Quick answer
Vietnam taxes inheritances — through personal income tax on the heir. The rule: inheritances (and gifts) above 20 million VND are taxed at 10% on the excess, under the current Law on Personal Income Tax (No. 109/2025/QH15).
Not every inheritance is taxed — but most valuable ones are.
What is taxed — and what isn’t
Taxed: the value exceeding 20 million VND per inheritance receipt — real estate, vehicles and other registrable property, securities, capital contributions, and cash — at 10%. Each receipt is assessed separately: inheriting from two parents in two procedures means two thresholds, not one combined.
Exempt: inheritances between spouses, parents and children (including adoptive and in-law relationships in defined cases), and siblings — the close-family exemption covers the most common successions entirely. Inheritances below the threshold — small cash amounts, modest personal property. And note the valuation question: tax is on the assessed value (land price tables, registered values), not necessarily the market price you imagine.
The procedure: pay before you register
Inheritance tax is declared and paid as part of the estate procedures — and registries won’t complete the transfer without tax clearance. The sequence: heirship declaration at the notary → tax declaration filed with the tax authority (with the estate documents) → payment → the tax-clearance confirmation unlocks registration (land office, vehicle registry, securities).
Valuation disputes are the friction point: where the assessed value looks wrong (outdated land tables, misclassified property), the heir can challenge the assessment — but challenge before paying, because refunds are slower than disputes. And foreign heirs pay the same tax — then remit the net proceeds through legal foreign-exchange channels on the inheritance documents.
Frequently asked questions
We inherited below the threshold. Any filing needed?
Below-threshold inheritances are not taxed — but keep the heirship documents anyway: registries and banks still need them for the transfer itself, and “no tax due” sometimes needs proving.
Can we reduce the tax with a low declared value?
Don’t — under-declaration is tax evasion, and registries cross-check against price tables anyway. The penalty and interest dwarf the “saving,” and a tainted file poisons the whole estate procedure.
Does the estate pay, or each heir?
Each heir declares and pays on their own receipt — the tax follows the recipient, not the estate as a whole. Coordinate: one heir’s delay doesn’t have to block the others’ registrations, but in practice the file moves together.
FLAT Law Firm handles the tax side of succession: declarations, valuations, exemptions, and clearance for registration. Contact us before the tax becomes the bottleneck.
