Wages, minimum wage and payroll: the 2026 regional minimums, salary scales, payment rules, bonuses and the 13th month, payslips and deductions, foreign staff paid offshore, and the cost of an employee

What counts as salary

Article 90 of Labour Code No. 45/2019/QH14 defines salary as the amount the employer pays the employee for the work agreed, comprising the salary for the job or title, salary allowances and other supplements. The salary for the job or title, for normal working hours, may not be lower than the regional minimum wage, and the employer must pay equal salary for work of equal value without discrimination on grounds of gender. The split between the three components matters for three different purposes: the minimum wage test applies to the salary for the job; overtime is calculated on the salary for the job and the allowances that form part of it; and compulsory social insurance is paid on the salary for the job plus allowances and regular supplements, but not on bonuses or welfare benefits (Social, health and unemployment insurance).

Contracts that state a single gross figure without identifying its components invite disputes with Vietnam Social Security about the insurance base. Contracts that load most of the package into allowances in order to reduce the insurance base invite the opposite problem: allowances paid regularly with salary are insurable whatever they are called. The safest structure is a salary for the position that reflects the real value of the job, a small number of fixed allowances that are named and quantified, and a separate bonus and welfare policy.

The regional minimum wages for 2026

Vietnam sets four regional minimum wages by Government decree after a recommendation from the National Wage Council. Decree No. 293/2025/ND-CP fixed the levels that apply from 1 January 2026: VND 5,310,000 a month (VND 25,500 an hour) in Region I, VND 4,730,000 (22,700) in Region II, VND 4,140,000 (20,000) in Region III and VND 3,700,000 (17,800) in Region IV. Region I covers the central urban areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and some adjoining industrial areas; Regions III and IV cover rural and mountainous areas. Because the provinces and communes were merged in 2025, the decree's appendix lists the region by commune-level unit; an employer must look up the commune where each workplace sits, not the province alone. An employer with workplaces in different regions applies the minimum of each region to the employees working there, and a workplace in an industrial park or economic zone that straddles regions applies the highest.

The monthly minimum applies to employees paid by the month and the hourly minimum to those paid by the hour; employees paid weekly, daily or by product are converted to the monthly or hourly equivalent. The minimum is a floor for the salary for the job for a full month of normal hours. It does not include overtime, night premiums, allowances for hazardous work, or meal and transport support, which must be paid on top. Paying below the minimum is an offence under Decree No. 283/2026/ND-CP, with fines graduated by the number of employees affected and doubled for organisations, in addition to an order to pay the shortfall.

The regional minimum also drives other figures: the floor for the insurance salary of employees under labour contracts, the ceiling for unemployment insurance (20 times the regional minimum, or VND 106,200,000 in Region I in 2026) and the wage used for some severance and stoppage payments. The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed an average rise of 7.8% from 1 January 2027; at the end of September 2026 the Government decree had not been issued (FAQ 57).

Salary scales, payment and payslips

Under Article 93 the employer must build its own salary scales, payroll tables and labour norms, as the basis for recruitment, agreeing salaries in contracts and paying them. It must consult the employee representative organisation where one exists and publish the scales at the workplace before applying them. Registration with the authorities is no longer required, but labour inspectors ask to see the scales and the evidence of consultation and publication.

Articles 94 to 97 govern payment. Salary must be paid directly, in full and on time to the employee, or to a person the employee authorises; the employer may not restrict how the employee spends it or require purchases from the employer. Salary is stated in the contract and paid in Vietnamese dong, but a foreign employee may be paid in foreign currency (Article 95(2)). Payment may be in cash or into the employee's bank account, in which case the employer bears the account and transfer fees (Article 96). A monthly-paid employee is paid once a month or twice a month, at a fixed time agreed in advance (Article 97). Where force majeure prevents payment on time, the delay may not exceed 30 days; where payment is 15 days or more late, the employer must add compensation at least equal to interest on the late amount at the one-month deposit rate of the bank where it holds its payroll account. Each payment must be accompanied by a payslip showing salary, overtime, night pay, the content and amount of any deduction and any other items (Article 95(3)).

Article 99 deals with work stoppages: where the employer is at fault the employee receives full salary; where the employee is at fault, none; where the stoppage results from a power or water failure not caused by the employer, natural disaster, epidemic, a decision of the authorities or economic reasons, the parties agree the salary, but for the first 14 working days it may not be less than the regional minimum.

