VI How did the Tax Department answer at the 2025 Dialogue Conference regarding the requirement that salaries of 5 million VND or more must be paid via bank transfer to be tax-deductible? Let’s find out more with Pham Consult!
How did the Tax Department answer at the 2025 Dialogue Conference regarding the requirement that salaries of 5 million VND or more must be paid via bank transfer to be tax-deductible?
On December 12, 2025, the Tax Department issued Notice 1052/TB-CT of 2025 regarding the assignment to organize the Dialogue Conference between the Ministry of Finance and taxpayers on tax and customs policies and administrative procedures in 2025.
Accordingly, Notice 1052/TB-CT of 2025 announces the time and location of the Dialogue Conference between the Ministry of Finance and taxpayers on tax and customs policies and administrative procedures in 2025 as follows:
– Time: from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM on December 26, 2025 (Friday).
– Location:
+ In person at the ICC International Conference Center, 11 Le Hong Phong Street, Hanoi.
+ Online via the Ministry of Finance’s electronic portal (www.mof.gov.vn), the Tax Department’s electronic portal (www.gdt.gov.vn), and the Customs Department’s electronic portal (www.customs.gov.vn).
Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance’s electronic portal has published a link for submitting online questions through the dialogue conference with the Ministry of Finance on tax and customs policies and administrative procedures in 2025 as follows:
Taxpayers can submit questions online via the link: https://www.gdt.gov.vn/wps/portal/home/gltt. All taxpayers’ questions submitted to the conference via the above link will be answered online by the Ministry of Finance with the support of working groups at the tax and customs agencies’ locations and publicly posted on the website so that many taxpayers can receive support and resolve their issues.
The Tax Department received the following question:
“Based on Decree 320/2025 dated December 15, 2025, which regulates and guides some articles of the Corporate Income Tax Law; Clause c, Point 1, Article 9 of the Decree states: ‘Expenses with non-cash payment documents for the purchase of goods, services, and other payments with a value of VND 5 million or more per transaction. Non-cash payment documents must comply with the regulations of the law on value-added tax.’ Therefore, I would like to ask, if a business pays salaries to employees in cash or in kind (not through non-cash payment methods as stipulated) for each employee with a salary exceeding VND 5 million/person/payment, can these expenses be included as deductible expenses?”
“According to Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP dated December 15, 2025 (applicable from the corporate income tax assessment period of 2025) of the Government detailing some articles and measures to organize and guide the implementation of the Corporate Income Tax Law, it is stipulated as follows:
Expenses deductible when determining taxable income
- Except for non-deductible expenses stipulated in Article 10 of this Decree, enterprises are allowed to deduct expenses when determining taxable income if they meet the conditions in points a, b and c below:
- c) Expenses with non-cash payment documents for the purchase of goods, services and other payments with a value of VND 5 million or more. Non-cash payment documents shall comply with the provisions of the law on value-added tax.
Based on the above regulations, in the case of enterprises paying salaries to employees “Payments of 5 million VND or more per transaction without non-cash payment documentation as required by regulations are not deductible expenses when determining taxable corporate income.”
Therefore, when a business pays salaries of 5 million VND or more, it must transfer the money (with non-cash payment documentation) to be deductible expenses when determining taxable corporate income.
Taxable income and offsetting of taxable corporate income in the tax period are regulated in Article 6 of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP, specifically as follows:
– If a business has multiple production and business activities in the tax period, the taxable income from production and business activities is the total income from all production and business activities.- In cases where a business incurs losses from its production and business activities, the losses may be offset against the taxable income of other profitable production an
d business activities at the business’s discretion, except as stipulated in Clauses 3 and 4 of Article 6 of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP.
The remaining taxable income after offsetting will be subject to the corporate income tax rate applicable to the profitable production and business activities.
– In cases where a business incurs losses from the transfer of real estate, investment projects, or participation rights in investment projects, these losses cannot be offset against the taxable income of other profitable production and business activities.
– Taxable income from the transfer of investment projects for mineral exploration, exploitation, and processing; the transfer of the right to participate in investment projects for mineral exploration, exploitation, and processing; and the transfer of the right to explore, exploit, and process minerals must be determined separately for tax declaration and payment, and cannot be offset against profits and losses from production and business activities in the tax period.
Which Decrees does Decree 320/2025 replace?
Based on the provisions of Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree 320/2025/ND-CP, Decree 320/2025/ND-CP replaces the following Decrees:
– Decree 218/2013/ND-CP dated December 26, 2013 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Corporate Income Tax;
– Government Decree 91/2014/ND-CP dated October 1, 2014, amending and supplementing several articles in tax decrees;
– Government Decree 12/2015/ND-CP dated February 12, 2015, detailing the implementation of the Law amending and supplementing several articles of tax laws and amending and supplementing several articles of tax decrees;
– Government Decree 57/2021/ND-CP dated June 4, 2021, supplementing point g, clause 2, Article 20 of Decree 218/2013/ND-CP on corporate income tax incentives for projects producing supporting industrial products.
