Before you start

A determination of your residence status under the 183-day test
A ten-digit personal tax code (MST) if you have Vietnam-sourced income
Records of foreign income and foreign tax paid, if resident
A double taxation treaty check for your home country

Step-by-step

1
Count your days properly
You are a tax resident if present 183 days or more in a calendar year, or in any twelve consecutive months from arrival, or if you maintain a permanent or leased home in Vietnam for 183 days or more in the tax year. That second limb catches people who keep a Da Nang lease running while travelling — the lease itself can establish residence.
OnlineWho: You
2
Get a tax code if you have Vietnamese income
Employers register a ten-digit MST within about ten days of first taxable income. Circular 86/2024 moved Vietnamese citizens onto their twelve-digit ID number as their tax code from July 2025, but foreigners without a Vietnamese ID stay on the ten-digit MST and cannot use the VNeID-based flows citizens now use.
Via employerWho: Your employer and youWithin ~10 days of first payFree
3
Use the 2026 rates, not the old ones
From the 2026 tax year the resident scale has five brackets: 5% up to VND 10 million monthly taxable income, 10% to 30 million, 20% to 60 million, 30% to 100 million, 35% above. Personal deduction VND 15.5 million a month, dependants VND 6.2 million each. Non-residents remain on a flat 20% of Vietnam-sourced income.
OnlineWho: You
4
Register dependants
Each registered dependant removes VND 6.2 million a month from taxable income from 2026. Supporting documents need translation and legalisation, which is why people postpone it and lose a year of relief. Start it in your first quarter.
Via employerWho: You
5
File the annual finalisation as a resident
Where the employer is authorised to finalise for you, the deadline is the last day of the third month after year-end; self-filers have until the last day of the fourth month, around 30 April. Non-residents do not finalise. Anyone with income from outside Vietnam should use an adviser for the first year.
OnlineWho: You or your employerEnd of March or end of April
6
Get a clearance before you leave
Departing residents should finalise the part-year and obtain confirmation that obligations are settled. Doing this from abroad without a Vietnamese number, bank account or representative is genuinely difficult and is what later blocks a remittance or a new work permit.
In personWho: YouBefore departure

Documents you’ll need

Passport with entry and exit stamps, for the day count
Ten-digit personal tax code (MST), if applicable
Labour contract, payslips and the employer's withholding statement
Records of foreign income and foreign tax paid
Dependant documentation, translated and legalised
Tax residence certificate from your home country, for treaty relief

Things most newcomers don’t know

Da Nang's remote workers are the group most exposed and the least likely to have looked.

The city's draw is that you can live well here on foreign income. But 183 days makes you a Vietnamese tax resident on worldwide income, whoever pays you and wherever they are — and the residence test also triggers on maintaining a leased home here for 183 days. There is no employer withholding to make it visible and no letter arrives. People discover it in year three, usually while trying to remit savings or renew something.

Source: PwC Vietnam

The 2026 reform rewrote both the brackets and the deductions, so older calculators overstate the bill.

From the 2026 tax year Vietnam runs five brackets instead of seven, the personal deduction rose from VND 11 million to VND 15.5 million a month, and the dependant deduction from VND 4.4 to VND 6.2 million. A resident with one dependant pays nothing until roughly VND 24 million a month. Almost every guide, blog post and spreadsheet online predates this and will give you the wrong number.

Source: 2026 Personal Income Tax reform

The double taxation treaty is relief you claim, not relief you receive.

Vietnam has a broad treaty network, but relief requires a residence certificate from your home tax authority and evidence of foreign tax paid, filed with the Vietnamese authorities. Nothing happens automatically. Someone with a rented-out flat or investment income at home who assumes the treaty handles it will find out at the finalisation, a year after the fact, with the documents now harder to obtain.

Source: PwC Vietnam

Foreigners kept the ten-digit tax code when Vietnamese citizens moved to their ID number.

Circular 86/2024 replaced personal tax codes with twelve-digit citizen identification numbers from 1 July 2025 for Vietnamese nationals. Foreigners without a Vietnamese ID remain on the ten-digit MST and are outside the VNeID-based tax flows. Expect forms, portals and helpful colleagues to assume the twelve-digit format, and expect to explain the difference at counters more than once.

Source: Circular 86/2024/TT-BTC

Common mistakes to avoid

Living in Da Nang on foreign income and never checking the 183-day test.
Using a pre-2026 calculator built on the old seven-bracket scale.
Assuming treaty relief is automatic rather than claimed with documents.
Keeping a Da Nang lease running while travelling and unintentionally establishing residence.
Leaving Vietnam without a tax clearance and finding it blocks a remittance or a return.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.