Payroll & Employer
Payroll Outsourcing Vietnam
Vietnamese payroll, compulsory insurances and annual finalisation handled end to end
Monthly payroll run for Vietnam, with compulsory social, health and unemployment insurance remitted, PIT withheld and finalised annually, and the trade union contribution handled where it applies. The same service covers Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia through the equivalent bodies in each. Payslips, audit-ready records and the periodic labour reporting come with it. Minimum term twelve months against a refundable one-month deposit.
24+ years
of regional HR group heritage
Since 2023
Vietnam payroll practice - Enterprise Code: 0318135337
9 entities
across 5 SEA markets
5 currencies
VND · SGD · MYR · THB · IDR
How it works
1
Scope
We start from headcount, which countries the people sit in, and which categories they fall into, since Vietnamese nationals, foreign employees on work permits and those holding an exemption confirmation each attract different treatment. Salary cycles are fixed and every recurring filing due in each market is listed. All of that happens before a single payroll runs.
2
Onboard
Employee records, salary structures, leave balances and prior-period reconciliations come across. If you have an HRIS we connect to it; if what exists is a set of spreadsheets, we work from those, and neither answer is held against you. One cycle then runs in parallel with your current process so the two can be compared line by line before cutover.
3
Run
Payroll calculated and paid in local currency each month, with social, health and unemployment insurance remitted at official rates and PIT withheld correctly for each employee category. Payslips issued, bank files produced, leave balances brought current. Anything out of pattern is flagged to you before the money moves rather than explained after it.
4
Close
Annual PIT finalisation, the year-end reconciliations each authority requires, and the equivalent returns in the other four markets. Records stay archived in audit-ready form and remain available whenever an auditor or an inspector asks for them.
Payroll outsourcing in Vietnam, backed by 24+ years of group heritage
Vietnamese payroll is less about the monthly run than about keeping the insurance declarations true. Every salary change, new hire, leaver, maternity case and unpaid leave period has to be reflected in the social insurance filing for that month, and a declaration that drifts from the payroll register is the thing that surfaces during an inspection, usually with arrears attached. On top of that sit monthly personal income tax withholding, the trade union contribution, and an annual tax finalisation where the employer finalises on behalf of qualifying employees. None of it is conceptually hard and all of it is unforgiving about accuracy. We run it through People Profilers Services Vietnam Company Limited, alongside recruitment and employer of record work in the same market. If you are comparing this against keeping staff on someone else’s payroll, our guide to how payroll parking works in Vietnam and the licence to check. Before you budget a role, it is worth knowing what a Vietnamese hire actually costs once the insurances are added.
What's included in our payroll service
Three layers to the work: the monthly processing that has to produce correct payslips on the right day, the contributions that have to reach each authority at official rates, and the annual filings that close the tax year without leaving anything open. The fee for all three is fixed in the engagement letter before the first run.
Monthly payroll administration
- ✓Payslip generation, distribution, and archiving
- ✓Bank bulk-payment / direct-credit file generation for salary disbursement
- ✓Variance reports flagged before payroll runs
- ✓Multi-currency support (VND, SGD, MYR, THB, IDR)
Statutory contributions handled
- ✓Social insurance (SI, HI, UI) contributions for Vietnam employees
- ✓Trade Union Fund contribution (2% of the social insurance payroll fund)
- ✓Country-equivalent contributions in SG / MY / TH / ID
- ✓Foreign-national workforce (Work Permit / LD2 visa holders) included
- ✓Calculated at official rates - no markup, no margin
Year-end + situational filings
- ✓Annual PIT finalisation returns (Vietnam)
- ✓Tax Department tax clearance for departing employees
- ✓Country-equivalent annual returns in SG / MY / TH / ID
- ✓Optional add-ons: leave portal, expense management
Engagement letters spell out every fee in writing before onboarding. Engagements have a 12-month minimum term with one month's fees held as a refundable security deposit. You remain the legal employer of your team. We administer payroll, contributions, and filings on your behalf.
When payroll outsourcing makes sense in Vietnam
Outsourcing payroll is rarely a cost decision. It is about moving a high-risk, low-leverage process off a team that has better things to do. Three patterns account for most of it here.
The insurance declarations have drifted
The most common thing we find on taking over a Vietnamese payroll is a gap between what the payroll register says and what was declared for social insurance. It builds quietly through salary adjustments and leavers, and it is far cheaper to reconcile deliberately than to have it found for you.
One person holds the calendar
Monthly insurance filings, tax withholding, the trade union contribution and the annual finalisation all sit with one coordinator in most lean teams. That works until they resign in the month the finalisation is due. Outsourcing turns an individual dependency into a documented process with deadlines attached.
A workforce split across several markets
Employees in Vietnam plus Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia means several statutory regimes, several sets of deadlines and several currencies. Consolidated reporting with correct local handling costs far less than building payroll capability in each country.
You stay the legal employer of your team throughout. We administer the payroll, the contributions and the filings on your behalf. If you want us to be the legal employer instead, usually because you are hiring before you have an entity, that is our Employer of Record service.
