Payroll in Vietnam

Payroll in Vietnam means calculating gross-to-net salary, withholding 10.5% in compulsory insurance from each employee, applying the progressive 5% to 35% personal income tax, paying a 23.5% employer burden on top, issuing payslips and filing a monthly or quarterly tax declaration with the General Department of Taxation. The key local issue is the weight on the employer side: at 23.5% of gross, including a 2% trade union fee most foreign employers do not expect, Vietnam costs far more to employ in than its low headline salaries suggest, so your budget has to start from total employer cost rather than the offer figure.

Total employer cost for a ₫ 30,000,000 monthly salary is about ₫ 37,050,000, around 24% on top of gross.

Our verdict: Fewer than 2 employees and no local entity in Vietnam: use an EOR at $199 to $650 per employee per month. At 2 or more, opening a LLC (roughly $6,500 in setup costs and 8 to 16 weeks to complete) usually works out cheaper. Already running a local entity: standard payroll outsourcing is the cheaper route.

Use this page if you already have, or plan to set up, a local entity in Vietnam and want to know what running payroll actually involves. If you want to hire in Vietnam without becoming the legal employer, an Employer of Record is the faster route.

No local entity yet? See our guide to EOR in Vietnam.

Payroll in Vietnam at a Glance

How Does Payroll Work in Vietnam?

Vietnamese payroll runs on a monthly cycle. You calculate each employee’s gross salary, withhold their compulsory insurance and income tax to reach net pay, add the employer contributions on top, then declare and pay what is owed to the tax and social security authorities.

Two authorities sit at the centre of the month. The General Department of Taxation, Tong cuc Thue, is Vietnam’s national tax body, the equivalent of HMRC or the IRS, and it collects personal income tax through your withholding declarations. Vietnam Social Security, known locally as BHXH, runs the social, health and unemployment insurance funds that the contributions flow into.

The employee side is the lighter half. You withhold compulsory insurance totalling 10.5% of gross, then progressive income tax on what remains after a personal deduction. That order matters, because the tax is charged on a much smaller base than the gross figure.

The employer side is the heavy half, and it is where Vietnam surprises foreign teams. On top of gross salary you pay 23.5% in employer contributions, made up of social, health and unemployment insurance plus a 2% trade union fee that funds the official labour union framework.

Get the rates or the order wrong and two things break at once: the employee’s take-home pay is incorrect, and your monthly or quarterly declaration to the tax office no longer reconciles against what you paid into the funds.

Plan payroll in Vietnam from the employer-cost figure down, not the salary offer up, because the loading on top is larger than most newcomers budget for.

What Payroll Taxes Apply in Vietnam?

Three charges sit on every Vietnamese salary: the employer’s insurance and union contributions, the employee’s compulsory insurance, and progressive income tax. They are calculated in a fixed order, and that order is what produces the gross-to-net result.

Employer Payroll Contributions in Vietnam

The employer carries the larger load. You pay 23.5% of gross salary in total: 17.5% Social Insurance (which includes a 0.5% occupational accident component), 3% Health Insurance, 1% Unemployment Insurance, and a 2% trade union fee.

That trade union fee is the line item foreign employers most often miss. It is a compulsory 2% of payroll paid to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour whether or not your staff form a workplace union, and it sits outside the insurance funds entirely.

For budgeting, treat the 23.5% as the floor on top of every salary. In our assessment, the gap between Vietnam’s modest headline pay and its real employer cost is the single most common surprise in a first Vietnamese hire.

The true cost of employing in Vietnam

Statutory employer rates; items can apply to different wage bases or carry conditions, so lines do not always sum to the total.

Vietnam has no statutory 13th-month, holiday or profit-sharing bonus.

Sources: taxsummaries.pwc.com (employer contributions), vbpl.vn (bonuses).

Employee Payroll Deductions in Vietnam

You withhold three compulsory insurance contributions from the employee before income tax. Social Insurance (SI) is 8% of gross and funds pension, sickness, maternity and survivor benefits. Health Insurance (HI) is 1.5% for medical cover, and Unemployment Insurance (UI) is 1% for Vietnamese nationals.

