Chapter 11 of 14
Working from here
Getting paid, home internet, and the 183 day rule nobody explains.
The numbers, checked
- The rule
- 183 days makes you a Vietnamese tax residentChecked 2026-08-02
Getting paid from abroad
Good news: you do not need to change anything.
People worry about this before they come and there is not much to worry about. Your money keeps landing where it already lands: your bank account back home, Wise, or any mobile bank that works internationally like Revolut. Your clients pay you the same way they always did.
Two accounts, two different jobs
Your home account, or Wise, or Revolut, is where your income arrives. It stays there. Your Vietnamese account is for daily life here: paying by QR, rent, bills, buying things from Vietnamese shops.
You are not trying to move your whole income into Vietnam. You keep enough in a local account to live on. You get it there by card, by cash machine, or over the counter at the bank. Once you see it that way the whole thing stops being complicated.
Getting online at home
If you are staying more than a month, get your own internet. Cafe wifi is fine for email and miserable for work.
| What | Cost |
|---|---|
| Entry level, around 300 Mbps | 190,000 to 195,000 VND a month |
| Faster, up to 1 Gbps | 270,000 to 310,000 VND a month |
| FPT installation, one off | 300,000 VND |
Checked 2026-08-02
That is roughly 8 to 12 dollars a month for fast home internet, which is one of the real pleasures of living here. The three providers are FPT, Viettel and VNPT, and all three take foreign customers. FPT is the easiest if you do not speak Vietnamese. You need your passport and a copy of your lease, and it usually takes one to three working days.
Check before you sign a lease. Ask what internet the building has and whether it is included. Many places have a shared connection that dies every evening when the building gets home. Test the real speed in the real room at the time of day you work.
The 183 day rule
Read this if you work online. It is the section other guides leave out, and the one with the biggest numbers attached.
The rule
183 days makes you a Vietnamese tax resident
Saves you: Either in a calendar year, or in any rolling 12 months from the day you arrived.
There is a second trigger most people have never heard of. Renting a place here for 183 days or more can make you tax resident, even if you were not here that long. That applies if you cannot prove you are tax resident somewhere else. So the person who signs a twelve month lease, does visa runs, and travels half the year can still be caught.
| What is taxed | |
|---|---|
| Tax resident, 183 days or more | Your worldwide income, at 5 to 35 percent, rising the more you earn |
| Not a tax resident | A flat 20 percent, but only on income that comes from Vietnam |
Checked 2026-08-02
The honest picture
Most people working online here earn from clients outside Vietnam. That is not Vietnamese income. And so far nobody has really been chasing remote workers on tourist visas. But nobody has come after anyone yet is not the same as this is fine. The rule says 183 days. Whether anyone checks is a separate question, and that can change.
We are not going to pretend everyone here follows this rule, because they do not. And we are not going to tell you to ignore it, because the downside is yours and not ours.
- Count your days. Know your number. Most people genuinely do not, and everything else depends on it.
- If you are near 183 days, or you signed a long lease, talk to an accountant who does expat tax in Vietnam. One conversation and you know where you stand instead of guessing.
- Check what your home country does too. Some tax you wherever you live. If you are American, you have to file no matter where you are.
- Keep records. Entry and exit stamps, your lease, your invoices.
This is not tax advice and we are not accountants. It is the shape of the thing, so that you know the question exists. Nobody else will tell you, and finding out late is expensive.