Vietnam Annual Personal Income Tax Estimator
If you work in Vietnam as a foreigner, the monthly tax withheld from your payslip is only a provisional amount. Your real liability is set once a year, when annual income is aggregated, deductions applied, and the progressive annual scale run over the total — a process Vietnam calls tax finalization (quyết toán thuế). Knowing your annual number in advance tells you whether a refund is waiting or a top-up payment is due.
Everything hinges on tax residency. You are a Vietnamese tax resident if you are present in Vietnam for 183 days or more within a calendar year or within 12 consecutive months from first arrival, or if you maintain a permanent residence here (registered residence or a long-term leased home). Residents are taxed on worldwide employment income at progressive rates with family deductions; non-residents pay a flat 20% on Vietnam-sourced employment income, no deductions, and generally no annual finalization for that income.
Two timing traps catch expats. First, tax year 2025 — finalized in early 2026 — still follows the old law: 7 annual brackets and a personal deduction of 132.000.000 VND/year. The new Law 109/2025/QH15 (5 brackets, much higher deductions) only applies from tax year 2026. Second, if you terminate your assignment and leave Vietnam, you are generally expected to finalize your tax position up to the departure date rather than wait for the normal annual cycle — leaving without settling can complicate future work permits and refunds. This estimator applies the 2025 seven-bracket annual scale used for the current finalization round.
How annual PIT is computed for a tax resident (tax year 2025)
Step 1 — Aggregate worldwide employment income
Residents add up all employment income for the calendar year: Vietnamese salary, offshore-paid portions of a split contract, bonuses, and taxable benefits in kind (employer-paid housing is counted, capped at 15% of total taxable income). Compulsory insurance contributions and qualifying exempt items (one home-leave round trip per year, school fees for children paid by the employer, relocation allowance for the first move) are excluded before tax.
Step 2 — Subtract deductions (2025 amounts)
| Deduction | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Personal (automatic for residents) | 11.000.000 VND | 132.000.000 VND |
| Per registered dependent | 4.400.000 VND | 52.800.000 VND |
Dependents (children under 18, dependent parents, etc.) must be registered with the tax authority — usually via your employer, with translated and notarised documents — before the deduction counts. Charitable donations to licensed Vietnamese organisations and voluntary pension contributions within the cap are also deductible.
Step 3 — Run the 7-bracket annual scale
| Bracket | Annual taxable income (VND) | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Up to 60.000.000 | 5% |
| 2 | 60.000.000 – 120.000.000 | 10% |
| 3 | 120.000.000 – 216.000.000 | 15% |
| 4 | 216.000.000 – 384.000.000 | 20% |
| 5 | 384.000.000 – 624.000.000 | 25% |
| 6 | 624.000.000 – 960.000.000 | 30% |
| 7 | Over 960.000.000 | 35% |
The scale is marginal: income is sliced through the brackets and each slice pays only its own rate, so crossing a threshold never reduces your after-tax income.
Step 4 — Compare with tax already withheld
Sum the tax withheld by every payer during the year (each issues a withholding certificate). Withheld more than the Step-3 liability → refund, but only if you file a finalization return; withheld less → top-up due. You may authorise your employer to finalize on your behalf only if you had income from that single employer for the full year; multiple payers or offshore income mean you self-file. Deadlines typically fall around the end of March (employer finalization) or the end of April (self-filing) — confirm the exact date for the year with the tax authority. If your home country has a double taxation agreement with Vietnam, foreign tax credits are claimed through this same process.
Tax year 2026 onward: the new 5-bracket law
From tax year 2026, Law 109/2025/QH15 and Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15 raise the personal deduction to 15.500.000 VND/month (186.000.000/year) and the dependent deduction to 6.200.000 VND/month (74.400.000/year), and consolidate the scale to 5 brackets:
| Bracket | Monthly taxable income (VND) | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Up to 10.000.000 | 5% |
| 2 | 10.000.000 – 30.000.000 (*pending implementing decree) | 10% |
| 3 | 30.000.000 – 60.000.000 (*pending implementing decree) | 20% |
| 4 | 60.000.000 – 100.000.000 (*pending implementing decree) | 30% |
| 5 | Over 100.000.000 | 35% |
The two middle boundaries (marked \) are not yet confirmed* — they await the implementing decree, so treat any specific figures you see online with caution. Your 2025 finalization is unaffected by the new law.
Worked example: expat resident, 600.000.000 VND/year, 1 dependent (tax year 2025)
Sarah, a tax resident (210 days in Vietnam), earns 50M VND/month of taxable employment income — 600.000.000 VND for the year after compulsory insurance — and has registered one dependent child.