Together they take 10.5% straight off the top of gross pay.

These are the employee’s contributions, but you are responsible for calculating, withholding and remitting them through BHXH. Social and health insurance are capped at twenty times the statutory reference level and unemployment insurance at twenty times the regional minimum wage, so very high earners stop contributing above those ceilings.

Income Tax on Salary in Vietnam

Resident employees pay personal income tax (PIT) on a progressive scale from 5% to 35%. Following Vietnam’s 2026 PIT reform, the page reflects a simplified five-band monthly scale: 5% up to VND 10m, 10% from VND 10m to 30m, 20% from VND 30m to 60m, 30% from VND 60m to 100m, and 35% above VND 100m.

The base is what makes the calculation. Income tax is charged only after you subtract compulsory insurance and the personal deduction, not on the full gross. The 2026 reform raised that deduction to VND 15.5m per month for the taxpayer plus VND 6.2m per month for each registered dependant, which removes a large slice of pay from tax before the bands even apply.

Non-residents are treated differently: they pay a flat 20% on Vietnamese employment income with no banding.

Payroll Tax Example: Gross Salary to Net Pay

Here is how the charges stack up for a representative salary. The figures come from the contribution and tax rates above, calculated in the statutory order.

Simplified illustration: Single resident employee, no dependants, gross VND 30,000,000/month sits below all contribution ceilings so flat rates apply. Employer figure uses the 23.5% burden including the 2% trade union fee. VND 15.5m/month for the taxpayer plus VND 6.2m/month per registered dependant.

Read the two bold rows together. A worker on ₫ 30,000,000 gross takes home ₫ 26,215,000, while your total cost as employer is ₫ 37,050,000.

The employee keeps roughly 87% of gross, but your cost runs about 23.5% above it. That is the Vietnamese payroll signature: the gap to net is narrow, the gap to your cost is wide, which is the reverse of high-deduction markets like Romania.

What Payroll Filings Are Required in Vietnam?

Vietnam splits payroll reporting into a personal income tax stream and a social insurance stream. The tax stream is the one you declare to the General Department of Taxation, and it runs monthly or quarterly depending on your size, with a separate annual reconciliation.

What the PIT Declaration Reports

The PIT (personal income tax) declaration is the withholding return where you report the income tax you have deducted from employees’ pay and remit it to the tax office. It covers salaries, the tax withheld and the deductions applied across your workforce for the period.

Once a year you also file an annual PIT finalisation, which reconciles the tax actually due against what was withheld month by month and settles any difference. Social insurance is declared separately to BHXH alongside the contribution payments.

When the PIT Declaration Is Due

Monthly filers submit by the 20th of the following month. Quarterly filers, which most smaller employers qualify as, submit by the last day of the first month of the following quarter.

The payment deadline matches the filing deadline in each case, so the declaration and the cash leave together. The annual PIT finalisation falls after the tax year closes, on a separate statutory date, and it is the filing that most often surfaces under- or over-withholding from the year.

Who Files It

The legal obligation sits with the employer. In practice your payroll provider or accounting firm prepares and submits the PIT declaration and the BHXH contributions on your behalf, or your in-house finance team files directly if you run your own Vietnamese entity.

Either way, confirm in writing who presses submit and by when each period. The liability for a late or wrong filing stays with you as employer regardless of who does the keying.

What Happens If Payroll Filings Are Wrong

Late tax filing draws monetary fines from VND 2 million to VND 25 million. Late payment of tax adds interest at 0.03% per day on the outstanding amount, and late social contribution payment carries interest tied to central bank rates plus possible administrative fines. Beyond the money, a declaration or annual finalisation that does not reconcile invites scrutiny of the whole payroll, which is why getting the insurance and tax right the first time matters more than the headline fine suggests.

What Are the Payroll Deadlines in Vietnam?

Most Vietnamese payroll obligations land monthly or quarterly, anchored to the tax declaration dates. The exception is BHXH registration, which is tied to each hire: a new employee has to be registered and included in the social insurance declaration for their first month of employment.

Late filing: Late tax filing incurs monetary fines from VND 2 million to VND 25 million. Late payment of tax incurs interest at 0.03% per day. Late payment of social contributions incurs interest based on central bank rates plus potential administrative fines.

