On the Ministry of Finance's Electronic Information Portal, an individual submitted a question: "I am entitled to inherit money from my boyfriend (a foreigner), which is cash and will be transferred to my personal VND account. According to my advice, in case the heir only receives the inheritance as real estate, does not have to register ownership or the right to use the petition for payment such as money and gold, he/she is not subject to tax. So my question: 1. In addition to my will, what additional documents do I need to prove to be a legal source of money? 2. In my case, am I exempt from personal income tax or still have to pay personal income tax?"
Responding to this question, the Ministry of Finance cited Clause 9, Article 2 of Circular No. 111/2013/TT-BTC dated August 15, 2013, guiding a number of articles of the Law on Personal Income Tax and amended and supplemented documents:
"Income from inheritance is the income that individuals receive according to the will or according to the provisions of the law on inheritance... For inheritance, other assets must be registered for ownership or use with State management agencies such as: cars, motorbikes, boats, airplanes, hunting guns, sports guns...".
Notably, the Circular clearly states: "In case individuals are entitled to inherit, the money is not subject to personal income tax."
Accordingly, the amount of money that the individual inherits from his boyfriend (a foreigner) is not subject to personal income tax.
Regarding documents proving legal sources of money, in addition to the will with the names of inheritors, the Ministry of Finance recommends that individuals prepare:
Confirmation document of the organization (bank, law firm or competent authority of the host country) about the origin of the inherited amount.
Identification documents of the heir and testator (if any).
Transaction documents (existent report, confirmation of money transfer from the bank).
These documents will help the authorities verify the legality of the money when transferred to Vietnam.
Thus, cash inheritance is not subject to personal income tax. However, recipients need to prepare complete supporting documents to ensure compliance with regulations and convenience when performing related procedures.
