Visa holders · From Vietnam
Overdue tax of any amount can stop you from leaving Vietnam to settle abroad. After moving to the US from Vietnam, taxes you still owe there can also block your exit after a visit home.
Vietnam’s Law on Tax Administration and its decree set this rule, and both have been in force since July 1, 2026. Once you are non-resident, Vietnam taxes only income arising there, such as rent or a share sale.
Updated · Sources
Vietnam’s tax rules from July 1, 2026
- 0%
- is Vietnam’s tax on bank deposit interest, so no Vietnamese tax offsets the US tax on it.
- 2%
- of the sale price is Vietnam’s usual tax on property you sell there, at a gain or a loss. Selling your only home there can be exempt.
- 10%
- of the value above VND 20 million is Vietnam’s tax on a gift or inheritance of shares, real estate or a car. Real estate within close family is exempt.
Gifts and sales before July 1, 2026 fall under the old law.
Can Vietnam still tax you as a resident in the year you move?
A home in Vietnam, registered or rented, or 183 days there in the calendar year can keep you resident for the year you leave.
You keep a registered or rented home there
A registered permanent residence (thường trú) can keep you a Vietnamese resident with fewer than 183 days there. A rented home counts the same way if your leases in Vietnam total 183 days or more in the year. Either way, you stay resident unless you prove residence in another country, usually with a certificate of residence. The IRS issues Form 6166, its certificate of US residency, only for treaty benefits or a VAT exemption. You may therefore have no ready proof, so ask your accountant in Vietnam what the tax office accepts.
You spend 183 days in Vietnam
Spending 183 days or more in Vietnam in the calendar year is enough by itself to make you resident. Your arrival day and your departure day each count, going by your passport stamps.
A resident can owe Vietnamese tax on US pay
A Vietnamese resident is taxed on income from inside and outside Vietnam, which can include your US pay. Vietnam credits foreign tax only under a tax treaty, so expect no credit for the US tax on that pay.
If you leave your job and Vietnam, your former employer can no longer file the year-end settlement of your wage tax (the finalization). You then file it yourself by April 30 of the next year, unless an exemption applies. A foreign national whose Vietnamese work contract ends must finalize before departure, or authorize someone to do it.
Your visa decides when you can take your BHXH payout, and whether the US taxes it.
Vietnam’s 2024 Law on Social Insurance lets you cash out your whole BHXH (social insurance) record in one payment when you settle abroad. A US immigrant visa or green card meets that test on its face. On an H-1B, L-1, F-1 or other nonimmigrant visa, you can claim only after 12 months outside Vietnamese social insurance. That route needs contributions from before July 1, 2025, and fewer than 20 years in all.
Your one-time payment
VND 300M
Each year from 2014 earns 2 months of your average contribution wage, so 5 years earn 10 months. Earlier years earn 1.5 months each. VND 300 million is about $11,409.
US income on an immigrant visa, paid before you enter
VND 0
US residency begins the day you enter as a permanent resident, so a BHXH payment received before then is generally outside US tax.
US income as an F-1 student, paid in your exempt years
VND 0
Student days usually do not count toward US residency for five calendar years. Without a green card, you are still a nonresident alien, and the US does not tax you on this foreign payment.
US income on an H-1B, paid after 12 months out
VND 300M
At most the whole payment. A year of H-1B days usually meets the substantial presence test, so the payment generally lands in a US resident year.
US income with a green card, paid after you arrive
VND 300M
At most the whole payment. A BHXH payment received once your green card residency has started is likely US income, taxed under the annuity rules.
The $11,409 converts at 26,295 dong per dollar, Treasury’s reporting rate for December 31, 2025. Your return uses the exchange rate on the day you are paid. The IRS has said nothing about BHXH, so its general rule for foreign social security applies and treats it as an annuity. Your contributions came out of your pay before Vietnamese tax, so IRC 72(w) likely gives them no US basis. They do not count as money you were already taxed on. Nearly all the payout is therefore likely US income. Vietnam generally does not tax the payout, since its law leaves social insurance allowances out of taxable wages.
