Vietnam - Payroll Meal Localization
by Viindoo
| Lines of Code | 57 |
| Technical name | l10n_vn_viin_hr_payroll_meal |
| License | OPL-1 |
| Website | https://viindoo.com/apps/modules/19.0/l10n_vn_viin_hr_payroll_meal |
| Read description for | v 17.0 v 18.0 |
| Required Apps | Time Off (hr_holidays) Discuss (mail) Employees (hr) Calendar (calendar) |
| Included Dependencies | Payroll Vietnam - Payroll Employee Relatives Meal Orders Viindoo Base Advanced HR Management HR Contracts (Viindoo) Work Entry Viin Time-Off HR Meal Order & Payroll Integration Work Entry - Contract Base Addendum Viin - Holiday Work Entry Viindoo Holiday & WorkDay Manager Safe IR Metadata Proxies |
Meal allowance tax exemption applied on every Vietnamese payslip
For accountants and payroll managers of companies in Vietnam that pay a cash meal allowance
Exempt the cash meal allowance from the Vietnamese personal income tax up to the statutory cap.
Is this you?
The tax-exempt part of the meal allowance is calculated by hand in a spreadsheet after the payslips are computed.
When the law changes the exempt amount, nobody is sure which payslips used the old figure.
Employees ask why their personal income tax differs from one month to the next.
Each subsidiary may follow its own rule, and payroll keeps a list of exceptions.
What changes
Tax base right the first time
The Personal Tax Base line on the payslip already leaves out the exempt part of the meal allowance.
One place for the amount
The amount in force is a record the Payroll Administrator maintains in Statutory Amounts, not a figure buried in a formula.
Old payslips stay right
A new amount is added with a start date; each payslip uses the amount in force at the end of its period.
Company rules supported
A company can have its own record that takes precedence over the national one.
How it works
Keep the amount
The Payroll Administrator keeps the monthly tax-exempt amount in Statutory Amounts. A shipped record is an example value.
Compute the payslip
The Payroll Officer computes the payslip as usual.
Check the tax base
The meal allowance is exempt up to the amount; the rest is taxed. Meals served in kind and the 13th-month payslip are never exempted.
Key Features
Exemption up to a monthly amount
The part of the cash meal allowance up to the amount in force is left out of the income subject to personal income tax.
Amount maintained as data
The amount is a record of Statutory Amounts with a validity period, edited by the Payroll Administrator when the law changes.
Company-specific amount
A record for one company takes precedence over the national record.
All tax policies
Progressive, flat rate and withholding after the end of the labour contract all use the exempt amount.
Applied to new Vietnamese companies
The exemption is added to the Personal Tax Base rule when the payroll rules of a Vietnamese company are generated.
Who it is for
Payroll Administrator
Keeps the exempt amount up to date and adds a new record when the law changes.
Payroll Officer
Computes payslips and checks the personal tax base without recalculating the meal allowance by hand.
Best for: companies in Vietnam that pay a meal allowance in cash on the payslip.
Keep the tax-exempt meal allowance amount
Meal allowance and personal tax base on the payslip
The exemption in the Personal Tax Base rule
FAQ
Is the exempt amount fixed by the software?
No. It is a record in Statutory Amounts that the Payroll Administrator maintains. The module ships one record as an example; check it against the regulation in force.
What happens when the amount changes?
Close the old record with an end date and add a new one from the new date. Each payslip uses the amount in force at the end of its period.
Are meals served in kind exempted here?
Meals served in kind through meal orders are not paid on the payslip, so they do not enter the taxable income at all.
Does the 13th-month payslip benefit?
No, the 13th-month payslip is not exempted.
Can one employee exceed the amount in a month?
The amount applies to each payslip. With several regular payslips in the same month, the Payroll Administrator adjusts the later ones.
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viindoo.com/ticketTechnical Requirement
- Odoo version: 19.0
- Edition: Community
- Required apps: Vietnam - Payroll Localization (l10n_vn_viin_hr_payroll), HR Meal Order & Payroll Integration (to_hr_payroll_meal)
- License: OPL-1
Vietnam - Payroll Meal Localization
Who this guide is for: the Payroll Administrator who keeps the tax-exempt meal allowance amount up to date, and the Payroll Officer who computes payslips and checks the personal income tax base. The Odoo administrator only needs the setup note below.
