Compare · Mexico vs Vietnam
Mexico vs Vietnam for Australians leaving home
Mexico:Worldwide taxAU tax treatyVietnam:Worldwide taxAU tax treaty
Mexico and Vietnam run the same headline regime, worldwide tax, so the decision turns on the details underneath: what each one does to capital gains, dividends and the Australian income you keep.
Both have a tax treaty with Australia, so either way you get a tie-breaker if the ATO contests your departure, and capped withholding (15%/10% vs 15%/10% on unfranked dividends/interest).
Vietnam is the cheaper place to live day to day, roughly 40% of Sydney's basket against Mexico's 55% (indicative, ex-rent), which can outweigh a thinner tax saving over a full household budget.
Personalise this, enter your numbers once and every figure below becomes yours: “your estimated income tax: $14,200”, not “0, 22%”. Open the Country Comparison tool →
| 2 destinations | MexicoMexico | VietnamVietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | ||
| Regime | worldwide, taxes worldwide income | worldwide, taxes worldwide income |
| Income tax on salary | Progressive 1.92% to 35% (top rate from roughly MXN 4.5m ≈ A$390k). Employees are withheld at source; everyone else deals with SAT directly. | Progressive 5, 35% on worldwide employment income; the 35% band starts around A$58k/year equivalent, high earners hit the top rate fast. |
| Capital gains | Flat 10% on gains from shares sold through a recognised stock exchange. Off-exchange sales (private companies, real estate) are taxed at progressive rates with cost-base indexation for inflation. (10% typical) | Securities: 0.1% of gross sale proceeds (final), cheap if you win, painful if you sell at a loss. Private company stakes: 20% on the gain. Property: 2% of proceeds. (0% typical) |
| Dividends | Mexican dividends: 10% withholding on the net dividend, on top of 30% corporate tax already paid. Foreign dividends and interest are taxed at your progressive marginal rate, Australian franking credits mean nothing to SAT. | Flat 5% on dividends and bank interest, one of the lowest investment-income rates anywhere. |
| Interest | Taxed locally around 35% | Taxed locally around 5% |
| Crypto | No dedicated crypto regime: SAT treats disposals as ordinary income or alienation-of-goods gains at progressive rates up to 35%, the 10% exchange rate does not apply to crypto. Guidance is thin; get Mexican advice before realising anything large. | Crypto sits in a legal grey zone: not recognised as an asset or payment means, with a regulatory framework legislated to take effect from 2026 (pilot exchanges, expected transaction taxes). Today, taxation of personal crypto gains is untested in practice. |
| Australia tax treaty | Yes, AU withholding capped at 15% dividends / 10% interest, tie-breaker available | Yes, AU withholding capped at 15% dividends / 10% interest, tie-breaker available |
| Social security | IMSS social security applies to Mexican employment (employer-heavy contributions); self-employed expats generally sit outside it and buy private cover instead. | Compulsory social insurance applies to employees on Vietnamese labour contracts (foreigners included, ~10.5% employee side, capped); remote workers for foreign employers are outside it. |
| Visa | ||
| Best pathways |
|
|
| Visa ease | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Family on visas | Dependants covered on main pathways | Dependants covered on main pathways |
| Fastest timeline | ~2 months on the quickest pathway | ~0 months on the quickest pathway |
| Money | ||
| Rent (family home, monthly) | $3,800/mo | $2,200/mo |
| Rent (couple, monthly) | $2,200/mo | $1,200/mo |
| International school (per child/yr) | $20,000 | $20,000 |
| Health cover (family/yr) | $6,000 | $4,500 |
| Cost of living vs Sydney | 55% of Sydney (ex-rent) | 40% of Sydney (ex-rent) |
| Relocation one-off | ~$18,000 | ~$12,000 |
| Flights home (return, pp) | $2,500 | $1,200 |
| Life | ||
| Timezone vs AEST | 16h behind | 3h behind |
| Flight from Sydney | ~16 hours | ~9 hours |
| English | 5/10 | 4/10 |
| Safety | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Healthcare | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Schooling | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| Climate | Mexico City sits at 2,240m: mild "eternal spring" year-round, a wet season May, October, and air quality that varies. Coastal Mexico is a different, hotter story. | HCMC: hot year-round with a May, November wet season; Hanoi adds a genuinely cold, damp winter. |
Costs, rates and visa figures are country-module data marked indicative until individually verified; FX and rental markets move constantly.
Honest downsides, side by side
Every destination hub on this site carries its downsides in the open. Here are both lists together, because the right question is rarely “which is better?” and usually “which set of problems would you rather live with?”
Mexico
- Security is genuinely region-dependent: Mexico City neighbourhoods, Mérida and Querétaro feel safer than their reputation; other states are on the DFAT do-not-travel list. Where you live matters more than the country average.
- Bureaucracy runs in Spanish, SAT registration, CFE electricity accounts, banking, INM renewals. Without workable Spanish or a good gestor/accountant, routine admin becomes a part-time job.
- It is about as far from Australia as you can get: ~16 hours flying, a 15, 17 hour time-zone gap that inverts your working day against AEST, and A$2,500 flights making "quick trips home" neither quick nor cheap.
- The cost of living is roughly half of Sydney, but so are local salaries; this is a destination for imported income, not for building a local career.
Vietnam
- No digital nomad visa and no retirement visa: unless you have a job, a company or a Vietnamese spouse, there is no compliant way to live here long-term.
- The 35% top band arrives at a low threshold, a good Australian salary earned as a Vietnamese resident is taxed harder than in Australia.
- Banking and moving money is bureaucratic: the dong is not freely convertible and repatriating funds requires documentation.
- Healthcare below international-clinic level is poor; anything serious means Bangkok or Singapore.
- Air quality in Hanoi ranks among the world's worst several months a year.
Make this comparison yours
The table above shows the general figures. Enter your income and family once and the tax rows become your numbers, “your estimated income tax in Mexico City: $14,200”, not a range.