The US-Vietnam tax treaty signed in 2015 has never entered into force, so none of its relief applies.
It would enter into force once both countries confirm ratification to each other, and apply from the next January 1. A separate FATCA agreement on bank reporting has been in force since July 7, 2016.
| Today | If it took effect | |
|---|---|---|
| Both countries treat you as resident | Both may tax all your income No tie-breaker | Resident of one only Article 4 tie-breaker |
| Vietnam’s credit for US tax | Not expected Decree 253/2026, Article 6(3) | Allowed As the agreement provides |
| BHXH paid after your US residency starts | Likely US-taxable No IRS guidance on BHXH | Free of US tax Article 18(2) leaves it to Vietnam |
| US dividends before your residency starts | 30% withheld | Capped at 15% Article 10, for an individual |
| Pay from a campus job or OPT | Taxed as usual | Still taxed Article 21 covers only money from abroad for study and upkeep |
Until the treaty takes effect, the only relief from double tax is the US foreign tax credit, on Form 1116. No Social Security agreement links the two countries either, so your work years in each are not added together for benefits.
Where do Vietnamese deposits, funds and property catch out a new US resident?
Assuming deposit interest counts only at maturity
The US taxes interest on a dong deposit in the year it is credited and open to withdrawal. A deposit that defers interest past a year can fall under the original issue discount rules, which tax interest as it builds. Converting the deposit’s dong into dollars can also give an ordinary exchange gain or loss, under IRC 988.
Counting on Vietnam’s two-year fund exemption
Vietnam exempts gains on open-ended fund certificates held two years or more, but the US does not. A Vietnamese fund or ETF usually counts as a PFIC (passive foreign investment company), which generally needs its own Form 8621 every year. The share of a gain that built up in your US-resident years can be taxed at the top US rate, plus an interest charge.
Selling property in Vietnam after you arrive
Vietnam charges its tax on the contract price, or on the province’s land price table where the contract states less. After your US residency begins, the US taxes the gain in dollars too. The home-sale exclusion (section 121) may shelter the gain on a main home. Whether the US credits Vietnam’s tax, which falls on the price rather than the gain, is unsettled.
Getting the FBAR’s reach wrong
An FBAR listing every Vietnamese deposit, securities and fund account is due once your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any time. At Treasury’s 2025 year-end rate, that line was VND 262,950,000. Your BHXH contribution record generally belongs on neither the FBAR nor Form 8938.
We time your BHXH claim to your US residency date and put your Vietnamese accounts on the right US forms.
At Valim, our licensed CPAs put your BHXH payout, dong deposits, Vietnamese funds and property on your US returns.
- We prepare the return for your arrival year, usually dual-status, and each federal and state return in the years that follow. We coordinate with the accountant who files your finalization in Vietnam.
- We compare the US tax on claiming BHXH, or selling a Vietnamese fund or property, before and after your residency starting date.
- Each Vietnamese bank, securities and fund account goes on your FBAR, with Form 8938 added in years your foreign assets top its thresholds. We file each Vietnamese fund’s yearly Form 8621, plus Form 5471 for a Vietnamese company where one is due. Your instant quote prices each of these accounts, funds and companies separately.
- We claim a credit on Form 1116 for the Vietnamese income tax you owe on income from Vietnam, within the form’s limit. We size your quarterly estimated payments to the US tax on dong interest and any rent from Vietnam.
- We file Form 3520 in any year one giver in Vietnam, counted together with their relatives, sends you more than $100,000.
- We deal with IRS and state notices on the returns we prepared, BHXH questions included, and charge nothing beyond the fee.
- Individual return
- from $195
- Business return
- from $495
We quote a flat fee before work starts. We do not bill hourly.
What do Vietnamese newcomers ask about tax in both countries?
Is there a tax treaty between Vietnam and the US?