Payroll Operations Risk in Vietnam

Employers in Vietnam file with 3 separate agencies.

Sources: english.molisa.gov.vn (compliance), sbv.gov.vn (payments).

What Payslip and Employee Record Rules Apply in Vietnam?

Vietnam requires you to issue a payslip to every employee each pay run, showing gross pay, each insurance and tax deduction, and net pay. There is no single nationwide payroll-register portal, but BHXH participant registration is the record that anchors compliance.

BHXH, Vietnam Social Security, is the body that runs the social, health and unemployment insurance funds. Every employee must be registered as a participant, and that registration links each person to the contributions you remit on their behalf.

The timing rule is the one that catches foreign employers. A new hire has to be registered and included in the social insurance declaration for their first month of employment, not at some later quarter end.

Miss that window and the gap between your headcount and your declared participants becomes the obvious flag in any inspection. When you assess a provider, treat BHXH registration accuracy as seriously as the tax filing: a clean PIT declaration with neglected social insurance records still leaves you exposed on the labour side.

How Much Does Payroll Outsourcing Cost in Vietnam?

There are two separate numbers in Vietnamese payroll cost, and confusing them is the most common budgeting mistake. The first is your statutory employer cost, the 23.5% loading on every salary.

10 of the 14 EOR providers we track publish Vietnam fees; they range from $199 to $650 per employee per month.

Published list prices in USD: EOR fees are per employee per month, contractor fees per contractor per month. Providers that publish neither fee for Vietnam are not shown.

According to Whichapp’s July 2026 analysis of EOR fees across 40 countries, providers charge $199 to $650 per employee per month in Vietnam.

10 of the 14 providers we track publish Vietnam EOR fees. The lowest published rate is $199 per employee per month and the highest is $650.

Contractor management fees in Vietnam run from $6 to $49 per contractor per month.

The second is the fee you pay a provider to run the payroll for you. They are unrelated, and only the second is negotiable.

Managed Payroll Provider Fees

Managed payroll in Vietnam is normally priced per employee per month, and most providers quote rather than publish a rate. The price turns on headcount, on whether you also need accounting or HR support, and on local complexity: managing BHXH registrations, the trade union fee and bilingual payslips takes more work than a flat headcount run.

The fee buys the calculation, the PIT declaration, BHXH upkeep and payslip production. It does not include the statutory contributions themselves, which you fund on top, so gather two or three quotes before committing.

What Payroll Provider Fees Usually Include

A standard managed payroll fee in Vietnam should cover the monthly gross-to-net calculation, withholding of SI, HI and UI, the progressive income tax, preparation and submission of the PIT declaration and annual finalisation, BHXH registration and updates, and monthly payslips. Ask for that list in writing. If any of it sits outside the headline fee, you want to know before the first run, not after.

Extra Payroll Costs to Ask About

The gaps tend to appear at the edges of the standard cycle. Ask specifically about the annual PIT finalisation, dependant-deduction registration and verification, the 13th-month bonus that is customary in Vietnam, termination and severance calculations, correction filings when something has to be restated, and onboarding setup fees for taking on your entity. These are the line items that turn a tidy per-head quote into a larger annual number.

When Payroll Outsourcing Becomes Cheaper Than EOR

The choice between running your own payroll and using an EOR is mostly about headcount and how long you plan to stay. An EOR carries a higher monthly fee per person because the provider is the legal employer and absorbs the entity, but it saves you setting one up.

Running your own payroll through a Vietnamese LLC is cheaper per head once you are past a handful of employees and committed to staying, because the entity and provider fee spread across more people. In our assessment, the more people you hire and the longer the horizon, the more the economics favour your own entity with outsourced payroll.

Payroll in Vietnam vs EOR in Vietnam

The line between the two routes is simple: standard payroll assumes you are the legal employer through a Vietnamese entity, while an EOR makes the provider the legal employer so you do not need one.

Use payroll outsourcing if you already have a local entity or are hiring enough people to justify one. Use an EOR if you need to hire before setting up an entity.

