Investment Reporting Obligations of FDI Companies

Investment reporting obligations of FDI companies are among the most easily neglected compliance duties — many companies operate for years without ever filing project implementation reports, only discovering the violation when adjusting their Investment Registration Certificate or being inspected. Meanwhile, the reporting system is the project’s “health record”: regulators rely on it to assess capital contribution progress, fulfillment of commitments stated on the Certificate, and early detection of “suspended” or slow-moving projects. A complete, consistent reporting dossier is also a prerequisite for smooth adjustment, extension, incentive or project transfer procedures. This article comprehensively systematizes the reports investors and foreign-invested economic organizations must file under the current legal framework, along with common practical mistakes and how to build a sustainable compliance calendar.

Legal Framework Governing Reporting Obligations

The Investment Law 2025 (No. 143/2025/QH15, effective from 01/3/2026, replacing the Investment Law 2020) continues to recognize the investment activity reporting regime: investors and economic organizations implementing investment projects must report to competent state authorities on project implementation periodically and ad hoc when requested. In essence, the reporting regime is inherited from the previous framework — companies already fulfilling reporting obligations well under the Investment Law 2020 need only continue, while updating new templates and processes when implementing guidance for the Investment Law 2025 is issued.

Reporting is conducted mainly through the National Investment Information System — companies need an account, must maintain login credentials and update data fully and timely. The receiving authority is the investment registration authority by decentralization: management boards of industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech parks and economic zones for projects therein, or the Department of Finance for projects outside zones. Beyond the Investment Law, FDI companies also bear reporting obligations under specialized legal frameworks: the Enterprise Law 2020 (registration of changes to enterprise registration contents), the Tax Administration Law 2025 (No. 108/2025/QH15), the Social Insurance Law 2024 (No. 41/2024/QH15), statistics, environmental protection and foreign exchange management laws. “Investment reporting” in practice must therefore be understood broadly as the entire reporting system an FDI company must fulfill — not only reports sent to the investment registration authority.

Periodic Report Types

The core group comprises four types below. The common point to remember: figures across reports must be consistent with each other and with the project’s legal dossier — this is the first thing regulators compare.

1. Project Implementation Status Reports

This is the “central” report of the investment reporting regime. Typical contents include: capital contribution progress (actual contributed capital versus total registered investment capital, contribution methods and timing); project implementation progress (site clearance, construction, equipment installation, commissioning); labor use status; fulfillment of financial obligations to the State (taxes, fees, land rent); and operating results (revenue, output, exports if any). The report is prepared by accounting in coordination with legal, signed by the legal representative (or a duly authorized person) who is responsible for accuracy.

Common mistakes: recording contribution progress per “plan” instead of actual contributed capital; using accounting period figures different from the reporting period; or letting accounting and legal prepare figures independently, producing two different versions when regulators compare against audited financial statements.

2. Investment Monitoring and Evaluation Reports

For projects subject to investment monitoring and evaluation, companies must provide information and documents and cooperate with competent authorities during monitoring. Monitoring focuses on achievement of objectives, progress and efficiency versus registered contents. Monitoring and evaluation results are among the bases for regulators’ next steps — from reminders and remediation requests to considering project termination in cases of serious, prolonged violations.

3. Annual Audited Financial Statements

Foreign-invested companies are subject to annual financial statement audits by independent audit organizations. Audited financial statements serve not only obligations to tax and statistics authorities but are also an important basis for the investment registration authority to compare actual contribution progress and the project’s financial status. Practice shows many companies file unaudited statements, file late, or let owner equity and contributed capital figures on financial statements diverge from figures reported on the investment system — these small “cracks” are usually discovered when companies adjust projects, or when new investors conduct legal due diligence before M&A transactions.

4. Specialized Reports

Alongside investment reports, FDI companies must file specialized reports: labor, wage and social insurance use reports (under labor law and the Social Insurance Law 2024); tax reports and declarations under the Tax Administration Law 2025; periodic statistics reports; environmental protection reports (periodic environmental monitoring results, annual environmental protection reports for establishments required to do so); and reports on foreign exchange management and capital accounts under State Bank regulations. Each area has its own receiving authority, templates and deadlines — so companies need one consolidating focal point rather than letting each department handle its own area.

Reporting upon Project Changes

Any change from the Investment Registration Certificate contents — increasing or decreasing investment capital, changing investors (capital contribution/share transfers), changing objectives, scale, capacity, project location, project duration, investor information — must undergo adjustment procedures and timely reporting to the investment registration authority. In parallel, if the change also alters enterprise registration contents (e.g. increasing charter capital, changing members/shareholders, changing the legal representative), the company must register changes at the business registration authority under the Enterprise Law 2020.