No US-Vietnam tax treaty is in force. The two governments signed an income tax agreement in Washington on July 7, 2015. It takes effect only after both countries confirm ratification to each other. The IRS treaty list, last reviewed January 3, 2026, still has no Vietnam entry. Vietnam’s own treaty list, last dated 2019, marks it not yet in force. Without a treaty in force, no treaty rate limits withholding on your income, and no tie-breaker decides residence for someone both countries treat as resident. The US foreign tax credit is then the only relief, since Vietnam credits foreign tax only under a treaty.
Is Vietnam a high tax country?
Vietnam taxes high wages heavily but most investment income lightly. From 2026, a resident pays 5% to 35% on taxable wages in five bands, after a VND 15.5 million monthly family deduction. The 35% band starts above VND 100 million a month, about $3,803 at Treasury’s year-end 2025 rate. A non-resident pays a flat 20% on pay for work done in Vietnam, and 5% on dividends. Selling securities costs 0.1% of the price, and interest on bank deposits is exempt for everyone.
Do Vietnamese pay taxes in America?
Yes. You pay US tax on US income from the start, and on income from Vietnam too once you are a US resident for tax. A green card, or enough days to pass the substantial presence test, sets your residency starting date. From your US residency starting date, Vietnamese deposit interest, fund gains and, likely, a BHXH payout are US-taxable. An F-1 student usually turns resident in the sixth calendar year.
Is money my parents send from Vietnam taxed in either country?
A cash gift from your parents is generally taxed in neither country. The US does not treat a gift as income. Once one giver and that giver’s relatives send over $100,000 in a year, the gifts go on Form 3520. Vietnam taxes gifts only of shares, business capital, real estate and registered assets such as cars, at 10% above VND 20 million. Real estate given between close family, such as a parent and child, is exempt.
Sources
- Vietnam, Law on Personal Income Tax No. 109/2025/QH15 (Official Gazette)
- Vietnam, Decree 253/2026/ND-CP detailing the Law on Personal Income Tax (Official Gazette)
- Vietnam, Law on Tax Administration No. 108/2025/QH15 (Official Gazette)
- Vietnam, Decree 252/2026/ND-CP detailing the Law on Tax Administration (Official Gazette)
- Vietnam, Law on Social Insurance No. 41/2024/QH15 (Government portal, full text)
- General Department of Taxation (Vietnam), list of double tax agreements (archived copy)
- US-Vietnam income tax agreement and protocol (signed July 7, 2015; not in force)
- IRS, United States income tax treaties, A to Z
- US Department of State, Treaties in Force (2025)
- US Department of State, 2026 Investment Climate Statement: Vietnam
- US Treasury, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
- Social Security Administration, totalization agreements overview
- IRS, Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
- IRS, Publication 550 (2025), Investment Income and Expenses
- IRS, Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
- 26 U.S.C. § 72, Annuities; certain proceeds of endowment and life insurance contracts
- 26 U.S.C. § 102, Gifts and inheritances
- 26 U.S.C. § 121, Exclusion of gain from sale of principal residence
- 26 U.S.C. § 901, Taxes of foreign countries and of possessions of United States
- 26 U.S.C. § 904, Limitation on credit
- 26 C.F.R. § 1.901-2, Income, war profits, or excess profits tax paid or accrued
- 26 U.S.C. § 988, Treatment of certain foreign currency transactions
- 26 U.S.C. § 1291, Interest on tax deferral
- 26 U.S.C. § 1297, Passive foreign investment company
- 26 C.F.R. § 1.1298-1, Section 1298(f) annual reporting for PFIC shareholders (Form 8621)
- 26 U.S.C. § 1441, Withholding of tax on nonresident aliens
- 26 U.S.C. § 3121, Definitions (employment for FICA)
- 26 U.S.C. § 7701, Definitions (resident alien and nonresident alien)
- 31 C.F.R. § 1010.350, Reports of foreign financial accounts
- 31 C.F.R. § 1010.306, Filing of reports
- FinCEN, FBAR line item filing instructions
- IRS, Instructions for Form 8938 (Rev. November 2021)
- IRS, Instructions for Form 3520 (Rev. December 2025)
- IRS, Instructions for Form 1116
- US Treasury, Fiscal Data, Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange
- IRS, Foreign currency and currency exchange rates
Reviewed and updated October 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.