Tax Issues for Vietnamese Indie Game Devs

We're technical people, and like most technical people, most of us just want to sit down and work, without having to bother with taxes on top of everything else. I used to feel the same way, but I eventually realized that if you want to grow further, understanding the law is a huge advantage.

That's why Legion Team is sharing an article covering tax issues in Vietnam that Vietnamese indie game devs may care about, focused mainly on explaining the concepts along with a short summary of the current regulations, laid out as simply and clearly as possible.

Note: This is a summary compiled from the author's personal research. While the information has been verified, mistakes are hard to fully avoid, and it certainly cannot replace advice from tax professionals such as accountants, auditors, or lawyers. Use this article as a checklist to discuss further with a tax expert you trust — or at least to feel more confident if you're using an outside service.

1. Types of tax

In Vietnam, there are 2 main types of tax you need to care about:

• Personal Income Tax (PIT): Levied on the income of individuals residing in Vietnam, including income from royalties, business activities, and salaries.
• Corporate Income Tax (CIT): Levied on the profit of a company (legal entity) that makes games or produces software.
• There's also VAT, but it won't be covered much in this article.

Who this applies to:

• Individual devs who receive money directly from Steam/other stores — also known as income from royalties or from business on digital platforms.
• Individual household businesses doing software/game programming, providing domestic game services.
• Companies producing and publishing games, treated as software-production enterprises.

2. Personal income tax

Before reading the sections below, you need to be clear on a few things:

• What kind of income source counts as royalty income from software/games, referred to here as "royalty income". Specifically:
  • The PIT law describes royalty income as income received from transferring or assigning ownership or usage rights over intellectual property, or from technology transfer, which includes computer programs, software, and games.
  • Publishing a game through a platform like Steam can also be considered as allowing another party to exploit the software/game, so the revenue from this source may be classified as royalty income — depending on how you intend to declare it to the tax authority.
• A few basic concepts:
  • Tax-exempt threshold: The income level at or below which no tax is owed for that type of income. For royalties, this is currently 20 million VND per contract. So if the income is less than or equal to 20 million, no PIT is due.
  • Amount above the threshold: Tax is only calculated on the portion of income exceeding the exempt threshold. For example, if a royalty contract is worth 50 million, the amount above the threshold = 50 − 20 = 30 million.
  • Flat tax rate: a fixed percentage applied to the entire taxable income (here, the amount above the threshold), rather than a multi-tier progressive schedule.

2.1. Royalty income

Under the latest Personal Income Tax Law for individuals residing in Vietnam:

• Royalty income is taxed at a flat rate of 5% on the amount above the threshold.
• Tax-exempt threshold: 20 million VND per contract.
  • What counts as one contract? Example: you sign a contract with publisher A in country B — that's one contract. You then sign another contract with publisher C in country D — that's a separate contract. Each of these contracts is taxed independently.
• Formula: PIT = (Royalty income per contract – 20 million) × 5%
• The taxable income is the entire amount received from the transfer, without deducting the game's production costs. To put it plainly:
  • If a royalty contract states you receive 200 million, then the taxable income is 200 million — not the figure left after subtracting the 20-million threshold and applying the 5% rate.
  • It doesn't matter how much you spent out of pocket on the game — software licenses, subscriptions, AI tools, outsourcing, etc. — none of that can be deducted from that 200-million figure.
• This applies to royalty income arising both domestically and abroad.

2.2. Income from business on digital platforms

Besides royalties, the new PIT Law and Decree 253/2026/ND-CP treat self-publishing and selling games on digital platforms (Steam, App Store, itch.io…) as income from e-commerce and digital-platform business.

Characteristics:

• This business income is still taxable PIT income for a resident individual.
• When no organization withholds tax on your behalf (as in Steam's case — the company only pays you, without withholding Vietnamese PIT), you must self-declare via eTax Mobile or the electronic tax portal.

An important distinction (you get to choose how to declare):

• If you treat the Steam money as royalty income, the 5% rate on the amount above 20 million per contract applies, as described above.
• If you treat this as ongoing digital-platform business (revenue from selling games, DLC, IAP), this income may instead be grouped with your business income when you finalize your annual tax return on eTax.

In practice, many tax advisors recommend: for individual devs with 1–2 games and not-too-large revenue, treating money received from Steam/other stores as software royalty income simplifies the paperwork and qualifies for the flat 5% rate.

2.3. Declaring and paying PIT

As a resident individual receiving money directly from abroad under either of the two cases above:

• You must self-declare PIT on royalty income.
• Recommended tools: eTax Mobile or thuedientu.gdt.gov.vn
• Basic process:
  • Log in with your personal tax code (linked to your national ID).
  • Select "Declare PIT" → "Royalty/licensing income" or business income.
  • Enter the contract details, amount, payment date, payer information, and upload the contract file/revenue report.
  • The system automatically calculates the tax due at 5% or the applicable rate; you sign electronically and pay online through your bank.

