Dependents must be registered before December 31st.
Decree 253/2026/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to organize and guide the implementation of the Personal Income Tax Law has taken effect from July 1, 2026.
Regulations related to income from salaries and wages of resident individuals are applied from the tax period of 2026.
According to current regulations, the deduction level for the taxpayer themselves is 15.5 million VND per month, equivalent to 186 million VND per year. The deduction level for each dependent is 6.2 million VND per month.
According to Article 48 of Decree 253/2026/ND-CP, taxpayers are entitled to family circumstance deductions for dependents if they have registered for tax and dependent registration.
The deadline for registering dependents and supporting documents is before December 31 of the tax year. Registration is carried out stably for subsequent years if the information does not change.
This means that to be eligible for family deductions in the 2026 tax period, taxpayers need to complete registration and submit documents proving dependent status before December 31, 2026.
In case the family circumstance deduction for dependents has not been calculated in the year, taxpayers are still entitled to deductions from the month of arising nurturing obligations when carrying out tax finalization, provided that registration is completed according to regulations.
For example, a worker's child is born in March 2026 but only registers as a dependent in October. During the year, the deduction is temporarily calculated from the time of registration. When tax finalization, the worker can be recalculated from March, which is the month of nurturing obligations arising, if they fully meet the conditions and documents. This is the method applied according to the principle in Article 48.
Taxpayers voluntarily register the number of dependents with legal documents and are responsible before the law for the accuracy of registration information and income of dependents.
Husband and wife are not allowed to jointly deduct for one child
The Decree also stipulates that when many taxpayers have a common dependent to nurture, the parties must agree to register for deductions to one taxpayer in the year.
For example, two spouses with taxable income are not allowed to simultaneously register deductions for the same child in the same tax period. The two parties must choose the person to register in their name.
If the agreement is changed, the change is only applied from the next tax calculation period, without mid-after adjustment for the tax calculation period being implemented.
In case taxpayers have income from many places, they are also allowed to choose a place to register for family deductions for dependents. However, each dependent is only entitled to a deduction once for one taxpayer in the year.
For deductions for themselves, people with multiple sources of income from salaries and wages are only allowed to choose to calculate deductions at one place paying income at the same time.
If in the year the individual has not been deducted for themselves or has only been deducted for a number of months, when tax finalization, 12 months will be fully calculated according to regulations. Therefore, employees who transfer jobs, quit their jobs for a period of time or have not implemented deductions at the income-paying unit can still recalculate the full number of months when tax finalization.
