Vietnam’s tax exemption for family remittances depends on the sender

Vietnam’s personal income tax law, in force since 1 July 2026, keeps an exemption for income from remittances. Decree 253/2026/ND-CP sets out who the sender must be and requires documents proving the source of the money. Income that a tax resident earns abroad is treated separately: Vietnam’s taxable categories reach it wherever it is paid.

The exemption and its conditions

Law 109/2025/QH15 on personal income tax lists “income from remittances” among exempt income in Article 4(7), the same wording the 2007 law carried as Article 4(8). Article 25 of Decree 253/2026 sets the scope.

The exemption covers money an individual receives from abroad from a relative who is a Vietnamese person settled abroad, or a Vietnamese person working, on assignment or studying abroad. Money sent by a relative who is a foreign national is also exempt if it meets the State Bank of Vietnam’s conditions on encouraging remittances.

The decree ties the exemption to evidence. The basis for treating the money as exempt is documents proving the source of the funds received from abroad, together with the payment voucher of the paying organisation where there is one. The decree does not list which documents qualify, and it does not define who counts as a relative for this purpose.

An older instrument still listed as in force, Decision 170/1999/QD-TTg on remittances, states that beneficiaries within its scope pay no income tax on foreign currency sent home. The material reviewed for this article does not settle how that clause relates to the conditions in Decree 253.

What a resident owes on income from abroad

For a tax resident, Vietnam’s taxable-income categories cover income arising inside and outside the country, regardless of where it is paid or received, subject to the exemptions and deductions the law sets. An article published on 10 September set out how the residence test works for a Vietnamese citizen who also holds a foreign passport.

Income from capital investment, which the law defines to include interest on loans and dividends, is taxed at 5% for a resident. Interest on deposits is exempt, but the decree confines that exemption to deposits at credit institutions and foreign bank branches established and operating under Vietnam’s Law on Credit Institutions.

On its wording, the exemption does not reach interest paid by a bank abroad; no official text read for this article addresses that case directly.

Tax already paid abroad can be credited against the Vietnamese liability only where Vietnam has a double taxation agreement with that country, and as the agreement provides. Where income is paid by a foreign organisation that is not registered for tax in Vietnam, the individual who receives it must declare and pay the tax.

Article 3 of the law does not list the transfer of one’s own money from an account abroad as a separate category of taxable income. This indicates that any personal income tax liability would concern the underlying taxable income rather than the transfer itself. No provision or official answer read for this article deals with the own-account transfer directly.

Gifts from abroad

Article 3(9) of the law lists 4 categories of taxable gifts: securities, capital interests, real estate, and assets whose ownership or use must be registered. The rate is 10% on the value above VND 20 million per gift. Cash is not listed; that is a reading of the categories, not an official ruling on any particular transfer.

The exemption for gifts of real estate covers spouses; biological or adoptive parents and children; parents-in-law and daughters- or sons-in-law; grandparents and grandchildren; and biological siblings.

Accounts abroad: a gap in the ordinance

Foreign-exchange residence uses a definition separate from tax residence. It includes Vietnamese citizens resident in Vietnam, those resident abroad for under 12 months, and citizens abroad for study, tourism, medical treatment or visits, a category that states no time limit.

The Foreign Exchange Ordinance of 2005 allowed a resident Vietnamese citizen who was abroad to open and use a foreign-currency account there under the law of the host country. An amending ordinance replaced that article in full with effect from 1 January 2014. The replacement names licensed credit institutions and organisations licensed by the State Bank, and omits the former provision for citizens.

Article 12 of Decree 70/2014/ND-CP regulates resident organisations’ foreign-currency accounts abroad, as does Circular 39/2025/TT-NHNN, which took effect on 15 December 2025.

Decree 340/2025/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in banking, in force since 9 February 2026, fines opening, closing or using a foreign-currency account abroad “not in accordance with the law” at VND 80 million to 100 million, and VND 100 million to 150 million for a repeat offence. Those are the amounts for an individual; an organisation pays double.

The sources reviewed do not establish whether a resident individual who holds such an account is in breach by that fact alone.

Money arriving in Vietnam

Article 4(1)(a) of Circular 16/2014/TT-NHNN permits foreign currency transferred from abroad to be credited to a resident individual’s account at an authorised bank in Vietnam; that provision does not specify any relationship between sender and recipient. Under Decision 170/1999, a recipient of remittances may take payment in foreign currency or in dong, as they choose.

Since 19 September 2026, under Circular 39/2026/TT-NHNN, an individual carrying out a foreign-exchange transaction must present the documents the bank requires and is answerable for their authenticity.

Separately, Circular 27/2025/TT-NHNN requires banks to report international electronic transfers of USD 1,000 or more, or the equivalent in other currencies, for anti-money-laundering purposes. That is a reporting duty rather than a cap, as set out in the article on moving money out of Vietnam to settle abroad.

Limits of this reading

The official sources read for this article do not establish which documents satisfy the proof requirement for exempt remittances, which State Bank instrument sets the conditions for money from foreign relatives, or how Decision 170/1999 relates to Decree 253. Nor do they establish whether a resident individual who keeps an account abroad is in breach by that fact alone.

The saved texts were reviewed on 26 September 2026, but checks for amendments to Decree 253 since 30 June 2026 and Decree 340 since 9 February 2026 were not completed.