FDI companies in Vietnam face 30+ recurring HR compliance deadlines spread across payroll, Social Insurance (SHUI), Personal Income Tax (PIT), labor reporting, and trade union obligations. Miss a single SHUI payment? You face compound arrears interest plus administrative fines. Late PIT finalization? Penalties hit 0.03% per day under the Tax Administration Law 2019.
This calendar maps every HR compliance obligation across a 12-month cycle — so nothing gets missed between monthly payroll runs and annual filings. For a deep dive into the underlying legal framework, read our full guide to Vietnam labor law and FDI compliance.
Key takeaways
- 30+ HR deadlines annually: monthly payroll + SHUI, quarterly PIT, semi-annual labor reports, annual PIT finalization and audits.
- Most penalties escalate rapidly — steep arrears interest for SHUI (Decree 12) and 0.03% per day for PIT (Tax Administration Law) arrears.
- Two deadlines FDI companies consistently miss: June 5 semi-annual labor report and trade union fee reconciliation by January 31.
- Work permit renewals need 15-20 working days lead time — calendar these 60 days before expiry to prevent employment gaps.
- Payroll data quality in January-March drives accuracy for the rest of the year. Get the setup right early.
Monthly Obligations (Every Month, No Exceptions)
These run like clockwork. Every single month, twelve times per year.
Payroll Processing & SHUI Remittance
Deadline: By the last working day of each month for the current month’s obligations.
Payroll processing involves calculating gross-to-net salary structures for all employees, applying PIT withholding per Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC progressive rates, and computing SHUI employer and employee contributions under Law 41/2024/QH15.
| Contribution | Employer Rate | Employee Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Insurance | 17.5% | 8% | Gross salary (capped at 20× base salary) |
| Health Insurance | 3% | 1.5% | Same base |
| Unemployment Insurance | 1% | 1% | Same base (capped at 20× regional min wage) |
| Total SHUI | 21.5% | 10.5% | — |
SHUI must be remitted to the Social Insurance agency by the last working day of the month. Late payment triggers heavy arrears interest — no grace period, no warnings.
What gets overlooked: mid-month hires still need SHUI enrollment within 30 days per Law 41/2024/QH15 Article 17. If someone starts on the 20th, the clock is ticking.
Trade Union Contributions
Deadline: Monthly, alongside SHUI remittance.
Employers pay 2% of the SHUI contribution salary base to the trade union fund — whether or not the company has established a grassroots-level trade union. This isn’t optional. Trade Union Law 2012 Article 26 applies to all employers, including FDI companies.
1% goes to the upper-level trade union. The remaining 1% stays with the enterprise’s grassroots trade union (if established) or goes entirely to the upper-level union.
PIT Withholding
Deadline: Monthly withholding at payroll; declaration varies by volume.
For employers with monthly PIT withholding exceeding VND 50 million, quarterly declarations are required (by the 30th of the first month of the following quarter). Below that threshold? Annual declaration suffices.
Each payroll run must calculate PIT using the progressive rate table under Resolution 954/2020/UBTVQH14 — rates range from 5% to 35% depending on taxable income brackets.
Quarterly Obligations
Quarterly PIT Declarations
Deadlines:
- Q1: April 30
- Q2: July 31
- Q3: October 31
- Q4: January 31 (of the following year)
Filed electronically via the General Department of Taxation’s eTax system under Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC. The declaration reconciles monthly PIT withholding against quarterly totals. Discrepancies trigger tax authority inquiries.
Practical tip: reconcile withholding totals at month-end, not at quarter-end. Catching errors monthly prevents cascading discrepancies across the quarterly declaration.
SHUI Reconciliation (Quarterly Review)
While SHUI is remitted monthly, quarterly reconciliation with the provincial Social Insurance agency catches enrollment gaps, salary base changes, and contribution discrepancies early. This isn’t filed as a formal quarterly return — it’s an internal checkpoint that prevents year-end audits from surfacing months of accumulated errors.
Check for: new hires not yet enrolled, salary increases not reflected in the contribution base, and terminated employees still listed as active contributors.
Semi-Annual Obligations
Labor Usage Report
Deadlines:
- H1 Report: Before June 5 (covering January–June data)
- H2 Report: Before December 5 (covering July–December data)
Filed with the provincial Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) under Decree 145/2020/ND-CP. The report includes total headcount, Vietnamese and foreign employee breakdown, labor contract types, and salary range distributions.
This is the deadline FDI companies miss most frequently. Why? It doesn’t trigger an immediate automated penalty — DOLISA reviews are periodic, not real-time. But missed reports flag your company for enhanced scrutiny during the next labor inspection.
What to include: all employees, including part-time and probationary staff. Foreign employee data must reconcile with work permit records. Discrepancies between the labor report and DOLISA’s work permit database trigger follow-up investigations.
Annual Obligations (January–March Crunch)
The first quarter is compliance season. Five major filings converge between January and March.
January Deadlines
| Deadline | Obligation | Authority | Regulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 31 | Q4 PIT quarterly declaration | GDT | Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC |
| Jan 31 | SHUI annual reconciliation | Social Insurance agency | Law 41/2024/QH15 |
| Jan 31 | Trade union fee annual reconciliation | Trade Union | Trade Union Law 2012 |
| Jan 30 | Business License Tax payment | GDT | Decree 139/2016/ND-CP |
SHUI annual reconciliation involves confirming total contributions match total payroll for the calendar year. The Social Insurance agency cross-checks employer-reported data against their records — any gap triggers an investigation.
