Can a married couple register the same dependent for family deduction?

Group of dependents eligible for family deduction

According to the provisions of the Law on Personal Income Tax, family deduction is the amount deducted from taxable income before calculating tax on business income, salary and wage income of taxpayers who are resident individuals.

In case a resident individual has both income from business and income from salary and wages, a one-time family deduction is calculated on the total income from business and from salary and wages.

Family deduction is calculated according to the following principles:

- Family deduction for the taxpayer himself: Taxpayers with multiple sources of income from salary, wages, and business, at one point in time (calculated monthly), the taxpayer chooses to calculate family deduction for himself in one place.

For foreigners who are individuals residing in Vietnam, family deductions are calculated for themselves from January or from the month of arrival in Vietnam in case the individual first arrives in Vietnam until the month of termination of the labor contract and departure from Vietnam in the tax year (calculated by full month).

- Family deduction for dependents: Taxpayers are entitled to family deduction for dependents if they have registered for tax and been issued a tax code.

Each dependent can only be deducted once for one taxpayer in a tax year. In case multiple taxpayers have the same dependent to support, the taxpayers can agree to register the family deduction for one taxpayer.

Dependents include:

- Biological children, legally adopted children, illegitimate children, wife's stepchildren, husband's stepchildren, specifically including:

Children under 18 years old (calculated by month)

Children 18 years of age or older with disabilities and unable to work

Children studying in Vietnam or abroad at university, college, vocational high school, vocational training, including children aged 18 and over studying at high school level (including the time waiting for university entrance exam results from June to September of grade 12) have no income or have an average monthly income in the year from all sources of income not exceeding 1,000,000 VND.

- The taxpayer's spouse meets the family deduction conditions.

- Biological father, biological mother; father-in-law, mother-in-law (or father-in-law, mother-in-law); stepfather, stepmother; adoptive father, adoptive mother of the taxpayer who meet the prescribed conditions to be considered a dependent.

- Other individuals without support that the taxpayer is directly supporting and meets the following conditions:

Taxpayer's brother, sister, sibling

Paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother; maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother; paternal aunt, paternal uncle, paternal uncle of the taxpayer.

Taxpayer's nieces and nephews, including: Children of biological brothers, biological sisters, biological siblings

The person must directly support another person according to the provisions of law.

Individuals considered as dependents according to the instructions in sections d.2. d.3, d.4, point d, clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Personal Income Tax must meet the following conditions:

For people of working age, the following conditions must be met at the same time: Disability, inability to work; no income or average monthly income in the year from all sources of income not exceeding 1,000,000 VND.

Disabled people who are unable to work are those who are subject to the law on disabled people, people with diseases that make them unable to work (such as AIDS, cancer, chronic kidney failure, etc.).

For people outside of working age, they must have no income or have an average monthly income in the year from all sources of income not exceeding 1,000,000 VND.

Thus, a couple working in different agencies cannot register their dependents together. In case the couple has a dependent to support, they must agree to register the family deduction as one taxpayer.

Minh Hoa (t/h)

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