Bonuses, the 13th month, allowances and deductions

Article 104 makes a bonus a matter for the employer: it is paid on the basis of business results and the employee's performance, under bonus regulations that the employer issues after consulting the employee representative organisation and publishes at the workplace. A 13th-month salary paid before Tết is a strong custom, and candidates expect it, but the Labour Code does not require it. It becomes enforceable if the labour contract, the bonus regulations or the collective bargaining agreement promise it, and a practice of paying a fixed 13th month year after year without conditions may be read as an agreed term. Employers that intend the payment to be discretionary should say so in writing and link it to results.

Allowances and welfare benefits (Article 103) are agreed in the contract, the collective bargaining agreement or the internal rules. Typical allowances are for position, responsibility, seniority, hazardous work, region and attraction; typical welfare items are meals, transport, telephone, housing, childcare, health checks and gifts on holidays. The insurance and tax treatment differ by item.

Deductions are tightly limited. Under Article 102 the employer may deduct from salary only to compensate damage to its tools or equipment, or other property, under Article 129, and the deduction may not exceed 30% of the monthly salary after compulsory insurance and personal income tax. Union dues, loan repayments to the employer and similar items require the employee's written agreement. Penalising an employee by cutting salary is prohibited as a disciplinary measure (Article 127). An advance of salary is permitted on agreed terms (Article 101).

Running the monthly payroll

1. Close attendance and overtimeLock hours, overtime by category, night work, leave and absences for the period, and check overtime against the monthly and annual caps (Working hours, leave and holidays).
2. Compute gross paySalary for the job, allowances, overtime at 150%, 200% or 300%, night premiums, bonuses due and taxable benefits.
3. Fix the insurance salarySalary for the job plus allowances and regular supplements, not below the regional minimum and capped at 20 times the reference level (VND 50,600,000 from 1 July 2026) for social and health insurance and 20 times the regional minimum for unemployment insurance.
4. Deduct the employee's contributions8% social insurance, 1.5% health insurance and, for Vietnamese employees, 1% unemployment insurance, together 10.5%; foreign employees in the scheme pay 9.5%.
5. Withhold personal income taxApply the progressive rates for residents (5% to 35%) after the personal deduction of VND 15.5 million and VND 6.2 million per registered dependant, or 20% for non-residents (Personal income tax and expatriates).
6. Pay net salary and issue payslipsOn the fixed pay date, by bank transfer at the employer's cost, with a payslip for every employee (Article 95(3)).
7. Pay the employer's contributions and union feeSocial, health and unemployment insurance for the month by the last day of the following month (Article 34, Law No. 41/2024/QH15); the 2% trade union fee monthly under Decree No. 105/2026/ND-CP.
8. File and keep recordsMonthly or quarterly personal income tax returns, insurance adjustments for joiners and leavers, and the payroll records that support each figure for labour inspection and tax audit.

Foreign staff paid in foreign currency or offshore

Three regimes meet in an expatriate's payslip. Labour law lets the contract state and pay a foreign employee's salary in foreign currency (Article 95(2)), and in practice many packages are split between a Vietnamese salary and a home-country salary or allowance paid by the parent. Tax law looks through the split: income for work performed in Vietnam is Vietnamese-source employment income wherever and by whomever it is paid, and a resident is taxed on worldwide income. Where the Vietnamese company bears the offshore portion through a recharge, it includes it in its own payroll withholding; where the parent pays without recharge, the employee must usually declare and pay the tax on that portion directly. The rules, including tax residence and the 183-day test, are in Personal income tax and expatriates. Insurance law applies to the salary under the Vietnamese labour contract, so the definition of salary in that contract, and whether the offshore portion forms part of it, determines the contribution base up to the ceiling.

On the currency side, the employer's ability to pay salary in foreign currency, and the employee's ability to buy foreign currency with dong salary and remit it abroad after tax, are governed by the State Bank's foreign exchange rules, which require supporting documents such as the labour contract and tax records for outward remittances by individuals. See Currency and payments inside Vietnam. Recharges of salary costs from a foreign parent are cross-border service payments with their own tax and documentation consequences (Paying foreign suppliers and group companies).