Payroll is the most sensitive dataset in your company. Outsourcing it solves two problems at once: technical accuracy on tax and insurance, and keeping salary information out of reach of local staff.
Background
Employers in Vietnam must withhold personal income tax before paying salaries, and contribute to social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance and the trade union fund at prescribed rates on the salary used as the contribution base.
For FDI companies the complexity increases with foreign staff. Determining tax residency, treating income paid by the parent company abroad, and valuing non-cash benefits such as housing, school fees and home leave flights each follow specific rules.
This is also the area most frequently assessed at personal income tax finalisation, because an error repeats every month and only becomes visible once the year is aggregated.
Common challenges
- Salary information leaking internally. When payroll is processed by local HR, executive and cross-department pay data circulates far more easily than management assumes, with direct consequences for stability.
- Residency status determined incorrectly. Resident and non-resident status produce entirely different tax outcomes. Getting it wrong generates significant assessments at finalisation, particularly for staff who work part of a year.
- Parent company payments omitted. Salary or bonus paid abroad to an expatriate working in Vietnam remains taxable in Vietnam and is regularly left out.
- Wrong insurance contribution base. Misidentifying which allowances form part of the contribution base produces arrears and late payment interest, usually found during reconciliation.
- Late headcount notifications. Joiners and leavers not reported on time affect employee entitlements and create arrears for the company.
How TrustlineAX helps
- Payroll processed accurately every month. Salary, allowances, overtime, bonuses and deductions calculated against contracts and your internal pay policy.
- Expatriate tax handled properly. Residency status assessed, non-cash benefits valued and income paid abroad captured, so finalisation holds no surprises.
- Contributions calculated on the correct base. The contribution base determined correctly, with social, health and unemployment insurance and trade union fund applied at current rates.
- Payslips your staff receive confidentially. Individual payslips issued directly to employees through a secure channel, not routed through an intermediary.
- Filings and finalisation completed. Periodic personal income tax returns filed and annual finalisation carried out for employees who authorise it.
- Workforce cost reporting for the group. Consolidated labour cost reporting by department, in the format your parent company requires.
Scope of service
Services C1 to C5 are delivered together at a single monthly fee based on headcount. C6 is optional and quoted per expatriate.
C · HR, payroll and personal income tax
Monthly payroll processing
Monthly
- Payroll template that fits your compensation policy and Vietnamese practice.
- Gross-to-net for each employee, including PIT and compulsory insurance.
- Final settlements for leavers: severance, untaken leave and other entitlements.
- Payroll summary, bank payment listing and individual payslips.
Compulsory insurance (SI, HI, UI)
Monthly
- File monthly movements: new hires, leavers, salary changes, sick and maternity leave.
- Submit sickness and maternity benefit claims on your behalf.
- Reconcile contributions and close insurance books for leavers.
PIT under the company tax code
Monthly / Quarterly · Annual
- Prepare and file periodic PIT declarations.
- Annual PIT finalisation for employees paid only by your company.
- Income confirmations and withholding certificates for leavers.
Labour utilisation reports
Half-year · Annual
- Prepare and file the reports for Vietnamese and foreign employees after your approval.
Employment contracts and termination documents
As required
- Employment contracts consistent with the Labour Code and your internal policy.
- Resignation acceptances and termination documentation.
Expatriate personal income tax
Optional · per expatriate
- For tax residents who also receive income paid outside Vietnam, filed under the individual tax code.
- Quarterly declarations consolidating income paid in Vietnam and overseas.
- Annual and departure finalisation, with guidance on evidencing tax paid abroad.
How fees work
- One monthly fee covers C1 to C5 for up to 10 employees, with a per-person add-on above that, reviewed against actual headcount each year.
- Every engagement starts with a written proposal: scope agreed item by item, fees fixed per item, valid for 30 days.
- Nothing outside the agreed scope is charged without your prior written agreement.
- Fees exclude VAT and out-of-pocket costs such as notarisation, legalisation and certified translation.
Who we work with
- FDI companies with expatriate managers paid partly in Vietnam and partly abroad.
- Companies that want salary data kept confidential from local staff.
- Manufacturers with large or multi-site workforces and frequent headcount changes.
- Newly established subsidiaries hiring their first employees in Vietnam.
How we work
- Data intake. We review employment contracts, pay policy, headcount and current insurance registrations.
- Confidentiality setup. We agree who supplies monthly changes, how payslips are delivered and who may see what.
- Monthly run. Calculation, approval by you, payment instruction and payslip release.
- Statutory filings. Personal income tax returns and social insurance increase and decrease notifications.
- Annual finalisation. Personal income tax finalisation and reconciliation of insurance data for the full year.
Frequently asked questions
How is an expatriate working under 183 days taxed?
Whether an individual is a tax resident depends on days present in Vietnam and on criteria relating to a regular place of residence. The two statuses are taxed differently, so the position should be determined at the start of the year rather than at finalisation.
Is salary paid by the parent company taxable here?
Income relating to work performed in Vietnam is taxable in Vietnam, including where it is paid by the parent company abroad. This is examined closely when FDI companies are inspected.
Do we still see the payroll detail?
Yes. You hold all the data and approve the payroll before payment. What changes is that detailed records do not pass through intermediate staff; only authorised people have access.
How long does transition take?
Typically one to two pay cycles. We run the first cycle in parallel with your existing calculation and reconcile the results before taking over fully.