Vietnam Taxes for U.S. Retirees (2026 Law)

The short version

Vietnam's new Personal Income Tax Law took effect on 1 July 2026. For most retirees the key questions are whether you become a Vietnamese tax resident, and whether your pension and savings are taxed there.

Are you a Vietnamese tax resident?

You are a tax resident if you are in Vietnam 183 days or more in a calendar year, or in 12 months in a row from your first arrival, or if you have a regular home there: a registered permanent address or a home rented under a fixed-term lease. ¹

Arrival and departure days each count as a day. Rented homes count if your leases add up to 183 days or more in the tax year, including hotels and guesthouses, even across several places. ²

If you have a home in Vietnam but spend under 183 days there, and cannot show with a certificate of residence that you are tax resident in another country, you are treated as a resident of Vietnam. ²

Residents are taxed on income from inside and outside Vietnam; non-residents only on income from inside Vietnam. ¹

The new law's rules for wages and business income apply from the 2026 tax year. ¹ It has since been amended by Law 09/2026/QH16. ²

What is tax-free

Pensions paid by the Social Insurance Fund are tax-free, ¹ and the decree says this includes pensions paid from abroad to people living in Vietnam. ² It does not name U.S. Social Security, so keep your SSA benefit letters as proof.

Payouts from supplementary and voluntary pension funds are also tax-free, ² but the text does not say whether a U.S. IRA or 401(k) counts. Ask a Vietnamese tax adviser.

Interest on deposits at banks licensed in Vietnam, and on Vietnamese government bonds, is tax-free. ^{1 2}

Money that overseas Vietnamese send home to relatives in Vietnam is tax-free; keep papers that show where it came from. ²

Selling your only home in Vietnam is tax-free if you have owned it for at least 183 days, sell all of it, and own no other home (including one still being built); off-plan homes don't qualify. ² Property sales, gifts and inheritances between spouses, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and brothers and sisters are also tax-free. ¹

What can be taxed

For residents, dividends and interest on loans count as investment income, taxed at 5%. ¹ The text does not say plainly how interest from a U.S. bank account is treated; ask an adviser.

Selling securities (such as shares) is taxed at 0.1% of the sale price, each time you sell. ¹ Inheriting or receiving a gift of shares or property is taxed at 10% of the value above 20 million dong. ¹

Renting out property in Vietnam is taxed at 5% of rental revenue above a yearly threshold, ¹ which, under the amended law, the Government sets. ²

Wages, for example from part-time work, are taxed on the scale below after a personal deduction of 15.5 million dong a month (186 million a year), plus 6.2 million dong a month for each dependant. ¹

The 2026 tax scale for wage and business income

Rates apply to taxable income after deductions; each rate applies only to the part of income in that band. ¹

120 million dong is about US$4,680, 1,200 million is about US$46,800, at Vietcombank's rate of 25,640 dong to the dollar. ³

The U.S. side

There is no U.S.–Vietnam income tax treaty in force. One was signed in 2015 but has not taken effect, ⁴ and Vietnam is not on the IRS list of treaty countries. ⁵

U.S. citizens abroad generally file U.S. returns under the same rules as at home. ⁶

If you pay Vietnamese income tax on income the U.S. also taxes, you may be able to take a foreign tax credit on Form 1116, or a deduction. You cannot take the credit on income you exclude under the foreign earned income exclusion. ⁷

Filing deadlines and extensions for Americans abroad: see Step by step, step 10.

Get advice for your case

The 2026 law and decree are new, and some points for retirees (U.S. Social Security, IRAs and 401(k)s, U.S. interest) are not spelled out. This page is a summary, not tax advice: ask a Vietnamese tax adviser and a U.S. tax preparer who handles expats before you decide where to be tax resident.