Income Tax in Vietnam for Foreigners (2026): Resident or Not, the New 5-Bracket Table, and a Worked Payslip
How Vietnam taxes a foreign employee's salary in 2026: the 183-day residency test, the flat 20% for non-residents, the new five-bracket table (5% to 35%), the 15.5 million VND personal deduction, social insurance on the 50.6 million cap, and a line-by-line example on a 60 million VND salary.
On a 60 million VND salary, a foreign employee in Hanoi can take home about 50.7 million or about 48 million. Same job, same contract. The 2.7 million gap each month comes from whether the tax office treats you as a resident, and most people only find out which one they are when the first payslip lands.
Resident or non-resident
You count as a tax resident for the year if any one of these is true:
- you spend 183 days or more in Vietnam, added up across the calendar year or across the 12 months from your first arrival;
- you have a registered permanent address here, which includes holding a temporary residence card;
- you rent a home under a lease that covers 183 days or more in the year.
The days don't need to be in one stretch. Arrival and departure day are normally counted together as one day. So a two-year contract with a lease in your own name usually makes you a resident from month one, long before day 183. If you also count as a tax resident at home, the double tax treaty between the two countries decides which one wins, and that is a question for an adviser.
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Non-residents: 20% of everything
A non-resident pays a flat 20% on gross salary earned for work in Vietnam. There are no deductions and no brackets, so a 60 million salary loses 12 million to tax, every month, from the first đồng.
Residents: five brackets after deductions
Residents are taxed on worldwide income using a progressive table. From the 2026 tax year the table has five brackets instead of seven, under Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15. The rates apply to monthly *taxable* income, which is what remains after social insurance and family deductions:
| Monthly taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
| up to 10 million VND | 5% |
| over 10 to 30 million | 10% |
| over 30 to 60 million | 20% |
| over 60 to 100 million | 30% |
| over 100 million | 35% |
The family deductions rose at the same time: 15.5 million VND a month for yourself and 6.2 million for each registered dependant, effective 1 January 2026. Only one taxpayer can claim a given dependant, and your employer registers them with the tax office for you.
Social insurance comes off first
A foreigner with a work permit and a labour contract of 12 months or more is enrolled in Vietnamese social insurance. You pay 8% for social insurance and 1.5% for health insurance, on your contractual salary up to a cap of 20 times the statutory base salary. The base salary went up to 2.53 million VND on 1 July 2026, so the cap is now 50.6 million VND a month (it was 46.8 million before July). Unemployment insurance generally does not apply to foreign employees, so you shouldn't see that 1% on your payslip; if you do, ask HR why.
People on short intra-company transfers and those past retirement age can be exempt from social insurance. The employer does the filing in every case.
The 60 million payslip, line by line
Resident, no dependants, salary paid after July 2026:
| Line | VND |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | 60,000,000 |
| Social insurance 8% (on the 50.6 million cap) | −4,048,000 |
| Health insurance 1.5% (on the cap) | −759,000 |
| Personal deduction | −15,500,000 |
| Taxable income | 39,693,000 |
| 5% on the first 10 million | 500,000 |
| 10% on the next 20 million | 2,000,000 |
| 20% on the last 9,693,000 | 1,938,600 |
| Total tax | 4,438,600 |
| Take-home | 50,754,400 |
As a non-resident the same contract pays 12,000,000 in tax. If the contract is short enough that social insurance doesn't apply, that leaves 48 million; if it does apply, the insurance comes off too. With one registered dependant, the resident's taxable income drops by another 6.2 million and the tax by about 1.24 million more.
To try other salaries, use the gross-to-net calculator. The page is in Vietnamese, but you only type numbers: gross pay, number of dependants, and region.
Where foreigners lose money
Arriving mid-year is the classic one. Your employer may withhold the flat 20% until you pass 183 days, then switch you to the table. The extra tax only comes back through the year-end finalisation, so keep every payslip and photograph your passport stamps; proving the day count is your job, not the employer's.
Allowances are the second. Housing your employer pays directly is added to your taxable income, but only up to 15% of your other taxable income; rent above that line is not taxed. A "housing allowance" paid in cash with your salary gets no such cap; it is simply salary. One return flight home a year and school fees for children in Vietnam can be tax-free, but only with the right wording in the contract and proper invoices.
The third happens on the way out. Settle your finalisation before you leave for good. A refund you never claim stays with the state, and serious unpaid tax can delay your exit.
If you are paid from two countries, own investments at home, or receive part of your salary offshore, pay for a tax adviser in Vietnam. For one local contract, your HR team and the numbers above will get you most of the way.
General information, not tax advice. Figures checked in October 2026; the base salary and deductions can change, so confirm with your employer or the General Department of Taxation.
— John Le
Sources
- Vietnam Briefing: Individual income tax in Vietnam
- Viet Nam News: personal income tax deductions for foreign residents with dependants (2026)
- Viettonkin Consulting: Vietnam PIT for expats, 2026 reforms
- PLO: social insurance cap rises to 50.6 million VND from 1 July 2026 (Vietnamese)
- Báo Pháp Luật: compulsory social insurance cap 50.6 million VND (Vietnamese)
- ASEAN Briefing: personal income tax exemptions and reductions in Vietnam
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John Le · Hanoi local · writes about money, work and everyday admin in Vietnam. Spotted an outdated price? Tell us and we will update it.
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