PAYROLL OUTSOURCING
Vietnamese payroll run to Vietnamese statutory deadlines
Social, health and unemployment insurance calculated and remitted · Personal income tax withheld and filed monthly · Trade union contribution administered and annual finalisation handled
Industries & Functions We Cover
Payroll complexity follows the workforce rather than the headcount. Shift premiums and overtime in electronics and manufacturing, commission and clawback in sales, rostered allowances in healthcare, and a foreign-staff population that brings permits and different PIT treatment with it. Years of running payroll for employers across these sectors is why the cycle holds no surprises.
Aerospace & Aviation
Aircraft maintenance technicians, avionics and component specialists, ground operations and aviation supply chain roles around Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai and Long Thanh.
Automotive
Production and quality engineers, supplier development, sales and aftersales management for assemblers and the growing EV and component base.
Banking & Financial Services
Relationship managers, credit and risk analysts, compliance and AML officers and operations specialists across Vietnamese commercial banks, insurers and securities firms.
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical
Regulatory affairs, QA and validation, medical representatives and market access roles for manufacturers, importers and distributors.
Chemical
Process and production engineers, plant supervisors, HSE officers and technical sales across the southern and central industrial zones.
Construction & Civil Engineering
Project and site managers, civil, structural and M&E engineers, quantity surveyors and safety officers on Vietnamese infrastructure and property projects.
FMCG & Retail
Brand and trade marketing managers, key account and modern trade specialists, and retail operations across a fast-growing national footprint.
Healthcare
Clinical operations, nursing leadership, medical representatives and regulatory specialists for private hospital groups and device companies.
IT & Telecommunication
Software engineers, DevOps, product managers and data specialists across the Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang development centres and outsourcing firms.
Logistics & Transportation
Freight forwarding, customs and import-export specialists, warehouse and distribution managers around Cat Lai, Hai Phong and the border crossings.
Marine & Offshore Engineering
Marine and subsea engineers, yard and vessel operations, project managers and HSE specialists across shipbuilding and offshore support.
Media & Publishing
Account management, content and performance marketing, creative and production roles across agencies, platforms and publishers.
Oil & Gas
Process, drilling and project engineers, HSE coordinators and commercial analysts for upstream operators, service companies and refineries.
Real Estate & Property
Development and project managers, leasing and property managers, facilities leads and investment roles for Vietnamese developers and funds.
Semiconductor
Process, test and packaging engineers, equipment and production specialists across the assembly and testing plants in the northern and southern parks.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the legal employer when I outsource payroll to People Profilers?
You do. Outsourcing payroll changes who performs the calculation and the filings, not who employs the person.
Your employees keep their contracts with you, their entitlements with you and their reporting lines with you. What changes is that the insurance submissions, the payslips and the annual finalisation are produced by us.
Where you want someone else to be the legal employer, that is Employer of Record and an entirely different arrangement.
Can you process payroll for our foreign employees on Work Permits?
Yes. Vietnamese nationals, foreign employees holding work permits and those with an exemption confirmation all run through the same monthly cycle, each treated according to what actually applies to them.
Foreign employees carry different insurance and PIT treatment depending on their status and how long they have been resident, and getting that wrong is one of the more common findings in a payroll audit here. We apply the position that fits each individual rather than a blanket rule.
Permit expiry dates are tracked alongside the payroll, because a permit lapsing quietly is a payroll problem as much as an immigration one.
Where a permit itself needs filing or renewing, that runs through our work permit service rather than this one.
Which countries can you run payroll in?
Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, each through our own locally-incorporated entity rather than a partner network. That matters when a question arises, because there is nobody between you and the entity making the filing.
A group operating in several of these markets can consolidate onto one engagement with a single point of contact, while each country's payroll still runs to its own local rules and its own calendar.
How does the engagement and pricing work?
Twelve-month minimum term, with one month of fees held as a refundable deposit for the duration.
The fee follows headcount, the number of countries, and how complex the payroll genuinely is. Shift premiums, commission structures and a sizeable foreign-staff population all add work, and the pricing reflects that rather than pretending every employee costs the same to process.
Everything is written into the engagement letter before onboarding, and a change of scope later is a documented variation rather than a renegotiation.
How do you handle data security and employee privacy?
Payroll is the most sensitive data an employer holds and is treated that way. Access is limited to the people processing your cycle rather than granted across the operation.
Handling follows Vietnamese personal data protection requirements and the equivalent regime in each other market. Retention periods, access rights and breach procedures are written into the engagement letter.
At the end of an engagement your data is returned in an agreed format and our copies are destroyed on a schedule fixed at the start rather than argued about at the end.
What does the transition look like if we move from in-house payroll to your service?
The risk in a payroll move is never the software. It is the accumulated exceptions: the allowance agreed verbally, the leave balance carried across from a system nobody runs any more, the one employee on a different cycle for reasons nobody remembers.
So the first step is mapping what exists, then migrating records, salary structures, leave balances and prior-period reconciliations. Then one full cycle runs alongside whatever runs today and the two are compared line by line.
Cutover happens only after that comparison reconciles. Where a mid-year move cannot be avoided, year-to-date figures come across intact so the annual PIT finalisation still closes correctly.
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