Taxable income = 600.000.000 − 132.000.000 (personal) − 52.800.000 (1 dependent) = 415.200.000 VND.
Slicing through the annual brackets:
| Bracket | Taxable slice (VND) | Rate | Amount in bracket | Tax on slice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 – 60.000.000 | 5% | 60.000.000 | 3.000.000 |
| 2 | 60.000.000 – 120.000.000 | 10% | 60.000.000 | 6.000.000 |
| 3 | 120.000.000 – 216.000.000 | 15% | 96.000.000 | 14.400.000 |
| 4 | 216.000.000 – 384.000.000 | 20% | 168.000.000 | 33.600.000 |
| 5 | 384.000.000 – 415.200.000 | 25% | 31.200.000 | 7.800.000 |
Total annual PIT: 64.800.000 VND — an effective rate of 10.8% on gross income, even though her top slice is taxed at the 25% marginal rate. After-tax income: 535.200.000 VND.
Two observations worth money. Without the registered dependent her tax would be 78.000.000 VND — the registration saves 13.200.000 VND/year (the 52.800.000 deduction times her 25% marginal rate), so the notarised paperwork pays for itself many times over. And if Sarah were a non-resident (under 183 days, no permanent residence), the same 600.000.000 VND would instead face a flat 20% — 120.000.000 VND, roughly 85.2% more tax — which is why day-counting around the 183-day line matters so much in arrival and departure years.
Frequently asked questions
Do foreigners have to do annual tax finalization in Vietnam?
Tax residents (≥183 days or a permanent residence in Vietnam) generally must finalize annually if tax was under-withheld or they want a refund. You can authorise your employer to finalize for you only if all your year's income came from that one employer; offshore-paid salary, a mid-year employer change, or multiple payers mean you self-file. Non-residents taxed at the flat 20% on employment income generally do not file an annual finalization for it.
What happens to my Vietnamese tax when I leave Vietnam for good?
You are expected to finalize up to your departure date rather than wait for the normal annual deadline — in practice your employer or a tax agent files a finalization covering the part-year, settling any shortfall or claiming a refund. The annual deductions are pro-rated to the months you were taxable. Skipping this can leave an open liability that resurfaces if you ever return to work in Vietnam, and unclaimed refunds are hard to recover from abroad.
How is the 183-day Vietnam tax residency test counted?
Count days of physical presence within either the calendar year or the first 12 consecutive months from arrival — arrival and departure days both count. Reaching 183 days, or keeping a permanent residence (registered address or a leased home with a term of 183 days+), makes you a resident: progressive rates on worldwide employment income with deductions, instead of the flat 20% non-resident rate on Vietnam-sourced income.
Is my overseas income taxed in Vietnam?
If you are a Vietnamese tax resident, yes — employment income is taxed on a worldwide basis, including any portion paid offshore under a split-payroll arrangement, and you must self-declare it at finalization. Tax already paid abroad can usually be credited under a double taxation agreement (Vietnam has DTAs with 80+ countries), capped at the Vietnamese tax due on that income. Non-residents are taxed only on Vietnam-sourced income.
Which tax brackets apply to my 2025 income versus 2026?
Tax year 2025 (finalized in early 2026) uses the old 7-bracket annual scale — 5% on the first 60.000.000 VND of taxable income up to 35% above 960.000.000 VND — with deductions of 132.000.000/year (self) and 52.800.000/year per dependent. Tax year 2026 switches to Law 109/2025/QH15: 5 brackets (5/10/20/30/35%) and deductions of 186.000.000/year and 74.400.000/year. The middle 2026 boundaries still await the implementing decree.
Can expats get a Vietnamese tax refund?
Yes — refunds arise whenever monthly withholding exceeded the annual liability: arriving or leaving mid-year (deductions and the annual scale smooth out the months without income), a large bonus withheld at a high provisional rate, or dependents registered late. Refunds are not automatic: you must file a finalization return and request payment to a Vietnamese bank account, which is why it is far easier to claim before you leave the country.
Is employer-provided housing taxable for expats in Vietnam?
Partially. Employer-paid rent is taxable benefit-in-kind, but it is capped at 15% of your total taxable income (excluding the housing itself) — any rent above that cap is tax-free to you. This makes employer-paid housing one of the few meaningful structuring levers left for expat packages, alongside the exempt one annual home-leave airfare and employer-paid school fees for children in Vietnam.