Vietnam's 2026 Tax and Employment Changes — What Actually Changed
Across 2025–2026 Vietnam amended its corporate and personal income tax laws, VAT rates, the household revenue threshold, the social insurance base and minimum wages — and abolished a levy of nearly sixty years’ standing. The changes sit in more than a dozen instruments with different effective dates; this note puts them on one timeline.
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Key compliance points
- The business licence fee was abolished on 1 January 2026 — the widest-reaching and most-missed change. It is the first outright abolition of a levy in Vietnamese tax history. Anyone following older guidance will look for a filing channel that no longer exists and assume they have missed a deadline.
- The 8% VAT rate is temporary and expires on 31 December 2026. It is the only policy here that lapses by itself. For contracts spanning the year-end, price and tax clauses should state that the rate follows the law; otherwise who bears the difference from 2027 becomes a dispute.
- The PIT table goes from seven bands to five from the 2026 tax year, with deductions up by over 40%. Payroll must be changed in two places — the rate table and the deductions — and the switch follows the tax year, not the 1 July effective date. Do not cut over mid-year.
- The minimum wage and the social insurance base move together. Regional minimums rose 7.2% on 1 January 2026 (Region I VND 5,310,000 a month), and the monthly wage used for social insurance may not fall below the regional minimum — so employees near the floor must be raised too. Separately, the reference level rose from VND 2,340,000 to VND 2,530,000 on 1 July 2026, taking the ceiling to VND 50,600,000.
Legal basis
| Instrument | Substance | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Nghị quyết 198/2025/QH15 — Điều 10 | Collection of the business licence fee ceased | 2026-01-01 |
| Luật Thuế TNDN 67/2025/QH15 | 20% standard; 15% (≤ VND 3bn) and 17% (VND 3–50bn) bands | 2025-10-01 |
| Nghị quyết 204/2025/QH15 · Nghị định 174/2025/NĐ-CP | VAT on certain goods and services reduced to 8%, reverting to 10% on expiry | 2025-07-01 → 2026-12-31 |
| Luật Thuế TNCN 109/2025/QH15 — Điều 9, 10 | Seven bands become five; deductions of VND 15.5m and VND 6.2m monthly | 2026-07-01 |
| Luật Thuế TNCN (sửa đổi) | Household and individual threshold VND 100m → 500m; presumptive method abolished | 2026-01-01 |
| Nghị định 293/2025/NĐ-CP | Regional minimum wages up 7.2% | 2026-01-01 |
| Thông tư 20/2026/TT-BTC | Repeals the foreign contractor CIT provisions of Circular 103/2014, with transitional rules | 2026-03-12 |
| Nghị định 70/2025/NĐ-CP | E-invoicing: time of issuance, delegated issuance, correction of errors | 2025-06-01 |
Establish these before use
- 1Whether you reach the 15% or 17% CIT band (determined by the preceding period’s total revenue)
- 2Whether contracts spanning the end of 2026 state that the VAT rate follows changes in the law
- 3Whether payroll has switched to the five-band table and new deductions by tax year
- 4Whether the social insurance base has been rechecked against both the new reference level and the new minimum wages
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Disclaimer
This document is general reference material and does not constitute legal advice. Rules vary with sector, locality and the specific arrangement; have a Vietnamese-qualified lawyer or tax practitioner review your circumstances before relying on it. Vietnamese law changed frequently across 2025–2026 — confirm the position remains current before use.