Vietnam
| Pros |
|---|
| Low corporate tax rates and numerous tax incentives for foreign direct investment in tech sectors. |
| High level of personal safety and low violent crime rates for expatriates and business owners. |
| Rapidly improving digital infrastructure and a young, tech-savvy workforce at competitive labor costs. |
| Cons |
|---|
| Pervasive corruption and lack of transparency in administrative procedures and local government dealings. |
| Strict state control over digital expression and limited political freedoms under a single-party system. |
| Complex bureaucratic hurdles and inconsistent enforcement of property rights and legal contracts. |
Long story short: Setting up a company looks simple on paper, but you will be wrestling with a labyrinthine administration and slipping a few discreet envelopes to get stubborn stamps moving.
On the flip side, taxes stay reasonable and the economy is roaring along on the back of a hungry, young workforce. The real headache: getting your profits out of the country takes patience, since capital controls keep money locked in.
Beyond that: infrastructure that's catching up fast, next to zero street crime in the upscale districts of Hanoi or Saigon, phenomenal street food, and landscapes worth the trip on their own.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: YES, A LOT.
Income gets fleeced in Vietnam (top marginal rate 35%), but the residency test is surprisingly hands-off.
The bill is brutal for residents; the whole game is simply not to become one by accident.
If you earn a year, you will pay .
Roughly effective, with a marginal rate of .
Will your wealth be taxed?
Long story short: YES, FAIRLY.
Capital gains in Vietnam cost 20% on disposal, with no annual wealth levy. But inheritance comes back for seconds when assets pass down.
Same money, two tollbooths: the sale, then the succession.
Easy to run a company there?
Long story short: YES, BUT TAXED.
Corporate tax in Vietnam lands at a moderate 20%, no IP-box to soften it. Standard accounting, VAT at 10, the usual dose of paperwork. Nothing to celebrate, nothing to flee.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: NOT REALLY.
Vietnam carries an extensive treaty network (50 agreements) that cuts inbound withholding nicely.
The missing piece is a participation exemption: dividends coming up from subsidiaries eat the full corporate schedule (20%) unless a treaty does all the work on its own.
Good for operations; as a pure holding base, the domestic layer helps itself on the way through.
| Country | Status | Dividends | Interest | Royalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ∅ // no treaties match | ||||
Easy to come and go?
Long story short: SOME.
Vietnam taxes your worldwide income while you're resident, but at least the exit is free: no exit tax on the way out.
Leaving costs you paperwork, not money; your unrealised gains walk out the door with you, untouched.
Is your money watched?
Long story short: PARTLY.
Vietnam has signed most of the standard exchange frameworks and runs a public corporate registry. Your accounts get reported to your home tax office, and your shareholdings sit in the shop window.
Watched on both axes: not wall-to-wall, but don't come here for discretion.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: YES.
Vietnam is flagged by both supranational watchdogs at once: the FATF (grey/black list) and the EU (non-cooperative list). It doesn't get worse than this.
Enhanced due diligence applies worldwide by default, EU defensive measures fire automatically (deductions denied, withholding jacked up, DAC6 filings), and plenty of banks just refuse the exposure, full stop.
The country's name is itself the red flag; what you actually do inside it barely registers with a compliance desk.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short: NO.
Press freedom in Vietnam is locked down (RSF rank #173). Independent media and civic space operate under pressure (when they operate at all), and that kind of grip usually spills over into economic life too.
Small mercy: crypto isn't formally banned.
| Program | Status | Cross-border | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Vietnam CBDC
State Bank of Vietnam
|
RESEARCH | — | announce → |
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Vietnam. Stripe won't onboard you, so card payments mean a foreign structure or a local processor with its own rules. Amazon doesn't deliver either.
Some secondary services run (5/11), but for an online business this is swimming against the current.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Vietnam. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.