One of the notable contents is the proposal to adjust the income level as a basis for determining dependents to be subject to family deductions. Accordingly, dependents will be determined to have an average monthly income in the year from all sources not exceeding 3 million VND, 3 times higher than the current level of 1 million VND/month.
As a family of 5 living in Hanoi, Ms. Vu Thu Loan (Dong Ngac ward) expressed her joy at this information. According to her, the family has 2 spouses and 3 children. The eldest child has been working for nearly 1 year, so he is no longer considered a dependent. However, in the first 6 months of 2025, the child is still a student and does not have a stable income. When tuition fees still reach 17-18 million VND/semester, thus, if applying the ceiling of 1 million VND/month as at present, it is almost impossible to ensure personal living expenses in Hanoi.
The second child is currently a first-year student, working as a tutor but her income is unstable. Ms. Loan is still the main breadwinner, and her child's part-time work is mainly to accumulate experience. During this transition period, she said she encountered many difficulties when carrying out procedures to change dependents in the tax finalization process.
According to the Ministry of Finance, current regulations, in Circular 111/2013/TT-BTC and related documents, identify dependents as people without income or with an average monthly income not exceeding 1 million VND. However, statistics show that people's income and spending levels have changed significantly.
Talking to Lao Dong, Ms. Luong Thi Hai Yen - Director of NYD Tax Service and Consulting JSC assessed that the proposal to raise the income threshold for dependents to 3 million VND/month reflects a very clear reality: The living cost level, spending level and income of people today are far different from 2013.
According to Ms. Yen, this proposal shows that the drafting agency has begun to look closer at real life. At the same time, there is additional reference to the national multidimensional poverty line for the period 2026 - 2030 and data on spending and average income per capita. However, the level of 3 million VND/month is still not completely close to reality. Although it has improved significantly compared to the previous level of 1 million VND, this figure has not kept up with the current spending pressure.
From this reality, Ms. Luong Thi Hai Yen proposed that it is necessary to study a mechanism for periodic review and adjustment, for example, once every 3-5 years or associated with objective indicators such as consumer price index (CPI), minimum living standard, poverty line or average income per capita. This will help policies reduce delays, avoiding the situation where when amended, old regulations are too far behind reality.