Deadlines:

• For one-off royalty income: file the return and pay the tax within 10 days of receiving the money.
• If combined with other income sources for the annual finalization: complete the finalization before April 30 of the following year.

3. Tax for individual household businesses making games/programming software

A household business model fits when:

• You already have stable revenue from making games, programming software, or providing game services (referred to below simply as "making games").
• You want a household-business tax code, invoices, and a more organized way of working, but don't yet need to set up a company.

3.1. Tax-exempt revenue threshold and the requirement to register a household business

Starting in 2026, for software-programming household businesses, the threshold for assessing PIT and the taxation method rises to 500 million or 1 billion, depending on which regulation applies, with revenue from 1–3 billion VND taxed based on a percentage of revenue or on profit (revenue – costs).

In practice, you'll need to: work with your local Tax Department and clearly declare your business line as "software/game programming". The tax authority will determine your presumptive revenue and the appropriate PIT calculation method.

3.2. VAT and PIT rates for game/software services

This section is secondary knowledge, to be applied only when needed

Circular 40/2021/TT-BTC sets VAT and PIT rates based on revenue for household businesses providing services, including internet and gaming:

• VAT: 5% of revenue.
• PIT: 2% of revenue.
• Total: 7% of taxable revenue for the gaming/internet services group.

However, a distinction needs to be made:

• "Internet, gaming" in Circular 40 usually refers to services like gaming cafés, internet services, and entertainment services, not directly "software production".
• Household businesses purely doing software programming are sometimes given a different rate (e.g. 1% VAT, 0.5% PIT) according to local tax-authority guidance.

So, when registering a household business for making games/programming software, you should:

• Clearly present your model as game production, selling games internationally, with few direct transactions with domestic users.
• Ask the tax authority to apply the "software services" group if available, instead of the "internet, gaming" café group.

3.3. The new revenue/profit-based tax method

Recent guidance for software-programming household businesses states:

• Annual revenue from 500 million to under 3 billion: PIT is calculated on revenue after deducting 500 million, at the rate applicable to the industry.
• Annual revenue over 3 billion: PIT is calculated on profit (revenue – costs), at a rate of 15%–20% depending on the revenue bracket (3 billion to 50 billion: 15%; over 50 billion: 20%).

3.4. Tax declaration for household businesses

Household businesses pay VAT and PIT periodically:

• Monthly or quarterly, depending on revenue.
• The commonly used form is 01/CNKD on HTKK or eTax Mobile.
• Process:
  • Declare the actual revenue generated in the period.
  • The system/HTKK automatically calculates the VAT and PIT due, based on the applicable rate.
  • Pay the declared amount through the bank or the electronic payment feature.

4. Corporate income tax for companies making games/producing software

When you set up a company (LLC/joint-stock) to make games, the business is usually classified in the software product manufacturing group if it meets the specialized conditions.

4.1. The concept of "software product manufacturing"

According to specialized regulations and new guidance:

• The software product must fall under the List of Software Products issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications (Circular 09/2013/TT-BTTTT, as consolidated and updated).
• "Software production" activity includes the stages of: requirements analysis, analysis and design, programming, testing, packaging, maintenance, and upgrading.
• The company must directly carry out these stages itself, not merely act as a distributor/game portal.

If your game is considered "software" (meeting the criteria above) under this list, the company may be eligible for CIT incentives.

4.2. Standard and preferential CIT rates

The standard CIT rate in Vietnam is 20% of profit (also called taxable income). For companies eligible as software-product manufacturers, the CIT Law and its guiding circulars provide:

• A preferential rate of 10% for 15 years on income from software-production activities.
• CIT exemption for the first 4 years after taxable income arises.
• A 50% reduction in the tax due for the following 9 years.

To be eligible for these incentives, a company must:

• Have business registration with a "software production" function.
• Keep separate accounting for revenue and costs from the software (game) activity versus other activities.
• Ensure the product falls within the software list.
• Maintain proper accounting and invoicing practices.

4.3. Dedicated tax incentives for "Vietnamese games"

New policy proposals for "Vietnamese games" that carry educational content or promote Vietnamese cultural/historical values:

• Publishing companies may receive:
  • A 2-year CIT exemption,
  • A 50% CIT reduction for the following 4 years.
• Staff directly involved in producing the game (specialists, devs) may receive:
  • A 2-year PIT exemption,
  • A 50% PIT reduction for 4 years on income from salaries and wages.
• A trial release before official launch, lasting 30–90 days, is allowed for games with under 10,000 players, provided it generates no revenue.

4.4. Accounting and tax declaration for game companies

A company must:

• Maintain full accounting records and prepare quarterly/annual financial and tax reports.
• Declare VAT, CIT, and PIT through the corporate eTax system.
• Keep separate accounting for:
  • Income from game/software production activities eligible for incentives.
  • Income from other activities (advertising services, prize-based gaming, etc.) not eligible for incentives.