With the proposed family deduction of only 6.2 million VND/month, many experts say it is difficult to cover the expenses for dependents of student age, because it is not enough to cover the costs of food, study, entertainment... - Photo: TTD
This proposal in the draft resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee on adjusting the family deduction level has just been put out for comments.
This is one of two options to adjust the family deduction level proposed by the Ministry of Finance , applicable from 2026. The other option is to increase the family deduction level for taxpayers to 13.3 million VND/month and for dependents to 5.3 million VND/month.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the adjustment of the family deduction level is due to the cumulative increase of the consumer price index (CPI) from 2020 to 2025 of about 21.24%. However, many experts and National Assembly deputies believe that the family deduction level should be raised and applied immediately in 2025.
Family deduction must be increased to 17 - 18 million VND/month
According to the Ministry of Finance's calculations, raising the family deduction level to 15.5 million VND/month for taxpayers and 6.2 million/month for dependents will reduce state budget revenue by about 21,000 billion VND.
If the family deduction level is increased according to the remaining option, the budget will decrease by VND12,000 billion. However, according to the Ministry of Finance, budget revenue can be partly offset by the increase in revenue from other consumption taxes due to the increase in taxpayers' disposable income.
Speaking with Tuoi Tre , Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, a tax expert, said that the proposal to increase the family deduction level shows that the Ministry of Finance is receptive to and accepts comments from taxpayers, experts and ministries...
In addition, not only based on the CPI increase, the Ministry of Finance also leans towards option 2 - which is more beneficial for taxpayers with income from wages and salaries when taking into account both the growth rate of GDP per capita and income per capita.
However, according to Mr. Tu, the family deduction of 15.5 million VND/month for taxpayers and 6.2 million VND/month for dependents is still not really reasonable in the context of the high prices of essential goods and services over the past 5 years. This causes many difficulties for personal income taxpayers.
"Therefore, the family deduction level should be raised to 17 - 18 million VND/month for the taxpayer himself and 8 - 9 million VND/month for dependents, as proposed by many provinces and some ministries," Mr. Tu suggested.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Duc Nghia, Director of the Legal Consulting Center under the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, said that although the CPI has only increased by about 20%, in reality, the prices of essential goods for people's daily life have increased much more than this level. Therefore, applying the family deduction level according to option 2 is reasonable.
In the presentation of the Ministry of Finance, it is stated that personal income tax is built on the principles of benefits, fairness and tax payment ability and the application of personal income tax will contribute to ensuring the rationality, fairness and efficiency of tax policy... Therefore, according to Mr. Nghia, the family deduction level must first ensure the minimum needs of taxpayers such as food, accommodation, education, medical examination and treatment...
"This requires consideration to ensure the basic needs of taxpayers. For example, to ensure the need for food and accommodation, taxpayers should be allowed to deduct the interest on the first home loan, or deduct the education costs for taxpayers and their children or medical expenses...", Mr. Nghia proposed.
People come to work at the Ho Chi Minh City tax department in early July 2025 - Photo: TTD
New family deductions need to be applied in 2025
Along with raising the family deduction level, Mr. Tu also proposed applying the new family deduction level immediately for this year's tax period.
"Because we should not be too strict with taxpayers. The goal is to share, ease the burden on individual taxpayers and stimulate domestic consumption," Mr. Tu suggested.
According to Mr. Tu, when taxes are reduced, people will increase their spending on shopping. Thereby, domestic production and business activities will develop and become bustling.
Looking back at the three increases in family deductions over the past decade, the amount of personal income tax each year has always increased compared to the previous year, and state budget revenue has also increased significantly.
Similarly, Mr. Nghia also said that the increase in essential consumer goods has been very strong in recent times, many times higher than the CPI.
Therefore, the tax calculation period from 2025 helps taxpayers to reduce some of the burden because since the COVID-19 pandemic, workers' lives have been very difficult. This is also a timely support move for taxpayers.
Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, General Director of Trong Tin Accounting and Tax Consulting Company Limited, also said that personal income taxpayers with income from salaried jobs living in urban areas are still facing quite a lot of difficulties. This family deduction should be applied to the 2025 tax period because it falls in April 2026.
According to Mr. Duoc, instead of waiting for the CPI to increase to 20% to adjust the family deduction level as previously calculated, the regulation should be that when the consumer price index increases from 5-10%, the Government will decide to adjust it to be more flexible and closer to reality. Lawyer Tran Xoa, director of Minh Dang Quang Law Firm, also proposed to apply the new family deduction level immediately for the 2025 tax period.
"The basket of goods used to calculate CPI is up to more than 700 items, which is too large while essential consumer goods serving people's lives are only about a few dozen items, but the prices of these items have increased sharply in recent times and in fact have increased by more than 20% for a long time, making people's lives even more difficult," Mr. Xoa said.
