Vietnam personal tax deductions: higher family allowances

Vietnam personal tax deductions go up from the 2026 tax period. The monthly allowance for the taxpayer rises from 11 million VND to 15.5 million VND. The allowance for each registered dependent rises from 4.4 million VND to 6.2 million VND. These figures come from Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

What changed and when

The old allowances were 11 million VND a month for you and 4.4 million VND for each dependent. The new resolution lifts them to 15.5 million and 6.2 million VND. The new amounts apply from the 2026 tax period, which starts on 1 January 2026. Income you earned in 2025 is still taxed under the old amounts.

This resolution does not change the tax rates. It only changes how much income is shielded before the rate steps begin. A separate, newly passed Personal Income Tax Law (Law 109/2025/QH15, passed on 10 December 2025) also reshapes the rate steps for salary income from the 2026 tax period. Rates still run from 5 percent up to 35 percent.

Sources: Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on adjusting family circumstance deductions for personal income tax; Law 109/2025/QH15 on Personal Income Tax, passed by the National Assembly on 10 December 2025.

How the family deduction works

The family deduction is taken off your taxable income before the tax rates are applied. You get one allowance for yourself every month. You also get one allowance for each dependent you have registered.

A dependent is usually a child, a spouse without income, or a parent who cannot support themselves. Each person must meet the legal tests for income and age or ability to work. Your employer or the tax office can tell you which tests apply to your case.

You only get the dependent allowance after you register that person with the tax authority. Registration needs a tax code for the dependent and supporting papers. Without registration, the person does not count.

A simple monthly example

Take an employee with a taxable salary of 30 million VND a month and two registered children. This is a round example, not a real case.

Under the old amounts, the deductions were 11 million for the employee plus 8.8 million for two children. That is 19.8 million VND. Under the new amounts, the deductions are 15.5 million plus 12.4 million. That is 27.9 million VND.

The deductions grow by 8.1 million VND a month in this example. That is the income no longer reaching the tax rates, before any insurance deduction is counted.

Sources: Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15 for the amounts. The worked example is the editors' own arithmetic.

Think of the allowance as a tax-free layer. The bigger the layer, the less of your pay is taxed. Lower earners may find that more of their salary now falls under the layer. Higher earners still pay at the top rates on the income above it.

Withholding is only an estimate during the year. If your employer withheld too much, you can ask for a refund when you finalise your tax. If too little was withheld, you may owe the difference. Keep your payslips and dependent papers until then.

Foreign staff who are tax residents use the same allowances as local staff. Residency is decided by days spent in Vietnam, so check your own status with your employer or a tax adviser.

Other deductions still apply

The family allowance is not the only deduction. Compulsory social, health and unemployment insurance paid by the employee is also taken off employment income. Approved charity and study-promotion contributions can be deducted in the cases the law allows.

These stack with the family allowance. In practice, an employer adds them up when it works out monthly withholding. The employee then settles the year at finalisation, if needed.

What employees and employers should check

Employees should confirm that each dependent is registered and that the registration is still valid. If a dependent was never registered, the extra allowance will not help until it is. It is worth doing before payroll for the new period is run.

Employers should update payroll settings so withholding uses 15.5 million and 6.2 million VND from the 2026 period. They should also keep dependent records ready for the tax office.

If you have more than one income source, check how the allowance is applied. The family deduction should be claimed only once for the same person, and a personal tax adviser can help with a complex case.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Sources: Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15; Vietnam's personal income tax law and its implementing guidance on deductions and dependents.

Sources

• Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15, National Assembly Standing Committee of Vietnam.
• Law 109/2025/QH15 on Personal Income Tax, National Assembly of Vietnam, passed 10 December 2025.
• Resolution 954/2020/UBTVQH14, the earlier allowance levels of 11 million and 4.4 million VND.