How to pay taxes to earn money from YouTube, Facebook, TikTok
Information that Loc Fuho (real name Pham Van Loc, born in 1994, from Khanh Hoa) paid more than 3 billion VND in taxes is attracting a lot of attention. According to Loc Fuho's sharing on his personal Facebook page, his current income mainly comes from payments from social networking platforms for videos and posts.
Loc Fuho shared that he actively contacted the tax authorities to be guided and fulfill his tax obligations.
From this case, a question that many people are interested in is how are income from YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and cross-border platforms declared and taxed?
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Le Van Tuan - Director of Keytas Tax Accounting Co., Ltd. - said that tax obligations for individuals with income from social media platforms are determined differently depending on whether the income holder has registered for business or not for business activities.
According to Mr. Tuan, Decree 253/2026/ND-CP stipulates that individuals receiving income from providing services but not registering for business, not registering for tax for business activities, tax obligations are determined according to income from salaries and wages.
For incomes that have not been deducted from tax, taxpayers are responsible for self-declaring and self-paying taxes quarterly to the tax authority. At the end of the year, individuals summarize all income from salaries and wages to finalize tax according to the progressive tax schedule in parts, with tax rates from 5-35%.
Meanwhile, if an individual registers for business or registers for tax for business activities, tax obligations will be determined according to regulations for business activities.
Mr. Tuan said that for individuals making money from YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and social networking platforms, cross-border platforms, this activity is identified as providing services.
According to new regulations on tax obligations of households and individual businesses in the Law on Personal Income Tax No. 109/2025/QH15, Decree 68/2026/ND-CP and Decree 141/2026/ND-CP amending Decree 68/2026/ND-CP, tax obligations are determined according to each revenue group.
In case revenue is less than 1 billion VND, business households and individuals are exempt from value-added tax and personal income tax.
For the revenue group from 1-3 billion VND, the tax rate for service provision activities is 7% of revenue, including 5% value-added tax and 2% personal income tax. In which, when determining personal income tax, the first 1 billion VND revenue is deducted before tax calculation.
Mr. Tuan noted that this revenue threshold is being proposed to be adjusted from 1-3 billion VND to 1-10 billion VND.
In addition to the method of calculating directly on revenue, in cases subject to income tax, value-added tax is determined as 5% of revenue, while personal income tax is calculated on profit with tax rates of 15%, 17% or 20% depending on the revenue threshold.
Choosing to register for business or fulfill tax obligations based on income from salaries and wages may lead to different tax calculation methods. "When people have income from providing services, they need to proactively learn about tax policies and develop plans to fulfill tax obligations from the beginning," Mr. Tuan recommended.
Should proactively declare before tax authorities collect retroactively
According to Mr. Le Van Tuan, for individuals who are not registered for business, income that has not been deducted from tax must be self-declared by the taxpayer and paid to the tax authority.
Currently, taxpayers can use declaration form 02/KK-TNCN to self-declare income from salaries and wages and carry out online procedures through the Public Service Portal.
For business registrants, after being granted a business license, individuals need to work with the tax authority to be granted an account on the Public Service Portal or eTax Mobile, and at the same time be guided to fulfill initial tax obligations.
After that, in case revenue is less than 1 billion VND/year and is eligible for tax exemption, the taxpayer shall notify the tax authority of the revenue.
In case of revenue up to 50 billion VND/year, according to Mr. Tuan, taxpayers declare tax according to form 01/CNKD quarterly. If revenue is over 50 billion VND/year, tax declaration is carried out monthly.
For people who choose or fall into the case of having to pay tax according to the method of taking taxable income multiplied by tax rate, individuals need to carry out annual personal income tax finalization to re-determine tax obligations for the whole year.
Experts recommend that people who have had income from YouTube, Facebook, TikTok or other platforms for a long time but have not fully declared and paid taxes should proactively review all revenue sources.
For cases where income has arisen but has not been fully declared or paid, taxpayers should proactively summarize income, declare and fulfill tax obligations. This helps taxpayers have conditions to determine a plan suitable for their case. Conversely, if the tax authority detects and recovers, tax obligations may be determined according to regulations," Mr. Tuan said.
In addition to the tax payable, people who evade taxes also face the risk of being penalized. Mr. Tuan said that according to the provisions of tax management law, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, tax evasion can be fined from 1-3 times the amount of tax evasion. Serious cases may also face the risk of criminal prosecution.
