-invested companies that want an internationally recognisable address.

c) Hiep Binh — eastern Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Thu Duc City) No. 1, Street 18, Hiep Binh Residential Area, Hiep Binh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City Best suited to logistics, construction, manufacturing and trading companies operating in the eastern corridor.

Ward names reflect the administrative reorganisation applied from 1 July 2025. Under Decree 168/2025/ND-CP, a change of address caused by administrative boundary changes does not oblige a company to file a change-of-address registration.

8. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is a virtual office legal in Vietnam?

Yes. Vietnamese law does not prohibit leasing an address to register a company’s head office, nor does it prohibit several companies from registering at the same lawful address. Article 42 of the Enterprise Law 2020 requires only that the head office be a contact address within Vietnamese territory, identifiable by administrative boundaries. The address must be real, must not be a residential condominium apartment, and must be supported by a proper lease and the lessor’s proof of lawful use.

Q1: Can a foreign investor use a virtual office to register a company in Vietnam?

Yes. Foreign-invested companies are subject to the same head office rules as domestic ones. The additional requirement is at the  investment registration stage, where the file must evidence the project location — which may be established by a valid copy of the location lease agreement. Golden Star provides a package designed for this purpose at VND 880,000 per month.

Q2: Can I register my company at my apartment in Vietnam?

Not if it is a residential condominium apartment. Point c, Clause 8, Article 3 of the Housing Law 2023 prohibits using a condominium apartment for non-residential purposes, and Point e, Clause 1, Article 70 of Decree 16/2022/ND-CP sets a penalty of VND 20–40 million together with forced restoration of residential use. In a mixed-use building, you may register in the portion approved for commercial, business or office use.

Q3: Do multiple companies at one address create a compliance problem?

No. There is no legal limit on the number of companies registered at a lawful address. Problems arise not from the number of companies but from whether mail is actually received and whether there is a verifiable presence when the tax authority inspects.

Q4: What happens if my company is declared “not operating at the registered address”?

You cannot issue e-invoices, cannot file tax returns, cannot amend your enterprise registration, and the company is published on the tax authority’s public list. Revocation of the Enterprise Registration Certificate may be requested. Even dissolution requires attending the managing tax office to settle obligations first.

Q5: I do not live in Vietnam. How will I receive tax correspondence?

Golden Star receives correspondence on your behalf and notifies you immediately by email, telephone or SMS, then forwards documents to any address you nominate, including overseas. This is the main reason foreign clients use the service.

Q6: Am I allowed to display my company signboard at the leased address?

Yes. Golden Star clients may display their company signboard at the leased address. This is a legal obligation under Clause 4, Article 37 of the Enterprise Law 2020 and serves as evidence of presence during verification.

Q8: My project needs a factory or warehouse. Can I still use a virtual office?

A virtual office is appropriate for head office registration and for service, consulting, trading and technology projects that do not require production premises. If your project requires a factory, warehouse or specialised facility, the project location must be actual premises suited to that use. We advise case by case based on your business lines and project objectives.

Q9: District 1 no longer appears in addresses. Has something changed?

Yes. Vietnam reorganised its local administrative units from 1 July 2025 and removed the district tier. Ho Chi Minh City addresses are now written as ward directly under the city. Existing companies are not obliged to file a change-of-address registration for this reason.

Q10: Can I use a virtual office address to open a bank account and register e-invoices?

Yes. The address on your Enterprise Registration Certificate is your legal address for all transactions, including bank account opening, initial tax registration, e-invoicing and digital signatures. Golden Star assists with all of these.

Q11: How much does a virtual office in Ho Chi Minh City cost?

VND 550,000 per month (approximately US$21) for a head office, branch or representative office address; VND 880,000 per month (approximately US$34) where the address also serves as an investment project location or as the address of a foreign company’s representative office in Vietnam.

9. CONTACT US

Looking for a virtual office in Vietnam, or a compliant company registration address in Ho Chi Minh City? We will tell you within one conversation whether a virtual office fits your structure — and where it does not.

Golden Star Accounting and Consulting Company

Head office: No. 9 Phan Ke Binh, Tan Dinh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: +84 28 7300 3448 · +84 914 19 07 07 · +84 942 05 04 07

Thanh My Tay office: P7-38.17, Park 7 Tower, Vinhomes Central Park, 720A Dien Bien Phu, Thanh My Tay Ward, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: +84 28 3620 8435 · +84 914 19 07 07 · +84 942 05 04 07

Email: ngocthu@ketoansaovang.com

Zalo / WhatsApp: +84 942 05 04 07