How many days off are there for the 2025 Tet holiday of Vietnam? Is the employer's Tet bonus subject to personal income tax in Vietnam?

How many days off are there for the 2025 Tet holiday of Vietnam?

- Previously, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs submitted a plan to the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam for the Tet Nguyen Dan holiday in 2025. Accordingly, officials and public employees will have 9 consecutive days off, comprising 5 days of Tet holiday and 4 weekly days off.

To be specific, officials, public employees, and workers are entitled to a 5-day Tet Nguyen Dan holiday from Monday, January 27, 2025, to Friday, January 31, 2025 (from the 28th of the 12th lunar month of the Year of the Dragon, to the 3rd day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Snake).

However, since in 2025 all 5 days of the Tet Nguyen Dan holiday fall on weekdays, workers will have an additional 2 weekend days before and 2 days after the Tet holiday.

Therefore, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs submitted the plan for officials and public employees, workers in administrative, career, political, and socio-political organizations to have holidays from January 25 to February 2, 2025 (from the 26th day of the 12th lunar month to the 5th day of the 1st lunar month).

- Considering the proposal of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs regarding the plan for the lunar new year holiday, National Day holiday, and several other holidays in 2025. Recently, according to Official Dispatch 8726/VPCP-KGVX of 2024, the Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam provided opinions on the lunar new year holiday, National Day holiday, and several other holidays in 2025 sent to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Official Dispatch 8726/VPCP-KGVX of 2024... (Download)

The Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam agreed with the proposal of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs about the lunar new year holiday, National Day holiday, and workday exchange for holidays for the Victory Day on April 30 and International Labor Day on May 1, 2025. The Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall notify administrative agencies, careers, political organizations, socio-political organizations, enterprises, and laborers as prescribed.

Thus, for the 2025 Tet holiday, officials and public employees have 9 consecutive days off, including 5 days of Tet holiday and 4 weekly days off. To be specific: they are off from Monday, January 27, 2025, to Friday, January 31, 2025 (from the 28th of the 12th lunar month of the Year of the Dragon to the 3rd day of the first lunar month of the Year of the Snake).

How many days off are there for the 2025 Tet holiday of Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)

Is the employer's Tet bonus subject to personal income tax in Vietnam?

Based on point e clause 2 Article 2 of Circular 111/2013/TT-BTC which stipulates taxable income as follows:

Taxable Income

According to Article 3 of the Law on Personal Income Tax and Article 3 of Decree 65/2013/ND-CP, taxable personal income includes:

...

2. Income from salaries and wages

Income from salaries and wages is the income received by workers from employers, including:

...

e) Bonuses in cash or non-cash under any form, including bonuses in the form of stocks, except for the following bonuses:

e.1) Bonuses associated with titles conferred by the State, including bonuses associated with emulation titles and forms of commendation as stipulated by the law on emulation and commendation, specifically:

e.1.1) Bonuses associated with emulation titles such as National Emulation Fighters; Ministry, sector, central unions, provincial, centrally-run city level Emulation Fighters; Grassroots Emulation Fighters, Advanced Workers, Advanced Fighters.

e.1.2) Bonuses associated with forms of commendation.

e.1.3) Bonuses associated with titles conferred by the State.

e.1.4) Bonuses associated with awards granted by central and local political, socio-political, social, and socio-professional organizations in accordance with their charters and the Law on Emulation and Commendation.

...

Hence, the employer's Tet bonus is considered a bonus and does not fall into the category of tax-exempt bonuses for personal income tax.

Therefore, the Tet bonus from the employer is considered taxable personal income.

Is it mandatory for the employer to give a Tet bonus to employees in Vietnam?

According to Article 104 of the Labor Code 2019 which stipulates bonuses, it states:

Bonus

1. A bonus is a sum of money, an asset, or any other form given by the employer to the employee based on production results, business performance, and the degree of work completion of the employee.

2. The bonus regulation is decided and publicly announced by the employer at the workplace after consulting the representative organization of employees in the establishment, if any.

Based on the above regulation, it can be seen that the New Year's bonus in particular and bonuses in general are not mandatory.

In case the enterprise has a Bonus Regulation (clearly stipulating cases where employees are awarded by the employer) and has publicly informed the employees, the enterprise must comply with the employer's Bonus Regulation to pay bonuses to employees accurately.