Answering about the regulation that businesses must pay retroactive social insurance interest when increasing salaries retroactively

Reader Tran Minh Kien asked: "I am the Director of the company. I increased salaries for employees from May 1, 2026, but the application time is calculated from January 1, 2026. So, when my company retroactively pays social insurance, is it subject to interest? Based on what? ".

Regarding this issue, Vietnam Social Security answers as follows:

Based on point a, clause 1, Article 8 of Decree No. 158/2025/ND-CP dated June 25, 2025 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on compulsory social insurance:

1. Cases of retroactive collection and retroactive payment of compulsory social insurance:

a) Being adjusted to increase salary to increase salary as a basis for compulsory social insurance contributions with retroactive implementation time or earlier;".

Thus, if the company issues a salary increase decision on May 1, 2026, and the time the new salary level is applied from January 1, 2026, it falls under the case of retroactive collection and payment due to retroactive salary increase adjustments.

Regarding the deadline for retroactive payment, based on point a, clause 2, Article 8 of Decree No. 158/2025/ND-CP:

2. The amount of retroactively collected and retroactively paid for compulsory social insurance is calculated as follows:

a) For the cases specified in points a and b, clause 1 of this Article, the recovered amount is the amount to be paid for compulsory social insurance according to the provisions of Article 33 and Article 34 of the Law on Social Insurance.

In case by the end of the last day of the following month after the month with the decision to adjust the salary increase or the month of return to the country, the employer and employee have not yet implemented the retroactive payment of compulsory social insurance, when retroactively collecting compulsory social insurance, the social insurance agency shall implement according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 40 and Clause 1, Article 41 of the Law on Social Insurance;".

In case the above-mentioned deadline is exceeded and the retroactive payment has not been carried out, the handling of the late payment amount shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance. According to Clause 1, Article 40 of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance, employers must pay the full amount of late payment and pay an additional amount equal to 0.03%/day, calculated on the amount of late payment social insurance and the number of days of late payment into the social insurance fund.

Vietnam Social Security provides regulations on retroactive payment of social insurance and handling of late payment amounts for Mr. Tran Minh Kien to know.

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