Key facts at a glance
Personal deduction
₫15,500,000/mo
everyone gets this, no dependents needed
Per dependent
₫6,200,000/mo
on top of the personal deduction
₫40m/mo salary, 1 dependent
+₫620,000/mo net
vs zero dependents
On a ₫40,000,000/month gross salary, claiming one dependent puts about ₫620,000 more in your pocket every month compared to the zero-dependent baseline, and a second dependent adds a further ₫515,000/month. Over a year, that's ₫13,620,000 in extra take-home for two dependents, real money, but not a flat multiple of the ₫6,200,000/month deduction figure itself.
The 2026 reform (Law 109/2025/QH15, Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15) didn't just cut Vietnam's PIT schedule from seven bands to five, it also raised both the personal deduction to ₫15,500,000/month and the dependent deduction to ₫6,200,000/month, up from the pre-2026 figures. Because PIT is a marginal, banded tax, the actual value of each dependent depends on which band that deduction pulls you out of, which is exactly what the worked example below shows.
Get your zero-dependent baseline, then apply the math below.
Open the Vietnam calculatorHow the dependent deduction actually moves your tax band
Each qualifying dependent, a child under 18 (or an adult child still studying, up to certain conditions), a non-working spouse, or a dependent parent, lets you deduct a further ₫6,200,000/month from taxable income, on top of your own ₫15,500,000/month personal deduction and after compulsory insurance has already been subtracted. That reduction happens before any PIT band is applied, so its real value depends entirely on which band the reduction crosses.
Take a ₫40,000,000/month gross salary. After 10.5% insurance (₫4,200,000/month) and the personal deduction (₫15,500,000/month), zero-dependent taxable income is ₫20,300,000/month, PIT of ₫1,530,000/month (5% on the first ₫10m, 10% on the remaining ₫10,300,000). Add one dependent and taxable income drops to ₫14,100,000/month, all of that ₫6,200,000 reduction sits inside the same 10% band, so PIT falls by exactly ₫6,200,000 × 10% = ₫620,000, to ₫910,000/month.
Add a second dependent and taxable income drops further, to ₫7,900,000/month, but now the reduction crosses out of the 10% band and into the 5% band (the boundary sits at ₫10,000,000/month taxable). Of that second ₫6,200,000 reduction, ₫4,100,000 was still inside the 10% band (saving ₫410,000) and ₫2,100,000 landed in the 5% band (saving only ₫105,000), for a smaller combined saving of ₫515,000/month rather than another flat ₫620,000.
Worked example: ₫40,000,000/month gross, 0 vs 1 vs 2 dependents
Computed by hand from the same insurance and PIT logic behind the calculator, layering in the dependent deduction manually since the calculator itself models zero dependents.
| Dependents | Taxable income | PIT | Net monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 dependents | ₫20,300,000/mo | ₫1,530,000/mo | ₫34,270,000/mo |
| 1 dependent | ₫14,100,000/mo | ₫910,000/mo | ₫34,890,000/mo |
| 2 dependents | ₫7,900,000/mo | ₫395,000/mo | ₫35,405,000/mo |
Insurance held constant at ₫4,200,000/month across all three rows (dependents don't affect insurance). Annual net: ₫411,240,000 (0 dependents), ₫418,680,000 (1), ₫424,860,000 (2).
Don't just multiply the deduction by your tax rate
The most common mistake is assuming every dependent is worth the same fixed amount (deduction × marginal rate). That only holds if the whole deduction stays inside one PIT band. The moment cumulative deductions push your taxable income across a band boundary, as the second dependent does above, part of the saving shifts to a lower rate and the total saving comes in under the naive estimate. If you're close to a band boundary, work through the math for your specific number of dependents rather than assuming a flat per-dependent value.
Start from your zero-dependent baseline
Get your exact insurance and PIT numbers, then apply the dependent math above to your own salary.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does one dependent actually save on a ₫40,000,000/month salary?
About ₫620,000 more take-home a month (₫7,440,000 more a year) compared to the zero-dependent baseline. The ₫6,200,000/month dependent deduction lowers taxable income from ₫20,300,000 to ₫14,100,000/month, and since that whole reduction falls inside the 10% band, the PIT saving is the full ₫6,200,000 × 10% = ₫620,000/month.
Does a second dependent save the same amount as the first?
Not necessarily, it depends on which PIT band the reduction crosses. In the ₫40,000,000/month example, the second dependent only saves ₫515,000/month (versus ₫620,000 for the first), because that second ₫6,200,000 reduction pushes taxable income from ₫14,100,000 down to ₫7,900,000/month, crossing out of the 10% band and partly into the 5% band. Part of the saving lands at the higher 10% rate, part at the lower 5% rate, so the blended saving is smaller than a flat ₫6,200,000 × 10% calculation would suggest.
How much is the personal deduction and the dependent deduction in 2026?
The personal deduction (giảm trừ bản thân) is ₫15,500,000/month, about ₫186,000,000/year, effective 1 January 2026 under Resolution 110/2025/UBTVQH15. The dependent deduction (giảm trừ gia cảnh) is ₫6,200,000/month per qualifying dependent, claimed on top of the personal deduction, both subtracted from income after compulsory insurance but before any PIT band applies.
Why does the same deduction amount produce a different tax saving each time?
Because Vietnam's PIT is a marginal, banded system: 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 35% on monthly taxable income of ≤₫10m, ₫10-30m, ₫30-60m, ₫60-100m, and above ₫100m. A ₫6,200,000 deduction is worth exactly (deduction × your marginal rate) only if the whole deduction stays inside one band. The moment a deduction is large enough to push part of your taxable income into a lower band, as the second dependent does in the example above, the saving becomes smaller than a flat marginal-rate calculation, because part of that ₫6,200,000 was only ever going to be taxed at the lower rate anyway.
Does the calculator on this site model dependents?
No, by design. The Vietnam Salary Calculator models the single, zero-dependent baseline, since dependent status (how many, and whether each qualifies under Vietnam's rules for children, non-working spouses, or dependent parents) is a per-household fact the calculator can't know without extra inputs. This article exists to bridge that gap: take your zero-dependent result from the calculator, then manually subtract ₫6,200,000/month per qualifying dependent from your taxable income before re-running the PIT bands, or use the worked example above as a template for your own numbers.
Do dependents reduce compulsory insurance too?
No. The ₫6,200,000/month dependent deduction only reduces the income base for PIT calculation, it has no effect on the 10.5% compulsory insurance (8% social, 1.5% health, 1% unemployment), which is calculated on gross salary up to the ₫50,600,000/month contribution cap regardless of how many dependents you claim. Insurance and PIT are separate calculations with separate rules; only PIT recognizes dependents.