Labor Regulations Update in December 2024

Law on Health Insurance No. 51/2024/QH15

The National Assembly issued the Law No. 51/2024/QH15, amending and supplementing a number of Articles of the Law on Health Insurance (HI).

Talentnet would like to summarize some of the notable amendments and supplements as follows:

• The reference level is an amount determined by the Government to calculate the contribution and benefit levels for certain cases of HI participation as prescribed.
• The HI contribution level is determined as a percentage of the salary used as the basis for compulsory social insurance contribution as prescribed by the Law on Social Insurance (referred to as monthly salary), pension, allowance, or reference level.
• Subjects participating in HI:

Employees working under an indefinite-term labor contract, a fixed-term labor contract of at least 01 month, including cases where the Employee and the Employer agree on a different name but the content reflects the nature of paid wage, salary, and management, supervision of one party; Enterprise Managers, Controllers, Representatives of State Capital, Representatives of Enterprise’s Capital as prescribed by Law; members of the Board of Directors, General Director, Director, members of the Board of Control or Controllers, and other elected managerial positions of Cooperatives, Federations of Cooperatives as prescribed by the Law on Cooperatives who receive a salary;

Enterprise Managers, Controllers, Representatives of State Capital, Representatives of Enterprise’s Capital as prescribed by Law; members of the Board of Directors, General Director, Director, members of the Board of Control or Controllers, and other elected managerial positions of Cooperatives, Federations of Cooperatives as prescribed by the Law on Cooperatives who do not receive a salary;

Foreign Employees working in Vietnam under a fixed-term labor contract of at least 12 months, except for cases of internal transfer within an Enterprise as prescribed by Law on Foreign Employees working in Vietnam or at the time of entering into the labor contract, they have reached the retirement age as prescribed in Clause 2 Article 169 of the Labor Code or other international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

Employees working under an indefinite-term labor contract, a fixed-term labor contract of at least one month, including cases where the Employee and the Employer agree on a different name but the content reflects the nature of paid wage, salary, and management, supervision of one party, and who agree with the Employer to work part-time with a monthly salary equal to or higher than the salary as the basic for the minimum mandatory social insurance contribution as prescribed by the Law on Social Insurance.

Business owners of registered business households are subject to mandatory social insurance as prescribed by the Law on Social Insurance.

• Employees who have one or more labor contracts simultaneously shall contribute to HI based on the labor contract used as the basis for participating in mandatory social insurance.
• The maximum monthly salary for calculating HI contribution is 20 times the reference level.

The amendments of the Law on Health Insurance No. 51/2024/QH15 will take effect from 1st July 2025. Talentnet will continue to update any guidelines related to this Law.

Law on Trade Unions No. 50/2024/QH15

On 27th November 2024, the National Assembly issued the Law on Trade Unions No. 50/2024/QH15.

Some of the notable points of the Law on Trade Unions 2024 are as follows:

• Foreign Employees working in Vietnam under a fixed-term labor contract of at least 12 months are eligible to join and participate in the Trade Union at the Grassroots level (Note: not allowed to establish).
• Organizations of Employees in Enterprises that are legally established and operate voluntarily and agree to the Statute of the Vietnam Trade Union, have the right to join the Vietnam Trade Union.
• A Grassroots Trade Union is a Grassroots Organization of the Vietnam Trade Union, bringing together Employees without employment relationships, in the same industry or profession, or other special Employees, and is recognized by the direct superior-level Trade Union in accordance with the Law and the Statute of the Vietnam Trade Union.
• The direct superior-level Trade Union is responsible for propagating, mobilizing, meeting, and guiding Employees without employment relationships to join and establish the Grassroots Trade Union.

The Law on Trade Unions No. 50/2024/QH15 will take effect from 1st July 2025. Talentnet will continue to update our clients on any guidelines related to this Law.

Law on Amending, Supplementing a Number of Articles of The Securities Law, The Accouting Law, Auditing Law, The Law On State Budget, The Law On Management and The Use of Public Property, The Law on Tax Management, The Law on Personal Income Tax, The Law on State Reserves, and The Law on Administrative Offenses.

On 29th November 2024, the National Assembly issued the Law No. 56/2024/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Securities Law, the Accounting Law, the Auditing Law, the Law on State Budget, the Law on Management and Use of Public Property, the Law on Tax Management, the Law on Personal Income Tax, the Law on State Reserves, and the Law on Administrative Offenses.

Notably, in the field of tax management and personal income tax, the notable supplements and amendments are as follows:

• Amendment and supplementation of Clause 1, Article 66 of the Law on Tax Management No. 38/2019/QH14 regarding the completion of tax obligations in cases of departure:

Business individuals, business household owners, individuals who are Legal Representatives of Enterprises, Cooperatives, and Cooperative Unions who are subject to forced execution of administrative decisions on tax management, Vietnamese individuals departing to settle abroad, Vietnamese individuals residing abroad, and foreign individuals before departing from Vietnam must fulfill their tax obligations, in cases where tax obligations, including the amount of tax debt and the duration of the debt, exceed the threshold set by the Government, departure will be temporarily suspended in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Entry and Exit. The Tax Authority shall notify the taxpayer in advance of the application of the measure to temporarily suspend departure.

• Abolishment of Clause 3, Article 75 of the Law on Tax Administration No. 38/2019/QH14. Accordingly, the following provisions will no longer apply:

If a decision on tax refund is issued later than the deadline prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article due to the fault of the Tax Authority, in addition to the refundable tax amount, the Tax Authority shall also pay interest at the rate of 0.03% per day on the refundable amount and the number of days of delay. The source of funds for interest payments shall be the central budget, as prescribed by the Law on State Budget.

• Amendment of the title of Article and add Point a1 after Point a Clause 1 Article 24 of the Law on Personal Income Tax No. 04/2007/QH12:

Organizations managing e-commerce platforms, digital platforms with payment functions, and other organizations engaged in digital economic activities as prescribed by the Government shall withhold, pay on behalf of, and declare the withheld tax for business transactions conducted on e-commerce platforms and digital platforms by households and individuals.

These supplementary and amended regulations shall apply from 1st January 2025.