Experts say that the family deduction should be raised to 17 - 18 million VND/month for the taxpayer himself and 8 - 9 million VND/month for dependents - Photo: TTD
* Delegate TA VAN HA (Vice Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Society):
Family deduction should increase by at least 50% to be reasonable.
The Ministry of Finance has proposed to increase the family deduction level, in which the family deduction level for taxpayers can be increased to 13.3 - 15.5 million VND, and dependents 5.3 - 6.2 million VND/month, applied from the 2026 tax period.
Delegate TA VAN HA
However, the basic salary for cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers has been increased by 30% and applied from July 1, 2024.
Over the past year, since the basic salary increased, the costs of living, especially in large cities and urban areas, have also increased significantly.
Thus, the family deduction level also needs to increase to match reality. In my opinion, if the salary increases by 30%, the family deduction level must increase by at least 30%, not less. Along with that, the consumer price index (CPI) in the period 2020 - 2025 increased by about 21.24%.
Therefore, it must be added and if calculated correctly, the family deduction must be raised to at least 50% to be reasonable. This will also help the salary increase over the past year to have the right meaning.
As I have stated many times, when the National Assembly discussed raising the basic salary, National Assembly deputies, people, and experts also suggested that the family deduction level should be adjusted because it is related to people's lives.
At that time, the authorities should have prioritized and proposed specific solutions to address the urgent problem.
Therefore, this proposal is very necessary but does not meet the requirements. In addition, in my opinion, it should not be implemented until the 2026 tax period, but when the National Assembly Standing Committee approves it, this adjustment must be implemented immediately.
The Government has also planned to submit to the National Assembly a comprehensive amendment to the Personal Income Tax Law at the 10th session, so it needs to be implemented according to the roadmap. This includes a specific plan to amend the family deduction level and tax rates. At the same time, when amending, appropriate calculation methods and principles should be proposed to create flexibility for the Government to regulate in a timely manner.
* Delegate TRAN KHANH THU (Hung Yen):
New family deduction level needs to be applied immediately in 2025
The current family deduction of 11 million VND/month for the taxpayer himself and 4.4 million VND/month for each dependent, applied since 2020, is outdated, when the cost of living has fluctuated greatly, many essential goods such as gasoline and food have increased sharply.
This clearly creates a problem, causing taxpayers, especially salaried workers, to fall into the situation of "having to pay higher taxes before their salaries have even increased".
Imagine, in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, just the cost of childcare, tuition, housing, food... already "eats" almost all the income of a family with an average income. Yet with the current family deduction, salaried workers still have to pay taxes as if they have a lot of money left over.
Delegate TRAN KHANH THU
In other words, current regulations do not reflect the real ability to pay of taxpayers.
Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the family deduction level soon, instead of waiting until 2026 as the current roadmap. The Government should soon submit the adjustment to the National Assembly Standing Committee and apply it in the last months of 2025.
If delayed, tax policy will be behind reality and disadvantage taxpayers.
Of the two proposed options for increasing the family deduction, the Ministry of Finance "prioritizes" the option that benefits taxpayers, with the family deduction for taxpayers being VND15.5 million/month and for dependents being VND6.2 million/month, applicable from 2026.
Personally, I basically agree with the second option, because it will help reduce tax obligations for taxpayers at a higher level.
If this option is implemented, the budget will reduce revenue more, but people's disposable income will increase, contributing to stimulating increased household spending, social consumption and indirectly helping to increase budget revenue from other sources in the medium and long term.
However, as mentioned, I propose that this should be implemented early, possibly from the last months of 2025 instead of 2026 to meet practical needs.
Proposal to reduce progressive tax rate to 5 levels
Regarding the progressive tax schedule, in the draft revised Law on Personal Income Tax, the Ministry of Finance proposed two options. The most notable point of the tax schedule proposed by the Ministry of Finance is that there will only be 5 tax rates instead of the current 7 rates.
Thus, the gap between tax brackets helps reduce the amount payable. For example, the taxable income of bracket 1 is increased to 10 million VND with a tax rate of 5% instead of 5 million VND as previously prescribed. However, the tax rate is still 35% for the taxable income at the highest bracket of over 80 million VND/month (option 1); 100 million VND/month (option 2).
According to Mr. Tran Xoa, the tax schedule is still dense and the regulation level is still high, up to 35%. Therefore, Mr. Xoa proposed to remove the 35% tax rate and spread out the tax rates in the progressive tax schedule so that taxpayers at higher levels can breathe easier.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/de-xuat-nang-muc-giam-tru-gia-canh-phai-ap-muc-cao-hon-ngay-nam-nay-20250722081030818.htm
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