Foreign Contractor Tax (FCT) Calculator 2026

Katitax · Last updated 09/09/2026

When a Vietnamese company pays service fees, equipment rental, royalties or loan interest to a foreign organisation or individual without a legal presence in Vietnam, it almost always has to withhold Foreign Contractor Tax (FCT) before remitting the money. Missing this is one of the most common sources of tax reassessment at FDI companies and at any business with cross-border transactions. The calculator below gives you the amount to withhold.

Deemed VAT rates by activity

Source: Article 9, Circular 69/2025/TT-BTC; Decree 181/2025/ND-CP. Where a contract covers several activities whose values can be separated, apply the rate to each part; where they cannot be separated, the highest rate applies to the whole contract value.

Deemed CIT rates by activity

Source: Article 12, Decree 320/2025/ND-CP, as guided by Circular 20/2026/TT-BTC (effective 12/03/2026, applying from the 2025 tax period).

Withholding, filing and payment on behalf

1. The Vietnamese party to the contract is responsible for preparing the file and declaring the contractor tax — the foreign contractor does not file it itself.
2. File on Form 01/NTNN (contractors under the direct method — deemed rates) or Form 03/NTNN (deduction method, where the contractor is registered under Vietnamese accounting rules), together with a certified copy of the contractor agreement (first filing only).
3. Deadline: within 10 days of the tax obligation arising on each payment; where there are several payments in a month, you may register to file monthly, with a deadline of the 20th of the following month.
4. Withhold the full amount before remitting funds abroad — banks normally ask for proof that contractor tax has been declared or paid as part of the remittance paperwork.

Source: Decision 216/QD-BTC of 2026, Section 7 Part II (administrative procedures for foreign contractors and sub-contractors).