If that second case is you, our guide to EOR in Vietnam covers the providers, licensing and costs in full. EOR pricing and provider ranking live there, not on this page.

Best Payroll Providers for Vietnam

These providers all run payroll in Vietnam, but they are built for different situations. Below is where each one fits and the local point to check before you sign. We do not list EOR prices here; for unpriced managed payroll, treat the fee as by quote and confirm it during your shortlist calls.

6 providers in Whichapp’s independent index cover Vietnam. The top 5 by composite score:

1. Deel (9.1/10). From $599/month. Best for scale, automation and contractor volume. Runs its own Vietnam entity.
2. Multiplier (8.5/10). From $400/month. Best for APAC expansion and mid-market value. Runs its own Vietnam entity.
3. Papaya Global (8.2/10). From $650/month. Best for multinational payroll consolidation. Serves Vietnam through a partner.
4. Remote (8.0/10). From $599/month. Best for IP protection and owned-entity purity. Runs its own Vietnam entity.
5. Oyster HR (7.0/10). From $699/month. Best for platform UX and B Corp ethics. Serves Vietnam through a partner.

Rankings come straight from Whichapp’s provider index (coverage 30%, pricing transparency 25%, security and compliance 25%, integration depth 20%); see how we score.

Only 3 of 6 major EORs run their own Vietnam entity; 2 more serve it via a partner.

Entity model as reported on provider websites, last checked 2026-06-06. An own entity means the provider is the direct legal employer; a partner model adds a third party to the chain.

Deel for Payroll in Vietnam

Deel is a strong fit if Vietnam sits alongside other Southeast Asian hires you want on one platform, with a single dashboard and API across markets. Vietnam watch-out: confirm whether your Vietnamese payroll runs on Deel’s own local entity or a partner bureau, and that it files the PIT declaration and BHXH contributions directly rather than handing them to a third party. Read our Deel review.

Remote for Payroll in Vietnam

Remote runs much of its payroll through owned entities, which gives a cleaner compliance chain than a partner-network model. That suits employers who want a direct line of accountability for the PIT declaration and BHXH filings.

Vietnam watch-out: confirm Vietnamese payroll is on Remote’s owned entity rather than a local partner, and that the 2% trade union fee and BHXH updates are handled inside the platform. Read our Remote review.

Papaya Global for Payroll in Vietnam

Papaya Global is built for consolidating payroll across many countries with finance-grade reporting and audit trails, so it earns its place when Vietnam is one market in a larger stack. Its weakness is the opposite case: for a single Vietnamese entity with no multi-country reporting need, the platform is heavier than the job requires.

Vietnam watch-out: Papaya leans on local partners in some markets, so confirm whether your Vietnamese payroll runs on its own entity or a third-party bureau, and how directly it owns the PIT declaration and annual finalisation. Read our Papaya Global review.

Rippling for Payroll in Vietnam

Rippling appeals when you want payroll wired into the same system as HR, IT and device management, with automated journal entries. Vietnam watch-out: it is platform-first, so confirm the depth of its Vietnamese statutory handling, specifically the 10.5% employee insurance, the 23.5% employer burden and BHXH registration, against what a local specialist would offer. Read our Rippling review.

Multiplier for Payroll in Vietnam

Multiplier is the value option for multi-country payroll where price predictability matters, which fits smaller Vietnamese teams. The trade-off for that price is depth: in tightly regulated markets it tends to carry less local specialist weight than a Papaya or an in-country bureau.

Vietnam watch-out: confirm it files the PIT declaration and registers BHXH participants directly rather than through a reseller, and that its gross-to-net engine models the personal deduction and progressive bands accurately before you anchor any salary offers on it. Read our Multiplier review.

Safeguard Global for Payroll in Vietnam

Safeguard Global is a payroll-led specialist rather than an HR platform with payroll bolted on, which appeals when running the payroll correctly is the whole point and you do not need a wider people stack. That focus is also its limit: if you want integrated HR, devices and onboarding in one tool, it does less than Rippling or Deel.

Vietnam watch-out: confirm its Vietnamese coverage is run in-house rather than subcontracted, and that the service includes BHXH upkeep and the trade union fee, not just the monthly calculation. Read our Safeguard Global review.