Note
Extends HR Meal Order & Payroll Integration - see its documentation: to_hr_payroll_meal.
Overview
In Vietnam, a meal allowance paid in cash is free of personal income tax up to a monthly amount per employee. This module applies that rule on the payslips of Vietnamese companies: the meal allowance is left out of the income subject to tax up to the amount in force, and the part above it is taxed.
How it flows
- Amount in force - the Payroll Administrator keeps the monthly tax-exempt amount in Payroll > Configuration > Payroll Entry > Statutory Amounts. The module ships one record as an example: 1,200,000 VND per employee per month from 1 July 2026 (Decree 253/2026/ND-CP, Article 8.2.g). The software does not fix the law: when it changes, the record is edited by the Payroll Administrator.
- Payslip - when the Payroll Officer presses Compute Sheet, the Personal Tax Base line already leaves out the exempt part of the Meal Allowance line.
What the module does and does not exempt:
- Only the meal allowance paid in cash on the payslip is exempt. Meals served in kind through meal orders are not paid on the payslip and never enter the taxable income.
- The exemption applies under every tax policy: progressive, flat rate (non-residents, short-term contracts) and withholding after the end of the labour contract.
- The 13th-month payslip does not benefit from the exemption.
- The amount used is the one in force at the end date of the payslip period. With no record in force, the meal allowance stays fully taxable.
| Role | What they do | Access right to assign |
|---|---|---|
| Payroll Administrator | Keeps the tax-exempt meal allowance amount up to date. | Payroll / Administrator |
| Payroll Officer | Computes payslips and checks the personal tax base. | Payroll / Officer |
Setup (for the Administrator)
The module installs itself with Vietnam - Payroll Localization and HR Meal Order & Payroll Integration. No setting has to be switched on.
For every Vietnamese company, the exemption is added to the Personal Tax Base salary rule when the company's payroll rules are generated, and once when the module is installed. A change you make later to that rule is kept.
For a company switched to Vietnam after its payroll rules were generated, add the exemption to the rule yourself. Open Payroll > Configuration > Payroll Entry > Salary Rules, open the rule Personal Tax Base of that company and add these lines at the end of its Python code:
if not payslip.thirteen_month_pay: result = max(result - min(max(categories.MEAL, 0), payslip.get_statutory_amount('VN_MEAL_ALLOWANCE_TAX_CAP')), 0.0)
Assign the access rights in Settings > Users & Companies > Users: Payroll Administrator to the Payroll Administrator and Payroll Officer to the Payroll Officer.
Payroll Administrator: keep the tax-exempt amount up to date
Open Payroll > Configuration > Payroll Entry > Statutory Amounts.
Open the record with the code VN_MEAL_ALLOWANCE_TAX_CAP. It shows the Amount, the Currency and the Validity period.
When the law changes, set an end date in Validity on the old record, then press New and create a record with the same code, the new Amount and the new start date. Payslips use the amount in force at the end of their period, so old payslips keep their old amount.
To give one company its own amount, for example the amount it set for itself before 1 July 2026, create a record with the same code and choose the Company. A record of a company wins over the national one.
Payroll Officer: compute the payslip and check the tax base
Open Payroll > Payslips, open the payslip of the employee and press Compute Sheet.
Open the tab Details By Salary Rule Category.
Check the lines. The Payroll Officer can view the Statutory Amounts but only the Payroll Administrator can change them. In the example, the meal allowance is 1,800,000 VND: 1,200,000 VND are exempt and 600,000 VND are taxed, so the Personal Tax Base is the gross salary, less the personal deduction, less the exempt 1,200,000 VND.
Limitation
The amount applies to each payslip. When an employee has several regular payslips in the same month (a change of contract in the middle of the month, a supplementary payslip), each of them exempts up to the amount. The Payroll Administrator then adjusts the Personal Tax Base line of the later payslips so that the month does not exempt more than the amount.
FAQ
The meal allowance is fully taxed on my payslip. Check that a record with the code VN_MEAL_ALLOWANCE_TAX_CAP is in force at the end of the payslip period, that the payslip is not a 13th-month payslip, and that the Personal Tax Base rule of the company carries the exemption (see Setup).
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