On the National Legal Portal, citizen N.V.H sent questions related to personal income tax policies when dividing common assets.
Citizens reflect, Clause 1 and Clause 4, Article 213 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulate:
Common property of husband and wife is the most common common property that can be divided...
Common property of husband and wife can be divided according to agreement or according to the decision of the Court".
Clause 1, Article 38 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family stipulates: "In the period of marriage, husband and wife have the right to agree to divide a part or the entire common property, except for the cases specified in Article 42 of this Law; if no agreement can be reached, they have the right to request the Court to resolve it".
Regarding personal income tax regulations, Clause 1, Article 2 of the Personal Income Tax Law stipulates:
Personal income taxpayers are resident individuals with taxable income specified in Article 3 of this Law arising within and outside the territory of Vietnam and non-resident individuals with taxable income specified in Article 3 of this Law arising within the territory of Vietnam".
Citizens said that currently, the Personal Income Tax Law stipulates that taxpayers are individuals with income as prescribed in Article 3 of the Law.
For real estate, Article 3 of the Personal Income Tax Law only stipulates that income from transfer, inheritance, gifts is subject to tax and is tax-exempt when there is a relationship specified in Article 4.
For real estate, which is common property of households, common property of land users and common property of husband and wife, when preparing the division document, it is clearly stated that the remaining people agree to divide this common property to 1 remaining person, the division in essence does not generate income.
Citizens wonder if this case is eligible for personal income tax exemption according to the provisions of the Law or not?
The Department of Tax, Fee and Charge Policy Management and Supervision, Ministry of Finance answers this issue as follows:
The Law on Personal Income Tax No. 109/2025/QH15 stipulates that income is tax-exempt as follows: "Income from transfer, inheritance, gifts that are real estate between husband and wife; biological father, biological mother with biological child; adoptive father, adoptive mother with adopted child; father-in-law, mother-in-law with daughter-in-law; father-in-law, mother-in-law with son-in-law; paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother with grandson; maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother with maternal grandchild; siblings with each other".
Based on Decree No. 253/2026/ND-CP dated June 30, 2026 of the Government (Decree detailing a number of articles and measures to organize and guide the implementation of the Law on Personal Income Tax)
Article 18. Income from transfer, inheritance, gifts of real estate:
Personal income tax exemption for income from transfer, inheritance, gifts that are real estate (including houses, construction works formed in the future according to the provisions of the law on real estate business) between: husband and wife; biological father, biological mother with biological children; adoptive father, adoptive mother with adopted children; father-in-law, mother-in-law with daughter-in-law (including when husband dies); father-in-law, mother-in-law with son-in-law (including when wife dies); paternal grandfather, paternal grandfather with grandson; maternal grandfather, maternal grandfather with maternal grandchild; siblings.
In case real estate (including houses, construction works formed in the future according to the provisions of law on real estate business) when the wife/husband divorces is divided according to an agreement or by a court ruling, the income from this property division is eligible for tax exemption".
Article 57. Personal income tax on income from real estate transfer is as follows, some specific cases are as follows:
In case the real estate transfer is co-ownership, the tax obligation is determined separately for each taxpayer according to the real estate ownership ratio. The basis for determining the ownership ratio is legal documents such as: Initial capital contribution agreement, will, court division decision or other legal documents. In case there are no legal documents, the tax obligation of each taxpayer is determined according to the average ratio. Individuals co-owning real estate are authorized to an individual representative to pay taxes on income from real estate transfer.
The law on personal income tax has specific regulations for the content of obstacles raised by citizens. In case there are still obstacles, the Department of Tax, Fee and Charge Policy Management and Supervision requests readers to contact the direct tax management agency for specific guidance.