How to Choose a Payroll Provider in Vietnam

The questions below separate a provider that genuinely runs Vietnamese payroll from one that resells a local bureau without owning the detail. Ask them before you sign, not after the first run.

Can They Handle the PIT Declaration?

Confirm the provider prepares and submits the PIT declaration to the General Department of Taxation directly, files the annual finalisation, and reconciles each return against the actual payroll and bank payments. Ask who presses submit and by when.

Do They Manage BHXH Registration?

Check that new-hire registration, contribution updates and leavers are logged with Vietnam Social Security within the deadlines, especially the rule that a hire must be in the social insurance declaration for their first month. A provider that treats BHXH as an afterthought leaves you exposed to inspection.

Can They Model Gross-to-Net Salary Accurately?

Vietnam’s progressive PIT and the 2026 personal deduction mean a net-pay request translates into a gross that depends on dependants and band thresholds. A capable provider models gross-to-net both ways and helps you frame offers, rather than just processing whatever number you hand over.

How Do They Update for Payroll Law Changes?

Vietnamese payroll rules move, and the 2026 PIT reform is a recent example that reshaped the deduction and bands. Ask how the provider tracks tax and social insurance changes and how quickly updates reach your payroll runs.

Who Is Liable for Payroll Errors?

The statutory liability stays with you as employer, but the contract should set out what the provider is accountable for if a miscalculation or late filing is their fault. Get the indemnity and correction process in writing.

Can They Support Multi-Country Reporting?

If Vietnam is one of several markets, confirm the provider can consolidate reporting across them in a single view, so your finance team is not stitching country files together by hand.

What Support Do They Offer During Terminations or Audits?

Terminations and tax audits are where weak providers show their limits. Ask what support you get during a severance calculation or an inspection, and whether a named contact handles it or you are routed through a ticket queue.

What Does Terminating an Employee Cost in Vietnam?

Severance: Severance allowance (2019 Labour Code Art.46): 1/2 month’s wage per year of service, base = average wage of the 6 months before termination, minimum 12 months service. Periods covered by compulsory unemployment insurance (in force since 2009) are EXCLUDED, so in practice employer-paid severance largely covers only pre-2009 service.

Statutory leave: 12 working days of paid annual leave plus 11 public holidays a year.

Sources: vanban.chinhphu.vn (severance), vbpl.vn (notice periods).

Vietnam Payroll Checklist Before Hiring

• Confirm whether you need payroll or an EOR
• Check your local entity status
• Model gross-to-net salary for your offers
• Confirm employer contribution rate (employer SI/HI/UI)
• Confirm employee deductions (SI, HI, UI)
• Confirm income tax treatment
• Check who files PIT declaration + annual finalisation and by when
• Confirm BHXH registration registration is handled
• Confirm the payslip process
• Check leave, sick pay and termination workflows
• Ask who carries liability for calculation errors
• Confirm provider pricing and any extra fees

Work through this before your first hire. The BHXH registration at point eight and the 23.5% employer burden behind point four are the two foreign employers most often underestimate.

FAQs About Payroll in Vietnam

Methodology and Disclosure

Contribution rates, the income tax bands, the personal deduction, filing deadlines and penalty figures on this page come from Whichapp’s Vietnam statutory dataset, grounded in the compulsory insurance rules, the 2026 personal income tax reform and General Department of Taxation filing requirements, and refreshed as rates change. The worked example is calculated from those rates and reconciles by construction.

Provider assessments reflect our independent editorial view of payroll fit for Vietnam; we do not sell payroll, EOR or contractor services. Some provider links may carry affiliate referrals, which never affects our editorial judgement or the figures above.

Already hiring contractors instead of employees? See contractor management in Vietnam, or start from the Vietnam hiring hub for the full picture.

Primary sources

• Income tax and employee contributions: taxsummaries.pwc.com
• Employer contributions: taxsummaries.pwc.com
• Minimum wage: vbpl.vn
• Payroll filing deadlines: vbpl.vn
• Notice periods and leave: vbpl.vn
• Severance rules: vanban.chinhphu.vn
• Entity setup benchmark: vietnam-briefing.com