Payroll and Social Insurance for Vietnamese Companies

If you employ anyone in Vietnam, you run a Vietnamese payroll, and Vietnamese payroll is a discipline. The good news: it is rule-based, predictable, and easy to outsource for $80–300/month for a small headcount.

The three withholdings

Each month you withhold from gross pay and remit:

1. Social insurance (SI) — pensions, sickness, maternity, accident
2. Health insurance (HI) — universal health card
3. Unemployment insurance (UI) — covers job loss
4. Personal income tax (PIT) — 5–35% progressive

	Employer	Employee
SI	17.5%	8%
HI	3%	1.5%
UI	1%	1%
Statutory total	21.5%	10.5%

Contribution base is capped at 20× the region minimum wage (approx. 96m VND/mo HCMC). Above the cap you pay no further SI/HI/UI, only PIT.

PIT brackets for residents

For 2026:

Monthly taxable (VND)	Rate
0–5m	5%
5–10m	10%
10–18m	15%
18–32m	20%
32–52m	25%
52–80m	30%
80m+	35%

Personal allowance: 11m VND/mo. Dependant allowance: 4.4m VND/mo each (spouse not working, children under 18, parents over working age).

Non-residents (under 183 days): flat 20% on Vietnamese-source income.

Worked example

A senior developer at 70m VND/mo gross.

• Employee SI/HI/UI = 70m × 10.5% = 7.35m (capped contributions apply but base under cap)
• Personal allowance: 11m
• Taxable income: 70m − 7.35m − 11m = 51.65m
• PIT: progressive — 0.25m + 0.5m + 1.2m + 2.8m + 4.9m + (51.65 − 52)×30% — about 9.6m
• Net to employee: ~53m
• Employer cost on top: 70m × 21.5% = 15m
• Total employer cost: 85m for a 53m take-home

The gap is roughly 60% — important when sizing offers.

E-filing and remittance

Since 2022 everything is electronic:

• eTax (etax.gdt.gov.vn) for PIT filings
• VssID for social insurance
• Monthly PIT declaration by 20th of next month
• Quarterly PIT for small businesses with under 50M monthly liability
• SI/HI/UI by month-end of following month
• Annual PIT finalisation by end of March

You need a digital signature device (USB token from VNPT, Viettel, BKAV, FPT — about $30/year). Without it nothing files.

E-invoices

All sales invoices must be e-invoices since July 2022. MISA Meinvoice, VNPT Invoice and Viettel S-Invoice are the common platforms. Subscriptions ~$50–150/year for low volumes.

What to outsource

For under 10 employees, outsource the lot to a local accounting firm (NEXIA STT, KTC, RSM Vietnam at the higher end; many small bilingual firms at $150–400/mo). They handle:

• Monthly SI/HI/UI/PIT filings
• E-invoice issuance
• Annual financial statements
• Tax health checks

Run payroll calculations in-house, send the numbers to the accountant, they file. Do not let the accountant also process payments — keep banking control.

13th month and bonuses

13th month is paid at Tết and is fully taxable as PIT in the month paid (lump-sum). This can push you into a higher bracket that month; smart payroll spreads bonuses across multiple months where possible.

Honest take

Vietnamese payroll is not hard, but the deadlines are unforgiving and the penalties for late filings start small but compound. A $200/mo accountant is the best money a small Vietnamese company spends.

Related

• Hiring locally in Vietnam
• Vietnam tax as foreigner deep dive
• Starting a company in Vietnam
• Invoicing Vietnamese clients