United States → Vietnam tax position
One passport-pair overlay. The treaty fact is an absence — depth here is domestic US gates that still bite citizens living in Vietnam, beside the Vietnam residency machine.
Visa → days → tax → labour
- TRC / stay sets how long you may remain.
- Days and habitual abode decide Vietnam tax residence (threshold 183 days).
- Working needs a permit or exemption — separate from tax.
- There is no in-force US–Vietnam income tax treaty to allocate residence or cap withholding. US citizenship tax and Vietnam residence can both apply.
Treaty status — absence on file
| Topic | On file |
|---|---|
| Treaty signed (2015) | yes |
| Treaty in force | no |
| Treaty withholding caps apply | no |
| DTA Art 4 tie-breaker | None — no in-force treaty |
Dual claims — no treaty cascade
- Vietnam: 183-day / habitual-abode machine (tax residency).
- United States: citizenship-based worldwide tax, regardless of Vietnam residence.
- Without an in-force DTA there is no Art 4 permanent-home cascade. Relief, if any, is domestic: FEIE and/or foreign tax credit — not treaty residence.
- Refused: inventing treaty caps or an Art 4 outcome from a signed-but-not-in-force text.
US-side traps
Domestic IRS gates. We state the gate — not PFIC or expatriation maths.
1. Citizenship-based taxation
Worldwide income for citizens regardless of Vietnam residence. The Vietnam residency machine and calculator still apply on the Vietnam side.
2. Foreign tax credit (Form 1116)
Qualifying foreign income taxes may be credited. Individuals generally file Form 1116. Basket limits and dollar credits refused.
3. Foreign earned income exclusion
Claimed on Form 2555. Requires a foreign tax home, plus either physical presence of 330 days in any 12 consecutive months, or bona fide residence for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year. Published ceilings: tax year 2025 130000 USD; tax year 2026 132900 USD. Housing limitation is generally 30% of that ceiling. Other FEIE maths refused.
4. FBAR
Aggregate foreign financial accounts above 10000 USD at any time in the calendar year → FinCEN Form 114 (not Form 1040).
5. Form 8938 (FATCA)
Separate from FBAR. Living abroad, unmarried / MFS: more than 200000 USD on the last day of the year, or more than 300000 USD at any time.
6. Covered expatriate / Form 8854
Leaving US citizenship or long-term residence can trigger the §877A covered-expatriate regime and Form 8854. Gate exists — thresholds and gain maths refused.
What stays refused
Treaty withholding caps, Art 4 outcomes, Form 1116 basket maths, PFIC calculations, and covered-expatriate dollar thresholds beyond the existence gate.
All cells on this page
- US–Vietnam income tax treaty was signedUS–Vietnam income tax treaty and protocol signed 7 July 2015 (secondary reports consistent; not in IRS in-force treaty list)yeschecked Aug 2026
- US–Vietnam income tax treaty is in forceIRS tax treaty tables / Pub 901 practice — Vietnam not listed as in-force income tax treaty partner; Nareif treaty table note: signed 2015 not yet in effectnochecked Aug 2026
- Treaty withholding caps currently apply between US and VietnamNo in-force DTA → no treaty withholding caps applynochecked Aug 2026
- US taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of residenceUS domestic rule (citizenship-based taxation) — independent of any Vietnam treatyyeschecked Aug 2026
- US domestic international-tax traps are modelled on this sitenguon/US_SIDE_TRAPS.md — FBAR / Form 8938 / FEIE gates; PFIC & expatriation dollars not modelledyeschecked Aug 2026
- FBAR aggregate foreign-account thresholdIRS FBAR — aggregate foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year10000 USDchecked Aug 2026
- Form 8938 (FATCA specified foreign financial assets) existsIRS — Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets (FATCA)yeschecked Aug 2026
- Form 8938 year-end threshold (unmarried living abroad)IRS comparison Form 8938 vs FBAR — unmarried / MFS living abroad: more than $200,000 on last day of tax year200000 USDchecked Aug 2026
- Form 8938 anytime threshold (unmarried living abroad)IRS comparison Form 8938 vs FBAR — unmarried / MFS living abroad: more than $300,000 at any time during the year300000 USDchecked Aug 2026
- Foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE) existsIRS Foreign earned income exclusion — Form 2555 / Pub 54 pathyeschecked Aug 2026
- FEIE physical-presence limbIRS FEIE — physical presence test: at least 330 full days in foreign country/countries during any period of 12 consecutive months330 dayschecked Aug 2026
- FEIE dollar maths beyond published year-stamped ceilings deliberately not modelledHistorical blanket refusal superseded for TY2025/TY2026 ceilings now filed as year-stamped gates; other FEIE maths still refusedyeschecked Aug 2026
- PFIC and expatriation detail deliberately not modelledProduct honesty — PFIC regime and expatriation/exit-tax calculations not celledyeschecked Aug 2026
- No DTA Art 4 tie-breaker exists for US–Vietnam dual claimsNo in-force US–Vietnam income tax treaty → no Art 4 dual-residence cascade between the two statesyeschecked Aug 2026
- US foreign tax credit mechanism existsIRS Foreign Tax Credit — credit (or deduction) for qualifying foreign income taxes; individuals generally Form 1116yeschecked Aug 2026
- Form 1116 exists to claim the individual foreign tax creditIRS Instructions for Form 1116 — Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust)yeschecked Aug 2026
- FEIE bona fide residence test existsIRS FEIE — bona fide resident of a foreign country for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year (citizen; or resident alien of a treaty country)yeschecked Aug 2026
- Form 2555 exists to claim FEIEIRS — Form 2555 Foreign Earned Income used to claim FEIE / foreign housing exclusion or deductionyeschecked Aug 2026
- FEIE requires a foreign tax home (plus a residency test)IRS FEIE page — must have foreign earned income, tax home in a foreign country, and pass bona fide residence or physical presenceyeschecked Aug 2026
- Foreign tax credit dollar amounts deliberately not modelledForm 1116 / Pub 514 mechanism filed; basket limits and dollar credits refusedyeschecked Aug 2026
- FEIE maximum exclusion tax year 2026IRS — Figuring the foreign earned income exclusion; Rev. Proc. 2025-32 / IRS newsroom TY2026 inflation adjustments — FEIE max $132,900 for tax year 2026132900 USDchecked Aug 2026
- FEIE maximum exclusion tax year 2025IRS — Figuring the foreign earned income exclusion — FEIE max $130,000 for tax year 2025130000 USDchecked Aug 2026
- FEIE housing limitation is generally 30% of the FEIE ceilingIRS — housing exclusion/deduction limitation generally 30% of the maximum FEIE for the year (location tables may vary)yeschecked Aug 2026
- Form 8854 expatriation statement existsIRS Form 8854 — Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement for individuals who expatriateyeschecked Aug 2026
- Covered-expatriate §877A regime existsIRC §877A / IRS expatriation guidance — covered expatriate mark-to-market exit tax regime existsyeschecked Aug 2026
- Covered-expatriate dollar thresholds and gain maths deliberately not modelled§877A thresholds and gain maths refused — gate existence onlyyeschecked Aug 2026