Payroll in Vietnam

Country overview

Vietnam is a key economic country in South East Asia (SEA) boasting a long shoreline with the South China Sea. The country has a population of 98 million of which 74% have no religion, 15% are buddhist and 8.5% are christians. The nominal GDP of Vietnam is $350 billion and the per capita income is $3500.

Why NNRoad?

NNRoad’s Global EOR service empowers our clients to hire employees in Vietnam without having to set up a legal entity. We manage the labor contract signing, payroll, benefits and all other mandatory compliance affairs in regards to Vietnamese labor laws. We also keep you up to date on new HR policies and handle employee termination on your behalf.

With NNRoad you benefit from a back-office team of legal advisors, data security IT personnel, local accountants and your very own account manager to connect the dots. NNRoad adds value to your company while saving significant costs your company would have to bear otherwise on an in-house back office team.

Labor Contracts

Employers in Vietnam are required by law to sign an official employment contract with new hires. This contract reviews the terms of the employee’s compensation, benefits, and termination requirements in details. Offer letter and labor contracts in Vietnam should always mention the salary and bonuses (if applicable) in Vietnam dong.

Working Schedule

Employers in Vietnam must give employees a minimum of 1 full day off per week. Normally, the Vietnamese work week is Monday – Friday, 8  hours a day, 40 hours a week.

Holidays

There are 11 public holidays in Vietnam. Employees are entitled to take these days off work:

• New Year’s Day:  January 1st 
• Tết (The Lunar New Year): Starts between January 20 and February 21st – 5 days off
• Hung Kings Commemorations: 1 day off
• Day of Southern Liberation for National Reunification: April 30th
• International Labour Day: May 1st
• National Day – September 2nd

Foreign employees are entitled to a day off with pay on one additional traditional day of their country of origin.

Paid Leave

The minimum mandatory annual leave in Vietnam is 12 days.

• Employees who have worked for 12 months for an employer are entitled to 12 days paid annual leave days, with proportional paid annual leave days for employees who have worked for less than 12 months. For example an employee who has worked 6 months is entitled to 6 paid annual leave days.
• Employees receive one additional paid vacation day per year for every 5 years they work for an employer.
• Employees are entitled to pay for leave not taken by the end of the year. The employer can allow the employees to carry over untaken annual leaves to the following year instead of payment for untaken leave, but the leave must be taken before March 31st.
• Annual leave is separate from sick leave or maternity leave in Vietnam.
• Employees are entitled to paid personal leave for their wedding, the wedding of their child, or the death of a parent, spouse or child, as well as unpaid leave with the approval of their employer.

Sick Leave

Employees who take leave in accordance with a doctor’s order receive an allowance paid by Vietnam’s social insurance fund (only doctors can issue the sick leave certificate). The sick leave allowance is based on the employee’s salary. The sick allowance is valid for:

• 30 days per year (if the employee has contributed to the social insurance fund for less than 15 years) or
• 40 days per year (if the employee has contributed to the social insurance fund for between 15 and 30 years) or
• 60 days per year (if the employee has contributed to the social insurance fund for more than 30 years).

Maternity Leave

Female employees are entitled to 6 months of paid maternity leave at full salary, and an additional 30 days for each additional child after the first one. This maternity leave is paid by the social insurance. An employee who is pregnant or on maternity leave or has a child under one year old of age cannot be let go unless in the case that the company shuts down.

The employer is not required to pay maternity leave, however the maternity leave allowance is based on the employee’s salary. The maximum social insurance allowance is VND29.800.000 and the employer will usually pay for the difference if the employee’s wage is more than the allowance limit.

Fathers are eligible for  5 to 14 days of paid paternity leave. This depends on whether the birth happens naturally or by C-section and how many children.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is required by law in Vietnam and is a mandatory part of payroll.

Bonuses

A 13 month bonus is not mandatory in Vietnam, but many employers provide an annual bonus as part of a commission plan or to create an incentive to retain talent up to the end of the business year.  Employees who have worked at a company more than one year are eligible for the 13th month bonus, however employees who have worked less than one year at a company have the 13th month paid in proportion to their stay. 13th month bonuses range from 1 month to 3 months salary.

Termination

Depending on the reason for dismissal and the employment contract, the employee’s rights and the notice period and possible severance payments varies.

A probation period must not exceed 60 days.

Employers can terminate a labor contract with a 30 working days notice for a fixed term labor contract and 45 working days for an indefinite labor contract. The employer needs to have legal grounds for termination.

Legal grounds include, but are not limited to: underperformance, prolonged sick leaves, or company closure. 

Failure to prove proper termination may render the termination wrongful which can require the employer to pay a settlement or resignation to be negotiated.

Paying Taxes

The social insurance is part of the income tax and is used for:

• sick leave
• maternity leave
• work-related accidents
• occupational disease
• pensions.

Vietnam has mandatory social & health insurance. Contributions are to be borne by both the employer and the employee. The equation for calculating taxes in Vietnam: 

• Employers contribute 17.5%
• Employees contribute 8%
• Union Fee: 1%
• Trade Union: 2%