Vietnam Income Tax for Remote Workers in Saigon: Filing Guide

A resident paid from abroad declares wage tax quarterly, directly with the tax authority. Each quarterly return is due by the last day of the first month after the quarter. Residents are taxed on income inside and outside Vietnam, with five brackets from 5% to 35%. A non-resident pays 20% on wages for work in Vietnam.

By Vincent Nguyen

Pay from a company or client abroad is not outside Vietnamese tax for a resident. Residency decides which income Vietnam taxes, so it comes first.

For a resident paid from abroad, the calendar is quarterly returns, then one annual finalisation. The tax authority that receives the quarterly return is the one that directly manages where you live.

Resident or non-resident: which rules apply to you

A resident is present for 183 days or more within one calendar year, or within 12 consecutive months from the first day of presence. A regular residence in Vietnam, including a home rented under a lease with a fixed term, also counts. Anyone else is a non-resident.

For a resident, taxable income arises inside and outside Vietnam, regardless of where it is paid and received. For a non-resident it arises within Vietnam. The full test, with day counting, is in the Vietnam tax residency guide.

What counts as wages

Wages and salaries include amounts an employee receives from an employer in any form, in cash or in kind. Wage income is determined when the payer pays it or when you receive it.

Payment for services also counts as wages when you have not registered a business or registered tax for business activity. That holds whether or not you hold a practising licence or certificate.

Resident: tax rates on salary

A resident’s wage tax is the taxable income, regardless of where it is paid, multiplied by the progressive rates. Taxable income is total wage income minus insurance contributions and the family deductions. These rules apply from the 2026 tax period. Each bracket applies to the part of income inside it.

Family deductions

Family deductions come off taxable income before the tax is computed for a resident. The deduction is VND 15.5 million a month (VND 186 million a year) for the taxpayer, and VND 6.2 million a month for each dependant. The Government submits changes to these amounts to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Insurance you pay abroad

A resident with wage income abroad who has paid compulsory insurance under the rules of that country may deduct the premiums. The list covers social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance and professional liability insurance for certain occupations.

Non-resident: 20% on wages for work done in Vietnam

A non-resident’s wage tax is the total wages received for work performed in Vietnam, multiplied by 20%, regardless of where the income is paid. Decree 253/2026/NĐ-CP restates the rule.

Thuế thu nhập cá nhân đối với thu nhập từ tiền lương, tiền công của cá nhân không cư trú được xác định bằng tổng số tiền lương, tiền công mà cá nhân không cư trú nhận được do thực hiện công việc tại Việt Nam nhân (x) với thuế suất 20%, không phân biệt nơi trả thu nhập.

Tax on a non-resident’s wages is the total wages received for work performed in Vietnam, multiplied by 20%, regardless of where the income is paid.

Law 109/2025/QH15, Điều 21

Working in Vietnam and abroad at the same time

A non-resident who works in Vietnam and abroad at the same time may not be able to separate the Vietnam part of the pay. The decree then sets a formula for the Vietnam-source wage income.

For a foreigner present in Vietnam, income arising in Vietnam equals days present in Vietnam divided by 365 days, multiplied by global wage income before tax. Other taxable income before tax arising in Vietnam is added.

Freelance or business income instead of wages

Payment for services counts as wages while you have no business registration and no business tax registration. A resident with a business is a different case.

A resident whose annual business revenue is at or below a level set by the Government pays no personal income tax. Decree 141/2026/NĐ-CP raised that figure in Decree 68/2026/NĐ-CP from VND 500 million to VND 1 billion.

Above the threshold and up to VND 3 billion a year, the rate is 15% on taxable income, which is revenue minus related costs. You may instead pay a rate on the revenue above the threshold. For services that do not supply materials that rate is 2%.

For a non-resident, business tax is business revenue multiplied by a rate. The rate for services and construction not supplying materials is 5%.

Who withholds tax and who declares

A payer in Vietnam withholds tax before paying you. That includes a Vietnamese party that reimburses wage costs to a foreign party.

If a foreign organisation not registered for tax in Vietnam pays you, you declare and pay the tax yourself. The same applies where the payer has not withheld tax. A remote worker paid by a foreign employer with no Vietnamese tax registration falls into the first case.

How to declare and pay when you are paid from abroad

1. Get a tax code. First-time registration directly with the tax authority is due within 10 working days from the date the personal income tax obligation arises. For wage income paid from abroad, file it at the provincial or city tax authority where the work arises in Vietnam. Use registration declaration Form 05-ĐKT. Registration is carried out electronically through the tax management system.
2. File the quarterly return. A resident with wage income paid from abroad declares quarterly, directly with the tax authority. The return goes to the authority that directly manages where you live.
3. Pay by the filing deadline. Where you calculate the tax yourself, payment is due by the last day of the deadline for filing the return.
4. Finalise the year. A resident with wage income finalises tax for the year, unless the tax payable is smaller than the tax already paid and there is no refund request.
5. Write your tax code on filings. Put the tax code on the documents you use when declaring and paying tax.

c) Cá nhân có thu nhập từ tiền lương, tiền công trực tiếp khai thuế với cơ quan thuế: c.1) Các trường hợp khai thuế theo quý: … c.1.2) Cá nhân cư trú có thu nhập từ tiền lương, tiền công do các tổ chức, cá nhân trả từ nước ngoài;

Among the cases of quarterly declaration for individuals declaring directly with the tax authority is a resident with wage income paid by organisations or individuals from abroad.

