Businesses are concerned about the tipping point of new policies
Recently, a representative of a business sent a petition to clarify the application of family deduction (GTGC) when paying salaries. Specifically, this company plans to pay December 2025 salary on January 9, 2026.
According to new regulations in Law 109/2025/QH15, the deduction level for taxpayers will increase to 15.5 million VND/month and dependents to 6.2 million VND/month from 2026. However, because this is a salary belonging to the working period of 2025, businesses cannot help but worry about whether to apply the old level (11 million VND) or the new level to ensure the rights of employees as well as comply with tax laws.
Dong Nai Provincial Tax Department: Time to receive money to decide the tax rate
Answering this question, Dong Nai Provincial Tax Department said that the most important basis lies at the time of determining taxable income. According to Clause 3, Article 8 of Law 109/2025/QH15, the time of tax calculation for income from salaries and wages is the time of organization of income payment to taxpayers or the time when taxpayers receive income.
The Tax authority gives specific instructions as follows:
Principles of application: Regulations related to PIT from salaries and wages of resident individuals according to the new law will be applied from the tax calculation period of 2026.
Specific case: If the December 2025 salary is paid in January 2026, this income is officially subject to the tax period of 2026.
Due to being in the 2026 tax period, enterprises are allowed to apply a new family deduction of 15.5 million VND/month for taxpayers and 6.2 million VND/month for each dependent.
Understand the tax period correctly to avoid errors
For businesses and workers to easily grasp, it can be simply understood through the following concepts:
Time of income payment: Tax is not calculated according to "working month" but calculated according to "month of receiving money". Money deposited into the account or received in cash at any time is taxed according to regulations effective at that time.
Family deduction: This is the amount deducted from taxable income before tax calculation. The higher the deduction level, the less tax the employee has to pay, helping to increase the actual income brought home.
Applying the new deduction right from the first payout of 2026 (even if it is paid for the last payout of 2025) is completely in accordance with legal regulations and beneficial to employees.
