Vietnam’s Personal Income Tax Law 2025: Key Highlights and New Updates

Provisions on Taxable Income (Article 3) Pursuant to Clause 10, Article 3 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, there are several new types of income subject to tax, such as:

- Income from the transfer of Vietnam's national domain name ".vn";

- Income from the transfer of greenhouse gas emission reduction results and carbon credits;

- Income from the transfer of auction-winning license plates in accordance with the provisions of law;

- Income from the transfer of digital assets;

- Income from the transfer of gold bars.

The Government stipulates the value threshold of gold bars subject to tax, the timing of collection application, and adjusts the personal income tax rates for the transfer of gold bars in accordance with the gold market management roadmap.

In addition, the Personal Income Tax Law also clearly stipulates that income from e-commerce business activities and business based on digital platforms is taxable income (pursuant to Point d, Clause 1, Article 3 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025).

Expanding Tax-Exempt Income (Article 4) Pursuant to Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, tax-exempt income categories have been added as follows:

- Income from salaries and wages of seafarers who are Vietnamese citizens working for foreign shipping lines or Vietnamese international shipping lines.

- Income of individuals who are ship owners, individuals with the right to use ships, and individuals working on ships from the activity of providing goods and services directly serving offshore fishing and exploitation activities.

- Income from the first-time transfer of greenhouse gas emission reduction results of individuals whose emission reduction results are recognized; carbon credits of individuals who are granted carbon credits; income from green bond interest; income from the first-time transfer of green bonds after issuance.

- Income from salaries and wages from performing scientific, technological, and innovation tasks.

- Income from the copyright of scientific, technological, and innovation tasks when the task results are commercialized in accordance with the law on science, technology, and innovation, and the law on intellectual property.

- Income of individual investors and experts from innovative startup projects, founders of innovative startup enterprises, and individual investors contributing capital to venture capital funds.

- Income from salaries and wages of foreign experts working in programs and projects funded by non-refundable ODA capital, foreign non-governmental programs and projects in Vietnam; Vietnamese individuals working at representative offices of international organizations belonging to the United Nations System in Vietnam; individuals participating in United Nations peacekeeping forces.

- Income after paying corporate income tax of individuals who are owners of private enterprises and individuals who are owners of single-member limited liability companies.

In addition, the Personal Income Tax Law 2025 also expands and clarifies the following provisions:

- Income of households and individuals directly engaged in the production of agricultural products, forestry products, livestock, and aquatic products that have not been processed into other products or have only undergone ordinary preliminary processing; salt production; income from dividends of members of cooperatives, agricultural cooperative unions, and individuals who are farmers signing contracts with enterprises participating in "Large Fields", production forest planting, and aquaculture. (pursuant to Clause 4, Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025)

- Income from interest on government bonds, local government bonds, interest on deposits at credit institutions, and interest from life insurance contracts. (pursuant to Clause 6, Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025)

- Wages for night work and overtime; salaries and wages paid for days off not taken in accordance with the provisions of law. (pursuant to Clause 8, Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025)

- Pensions paid by the Social Insurance Fund; income paid by supplementary pension insurance funds and voluntary pension funds. (pursuant to Clause 9, Article 4 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025)

Provisions on Cases of Tax Exemption and Reduction (Article 5) Pursuant to Clause 2 and Clause 3, Article 5 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, for the first time, there is a time-limited personal income tax exemption for digital technology and high-tech human resources. Specifically stipulated as follows:

- Personal income tax exemption for a period of 05 years for income from salaries and wages of individuals who are high-quality digital technology human resources in the following cases:

+ Income from digital technology industry projects in concentrated digital technology zones;

+ Income from research and development projects, production of key digital technology products, semiconductor chips, and artificial intelligence systems;

+ Income from digital technology industry human resource training activities.

- Personal income tax exemption for a period of 05 years for income from salaries and wages of individuals who are high-tech human resources performing high-tech or strategic technology research and development activities belonging to the List of high technologies prioritized for development investment or the List of strategic technologies and List of strategic technology products in accordance with the law on high technology.

In addition, in Clause 4, Article 5 of the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, there is a completely new change compared to the old Law regarding personal income tax exemption for the transfer of open-ended fund certificates established in accordance with the law on securities, held for 02 years or more from the date of purchase.

And also for the first time, selective tax reduction is applied to individual investors, clearly stipulated with a fixed tax reduction rate as follows: “50% reduction of personal income tax on the profits of individual investors shared from securities investment funds and real estate investment funds established under the provisions of the Law on Securities within a period stipulated by the Government.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What are the newest taxable incomes under the 2025 PIT Law?

Answer: Besides traditional income, the 2025 Law adds new taxable categories including the transfer of gold bars, digital assets, carbon credits, and auction-winning license plates. Income from e-commerce and digital platform businesses is also explicitly confirmed as taxable.

Q2: Who is eligible for the 5-year Personal Income Tax exemption?

Answer: A 5-year PIT exemption is granted to high-quality human resources in the digital technology and high-tech sectors. This includes experts working in semiconductor chip production, AI systems, strategic technology R&D, and key digital industry projects in concentrated zones.

Q3: Are there any tax incentives for individual investors in 2025?

Answer: Yes. For the first time, individual investors receive a 50% reduction in PIT on dividends/profits shared from securities investment funds and real estate investment funds (REITs) established under the Law on Securities, for a duration specified by the Government.

Q4: Is income from the transfer of carbon credits tax-exempt?

Answer: Income from the first-time transfer of carbon credits or greenhouse gas emission reduction results by recognized individuals is tax-exempt. Subsequent transfers may be subject to tax as per Article 3 and Article 4 regulations.

Q5: How does the new law handle digital assets and gold bar transfers?

Answer: Both are now officially taxable. For gold bars, the Government will provide specific value thresholds and a roadmap for tax collection to ensure effective market management.

 

The information contained in this article is general and intended only to provide information on legal regulations. DB Legal will not be responsible for any use or application of this information for any business purpose. For in-depth advice on specific cases, please contact us.

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