Circular 89/2026/TT-BTC, Điều 22 khoản 1 điểm c.1.2

Two offices are involved, and they are different. Registration goes to the city-level authority where the work arises. The quarterly return goes to the authority that directly manages where you live.

For someone working from a Saigon flat, the first is the Ho Chi Minh City tax authority. The second is one of its 20 local offices. Circular 90/2026/TT-BTC sets the registration place. It took effect on 1 July 2026 and replaced Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC.

A 13 May 2026 government-portal explainer lists a copy of a valid passport for a foreigner without a personal ID number.

Forms and deadlines

A tax quarter runs from the first day to the last day of the calendar-year quarter.

First-year rule

Say you are present fewer than 183 days in a calendar year, but 183 days or more within 12 consecutive months from your first day. The first tax period is then those 12 months. The first finalisation deadline then falls on the last day of the fourth month after the month those 12 months are complete.

Finalisation attachments

The ministry circular lists attachments for the annual finalisation file of a resident with wage income. They include copies of withholding proofs issued by the payer. For tax paid abroad, a bank-document copy confirmed by the taxpayer is listed where the foreign tax authority issues no tax-paid certificate. Documents proving the amount the foreign payer paid are also listed.

Currency and tax already paid abroad

Tax is declared and calculated in dong; the Government sets the cases that may use a foreign currency. Foreign-currency income is converted at the buying rate of the commercial bank where you or the payer hold the account used for the payment. If the payer holds no account in Vietnam, the State Bank central rate applies.

For countries with a double-taxation agreement, tax paid abroad is credited against Vietnamese tax as the agreement provides. You file the proof of tax paid abroad with the finalisation declaration.

If you are a non-resident

Quarterly declaration also applies to a non-resident with wage income arising in Vietnam, paid by a foreign organisation not registered for tax in Vietnam. That return goes to the authority that directly manages where the income arises. For a non-resident, the tax period is each occurrence of income.

The Ho Chi Minh City tax authority

The city’s tax authority is Thue Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (Thuế Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). Its contact page gives 63 Vu Tong Phan, Binh Trung Ward. The telephone number shown is (028) 3770 2288. Working hours are 08:00-12:00 and 13:00-17:00, Monday to Friday.

Older sources call it the Cuc Thue or Sub-department of Taxation Region II. From 1 July 2025 it was formed by merging that sub-department with two others from the former Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Binh Duong areas. It has 22 departments and 29 local tax offices. Twenty of them manage the wards and communes of Ho Chi Minh City.

The official pages checked give no ward-by-ward list of the 20 offices. The menu of hcmtax.gov.vn has no ward lookup either. Use the appointment-booking function on its utilities page, or call the head office on (028) 3770 2288 and give your current ward name.

The legacy tphcm.gdt.gov.vn portal still prints Ward An Phu, District 2, while Resolution 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15 created Binh Trung Ward from Binh Trung Dong, Binh Trung Tay and part of An Phu. The Ho Chi Minh City address format guide explains the new ward names.

Late filing, late payment and leaving the country

Late-payment interest is 0.03% per day on the late-paid tax managed by the tax authority. It runs from the day after the payment deadline to the day before the tax reaches the state budget.

The fine for filing late rises with the delay:

These amounts are the fines for organisations. For the same violation the fine for an organisation is twice the fine for an individual. Filing more than 90 days late with tax payable draws VND 15 million to 25 million when the tax and interest are paid in full first.

A foreigner who has not completed their tax obligations must complete them before leaving Vietnam. A foreign individual with tax debt past the deadline can have exit suspended.

If you already filed for 2026, and which rules apply now

Law 109/2025/QH15 takes effect from 1 July 2026. Its provisions on a resident’s wage income apply from the 2026 tax period. The older Law 04/2007/QH12 ceases to be effective from the date the new Law takes effect.

If you already filed and paid wage tax for 2026 under the earlier rules, you do not have to re-file the monthly or quarterly declaration. The amounts are adjusted in the 2026 annual finalisation declaration.

The tax-administration Law 108/2025/QH15 also takes effect on 1 July 2026. Decree 125/2020/NĐ-CP continues in force from 1 July 2026 until a replacement document is issued.

Related: the Vietnam tax residency guide, sending money to and from Vietnam, opening a bank account and the money hub.

Photos and clips uploaded to Google Maps (Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department on Google Maps (opens in a new tab)) by To Loi, Dat Pham.

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Not confirmed: Which of the 20 local tax offices covers your ward: the official pages checked give no ward list. Book an appointment on the official site or call (028) 3770 2288 and give your ward name.

General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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