Ministry of Finance: Even those receiving salaries from the budget must still pay personal income tax

According to the Ministry of Finance, the principle of tax law is that individuals with the same taxable income must fulfill their tax obligations equally, regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector.

Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)

The Ministry of Finance said the Personal Income Tax Law applies uniformly to all individuals with income up to the tax threshold, regardless of whether the source of payment is from the budget or the private sector.

Excluding tax on salaries and wages from the budget would be inappropriate and could easily cause mixed reactions in public opinion.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the principle of tax law is that individuals with the same taxable income must fulfill their tax obligations equally, regardless of whether they work in the public or private sector. The deduction levels for individuals are also regulated the same.

The Ministry of Finance said that the current Personal Income Tax Law has provisions related to income from “overtime pay,” “night shift pay,” “severance pay,” and “hardship allowance.”

The draft amended law continues to inherit this provision. In its comments on the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) sent to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security proposed to study and supplement the provision on tax exemption for income from salaries, wages and other remuneration-related payments from the state budget.

Because according to the State Budget Law 2025, personal income tax is also a budget revenue. Therefore, the budget spending salaries, then collecting personal income tax from this same amount to submit back to the budget will create additional procedures, departments, and unnecessary personnel.

In addition, the Ministry of Public Security proposed to study the exemption of personal income tax on "overtime pay", "night shift pay", "severance allowance", and "hardship allowance".

According to the Ministry of Public Security, these are incentives and compensation for risks for workers. If taxed, policies to encourage overtime and bonuses for exceeding productivity will lose their effectiveness and cause disadvantages for workers, especially manual laborers and night shift workers.

In addition, for income from inheritance and gifts, the presiding agency needs to clarify the criteria for determining unregistered assets to ensure transparency and avoid arbitrary application.

The Ministry of Public Security also proposed to study the addition of digital assets (cryptocurrencies, virtual assets, etc.) to the taxable category, to keep up with modern financial trends.

The National Assembly delegation of Tuyen Quang province requested the drafting agency to carefully review the regulations related to tax-exempt and tax-reduced income. The addition of tax exemption and reduction should only be applied in cases that are truly necessary, in accordance with the socio -economic context; at the same time, strict regulations are needed to avoid the situation of taking advantage of the policy to declare and evade taxes, causing losses to the state budget.

The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Consultants and Tax Agents Association highly appreciates the regulation on personal income tax exemption for salaries and wages of scientists performing scientific research, technology and innovation tasks using state budget funds.

However, the Association proposed expanding the tax exemption to the fields of health, education, digital transformation, etc. to create momentum for the development of science, technology and national digital transformation.

On the other hand, additional research is needed to ensure fairness and encourage research and innovation by scientists carrying out tasks from socialized capital sources.

Some opinions also noted that when paying for scientists from socialized or business sources, it is necessary to refer to regulations on setting up science and technology funds to avoid duplicate incentives.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the Law has added provisions on tax exemption for income from salaries and wages from performing scientific, technological and innovation tasks.

The Ministry of Finance said it had received 382 documents commenting on the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended); of which 15 units agreed in full, a number of other opinions basically agreed, and commented on the structure and wording to be consistent with the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents; the remaining opinions were fully explained and accepted by the Ministry of Finance.

According to Thuy Duong (Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/bo-tai-chinh-huong-luong-tu-ngan-sach-van-phai-nop-thue-thu-nhap-ca-nhan-post566873.html