Practice shows many companies make unilateral changes (e.g. increasing charter capital without adjusting investment capital on the Certificate) and only discover during a comprehensive legal review that investment and enterprise dossiers do not match. A typical scenario: the company raises charter capital from VND 10 billion to VND 30 billion to supplement working capital, only completing procedures at the business registration authority while forgetting to adjust the Investment Registration Certificate; two years later, when the foreign investor wants to transfer part of the capital contribution, the buyer’s due diligence finds investment capital on the Certificate still at VND 10 billion — the transaction stalls for months to “clean” the dossier, with risks of administrative penalties. Fixing later always costs far more than reporting on time.

Another note: changing project location usually triggers a chain of land, environmental and fire protection procedures; changing project objectives may create new business investment conditions. Companies should review all related obligations before making changes, rather than only completing the single Certificate adjustment procedure.

Five Common Mistakes That Earn Compliance “Demerits”

From experience supporting FDI companies, here are the five most repeated mistakes:

1. No account or forgotten account on the National Investment Information System. Many companies fail to register an account after receiving the Certificate, or the responsible person resigns without handing over login credentials. Consequence: inability to file electronic reports, and only “scrambling” to restore the account when adjustment procedures are needed.

2. Confusing investment reports with tax or statistics reports. Many chief accountants think “filing full tax reports means compliance”. In reality these are independent reporting regimes sent to different authorities — full tax filing does not replace project implementation reports sent to the investment registration authority.

3. Inconsistent figures across reports. Actual contributed capital on investment reports differs from owner equity on audited financial statements; headcount reported to the investment registration authority differs from headcount covered by social insurance. This inconsistency is the first “red light” when regulators — or buyers in M&A transactions — compare dossiers.

4. Unilaterally changing project contents without adjustment procedures. Increasing/decreasing capital, changing location, changing investors without adjusting the Certificate — discovered only when extension, transfer or inspection is needed, with remediation costs many times the cost of doing it right from the start.

5. Not keeping proof of filed reports. Filing electronically but not keeping receipts or signed PDF copies; when regulators review or disputes arise over “filed or not”, the company cannot prove compliance. A simple habit — keeping electronic receipts by period and report type — helps companies avoid much unnecessary trouble.

Sanctions for Non-Reporting or Misreporting

Failure to report, late reporting or untruthful reporting may be subject to administrative penalties in the planning and investment sector, with fines and remedial measures depending on the nature and severity of the violation. Notably, sanctions do not stop at fines: reporting violations are usually recorded by the investment registration authority in the project’s “compliance history” and become unfavorable factors when the company adjusts projects, requests duration extensions, requests investment incentives, or when competent authorities consider project termination.

For companies with labor, wage and insurance compliance obligations, reporting delays in one area usually accompany delays in others — a sign of problematic internal compliance systems. In M&A contexts, a history of reporting violations also reduces the seller’s bargaining value: buyers will demand indemnity commitments for outstanding compliance risks, or deduct estimated remediation costs straight from the transfer price.

Building a Compliance Calendar for FDI Companies

The sustainable solution is to build an overall compliance calendar: list all reporting obligations by area (investment, enterprise, tax, labor, environment, foreign exchange), determine deadlines, responsible persons and reminder mechanisms. The checklist framework below is a starting point — specific deadlines should be re-checked on the National Investment Information System and regulators’ documents before each period, as templates and deadlines may be adjusted under new guidance:

• Project implementation status reports — contents: contribution progress, implementation, labor, financial obligations; deadline: periodic as prescribed; filed with: investment registration authority via the National Investment Information System.
• Investment monitoring and evaluation reports — applicable when the project is subject to monitoring; cooperate in providing information as requested by competent authorities.
• Audited financial statements — deadline: annually; filed with: tax and statistics authorities; also kept for comparison with investment reports.
• Labor, wage and social insurance reports — deadline: periodic under labor and social insurance law; focal point: HR department.
• Tax reports and declarations — deadline: per declaration periods under the Tax Administration Law 2025; focal point: accounting department.
• Statistics reports — deadline: periodic under the statistics reporting regime applicable to companies.
• Environmental reports — periodic monitoring and annual environmental protection reports (for establishments required to do so).
• Project change reports — arising when changes occur versus the Investment Registration Certificate; complete adjustment procedures timely, do not let them accumulate.
• Ad hoc reports — when requested by competent state authorities; need internal processes to respond on time.

On organization: newly established companies should set up the compliance calendar from the first year, attached to specific responsible positions (chief accountant, HR head, legal) and one consolidating focal point. Operating companies should do a one-time review to “clean” outstanding obligations — back-file reports, adjust changed-but-unreported contents — before regulators discover them. Experience shows proactive remediation is evaluated far more positively than discovery through inspection.

Frequently Asked Questions