With a pension of over VND 15.5 million, do people have to pay personal income tax from July 1, 2026?

Lawyer Nguyen Thu Trang, Deputy Director of Heva Law Firm LLC, said that according to the pension roadmap, it will be adjusted according to the new Social Insurance Law from July 1, 2026.

Regarding the income subject to personal income tax according to the provisions of the Law on Personal Income Tax 2025, effective from July 1, 2026, individuals without dependents when having a total income from salary and wages of over VND 15.5 million/month (VND 86 million/year) must pay personal income tax.

However, Article 4 of the Law on Personal Income Tax, effective from July 1, 2026, stipulates the tax-exempt income as follows:

1. Income from transfer, inheritance, gifts are real estate between husband and wife; biological father, biological mother and biological child; adoptive father, adoptive mother and adopted child; father-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law; father-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law; paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother and grandchild; maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother and grandchild; brothers, sisters, brothers together.

2. Income from transfer of housing, land use rights and assets attached to residential land of individuals in cases where individuals have only one house or residential land in Vietnam.

3. Income from the value of land use rights of individuals allocated by the State.

4. Income of households and individuals directly producing crop products, planted forests, livestock, aquaculture and fishing products that have not been processed into other products or only through regular processing; salt production; income from share profits of cooperative members, agricultural cooperative unions, and individuals who are farmers signing contracts with enterprises participating in "large fields", planting production forests, and aquaculture.

5. Income from conversion of agricultural land of households and individuals allocated by the State for production.

6. Income from government bond interest, local government bond interest, deposit interest at credit institutions, interest from life insurance contracts.

7. Income from remittances.

8. Salary for night work, overtime work, salary, wages paid for days not covered by law.

9. Pensions are paid by the Social Insurance Fund; income is paid by the supplementary pension insurance fund, voluntary pension fund.

10. Income from scholarships, including:

a) Scholarships received from the state budget;

b) Scholarships received from domestic and foreign organizations under the education support program of that organization.

11. Income from compensation for life insurance contracts, non-life insurance, compensation for work-related accidents, state compensation and other compensation according to the provisions of law.

12. Income received from charitable organizations and funds is permitted to be established or recognized by competent state agencies, operating for charitable and humanitarian purposes, not for profit.

13. Income received from foreign aid sources for charitable and humanitarian purposes in the form of government and non-government approved by competent state agencies.

14. Income from salary and wages of Vietnamese crew members working for foreign shipping lines or Vietnamese shipping lines conducting international transportation.

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

16. Income from the first transfer of greenhouse gas emission reduction results of individuals recognized as greenhouse gas emission reduction results, carbon credits of individuals granted carbon credits; income from green bond interest; income from the first transfer of green bonds after issuance.

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

18. Income from copyright of science, technology and innovation tasks when the results of the tasks are commercialized according to the provisions of the law on science, technology and innovation, the law on intellectual property.

19. Income of individual investors, experts from creative startup projects, founders for creative startups, and individual investors contribute capital to the risky investment fund.

20. Income from salaries and wages of foreign experts working in programs and projects funded by ODA-backed non-refundable sources, foreign non-governmental programs and projects in Vietnam; individuals who are Vietnamese working at representative agencies of international organizations under the United Nations System in Vietnam; individuals participating in the United Nations peacekeeping force.

21. Income after paying corporate income tax of individuals who are private business owners, individuals who are owners of single-member limited liability companies.

Thus, according to this regulation, even if the pension exceeds the threshold of 15.5 million, pensioners from the social insurance fund will not have to pay personal income tax.

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