Trade union reconciliation confirms 12 months of 2% contributions. The upper-level trade union conducts annual audits of grassroots union finances.
February–March Deadlines
| Deadline | Obligation | Authority | Regulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 28 | Annual salary scale registration (if updated) | DOLISA | Decree 145/2020/ND-CP |
| Mar 31 | PIT finalization (annual settlement) | GDT | Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC |
| Mar 31 | Annual financial statements (tax-relevant) | GDT | Accounting Law 2015 |
PIT finalization is the highest-stakes annual filing. It reconciles all PIT withholding for the year, calculates final tax liability per employee, and determines refunds or additional payments. Errors here cascade — incorrect finalization generates tax authority notices 6-12 months later.
For PIT finalization procedures, the filing covers both employer obligations (Form 05/QTT-TNCN) and individual employee authorizations.
Work Permit Renewals (Rolling Calendar)
Work permits aren’t on a fixed annual cycle — they expire based on issuance date, with a maximum 2-year validity governed by Decree 219/2025/ND-CP (which replaced Decree 152/2020/ND-CP and Decree 70/2023/ND-CP).
Calendar each foreign employee’s work permit expiry 60 days in advance. Under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, foreign labor demand explanation and permit application are consolidated into an integrated single-window process. Renewal and reissuance processing takes approximately 10–15 working days from complete dossier submission to DOLISA. Working without a valid permit exposes both employer and employee to severe penalties under Decree 12/2022/ND-CP — employer fines range from VND 60–150 million (for employing 11+ foreign workers without valid permits), plus potential deportation for the foreign employee.
Build a rolling tracker. Don’t rely on memory.
Critical Dates Dashboard: Full-Year View
| Month | Key Obligations | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | Q4 PIT declaration, SHUI reconciliation, TU reconciliation, BLT | 🔴 Critical |
| Feb | Salary scale registration (if changed), Lunar New Year payroll | 🟡 Medium |
| Mar | PIT finalization, annual FS (tax-related) | 🔴 Critical |
| Apr | Q1 PIT declaration, minimum wage adjustments (if any) | 🟡 Medium |
| May | SHUI base salary updates, mid-year labor planning | 🟢 Routine |
| Jun | H1 labor usage report (DOLISA) | 🔴 Critical |
| Jul | Q2 PIT declaration, new Social Insurance Law provisions check | 🟡 Medium |
| Aug | Work permit renewal planning (Q4 expiries) | 🟢 Routine |
| Sep | Annual salary review cycle (internal) | 🟢 Routine |
| Oct | Q3 PIT declaration, year-end planning begins | 🟡 Medium |
| Nov | 13th-month salary planning, bonus accruals | 🟢 Routine |
| Dec | H2 labor usage report, 13th-month payout, year-end payroll close | 🔴 Critical |
Penalty Quick Reference
What happens when you miss these deadlines?
| Violation | Penalty | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Late SHUI payment | Arrears interest (12-20%/yr) + up to 30% fine | Decree 12/2022/ND-CP |
| Late PIT payment | 0.03%/day on outstanding tax | Tax Admin Law 108/2025 / Law 38/2019 Art. 59 |
| Failure to enroll SHUI (30-day window) | VND 12-15 million per violation | Decree 12/2022/ND-CP |
| Missing labor usage report | VND 5-10 million per report | Decree 12/2022/ND-CP |
| Employing without valid work permit | VND 60-150 million per violation + deportation | Decree 12/2022/ND-CP Art. 32 |
| Late trade union contribution | 0.03%/day + trade union audit flag | Trade Union Law 2012 |
Penalties compound. A company with VND 200 million monthly payroll that’s 90 days late on SHUI owes VND 5.4 million in penalties alone — plus the back contributions. Stack multiple violations and the numbers escalate fast.
Building Your Compliance System
Don’t manage 30+ deadlines manually. Three approaches, ordered by company size:
Under 20 employees: Outsource payroll and compliance to a licensed accounting and HR firm. Cost: VND 8-15 million/month. They track every deadline.
20-100 employees: Hire a dedicated HR compliance officer plus outsourced chief accountant services for statutory oversight. Build a shared calendar with automated reminders 30 days before each deadline.
100+ employees: Full in-house HR and payroll team with ERP-integrated compliance tracking. Still maintain external audit oversight for annual reconciliations.
Regardless of size, the core payroll gross-to-net calculation framework must be accurate from Day 1 — errors in monthly payroll compound through quarterly PIT, semi-annual reports, and annual finalization.
For payroll setup, compliance calendar configuration, and ongoing HR advisory, contact the Certified CPAs and HR compliance team — Steven Nguyen and David Nguyen lead HR compliance services for FDI operations across Vietnam.
This compliance calendar reflects HR regulations as of August 2026 under Labor Code 2019, Social Insurance Law 41/2024/QH15, Decree 219/2025/ND-CP (Work Permits), Decree 293/2025/ND-CP (Regional Minimum Wage), Circular 80/2021/TT-BTC, and Decree 145/2020/ND-CP. Deadlines and penalty rates may change with new implementing circulars — consult qualified HR and tax advisors for current requirements.
