Compare · Philippines vs Vietnam
Philippines vs Vietnam for Australians leaving home
The regimes are genuinely different: Philippines is a territorial tax system while Vietnam runs worldwide tax, which of your income streams each one actually touches matters more than any headline rate.
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).
On day-to-day costs there is little between them, roughly 45% and 40% of Sydney's basket (indicative, ex-rent), so the money question is decided by tax and rent, not groceries.
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 | PhilippinesPhilippines | VietnamVietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Tax | ||
| Regime | territorial, worldwide income not taxed | worldwide, taxes worldwide income |
| Income tax on salary | Progressive 0, 35% on Philippine-source compensation and business income; the 35% band starts at PHP 8m (~A$216k). | 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 | Foreign share gains: not taxed for resident aliens. Philippine listed shares: 0.6% stock transaction tax on gross sale. Unlisted Philippine shares: 15% CGT. (0% 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 | Foreign dividends: outside the Philippine net for resident aliens. Philippine dividends: 10% final withholding. | Flat 5% on dividends and bank interest, one of the lowest investment-income rates anywhere. |
| Interest | Generally untaxed locally | Taxed locally around 5% |
| Crypto | No dedicated crypto tax rules: BIR guidance treats trading profits as taxable income when Philippine-source. Offshore-exchange gains of a resident alien are foreign-source and outside the net, but documentation matters. | 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 | SSS/PhilHealth apply to local employment; retirees and remote workers on their own income are outside them. | 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 |
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| Visa ease | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Family on visas | Dependants covered on main pathways | Dependants covered on main pathways |
| Fastest timeline | ~0 months on the quickest pathway | ~0 months on the quickest pathway |
| Money | ||
| Rent (family home, monthly) | $2,000/mo | $2,200/mo |
| Rent (couple, monthly) | $1,100/mo | $1,200/mo |
| International school (per child/yr) | $14,000 | $20,000 |
| Health cover (family/yr) | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Cost of living vs Sydney | 45% of Sydney (ex-rent) | 40% of Sydney (ex-rent) |
| Relocation one-off | ~$12,000 | ~$12,000 |
| Flights home (return, pp) | $1,300 | $1,200 |
| Life | ||
| Timezone vs AEST | 2h behind | 3h behind |
| Flight from Sydney | ~8.5 hours | ~9 hours |
| English | 9/10 | 4/10 |
| Safety | 5/10 | 8/10 |
| Healthcare | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Schooling | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Climate | Tropical with a serious typhoon season (June, November); Manila is hot, humid and flood-prone. | 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?”
Philippines
- Infrastructure is the weak point: Manila traffic is globally infamous, power and internet reliability vary, and healthcare outside top private hospitals is thin.
- Safety requires judgment, petty crime in cities, and entire regions (western Mindanao) under standing government travel warnings.
- Typhoons are not an abstraction: multiple significant hits per year, with flooding even in metro Manila.
- Foreigners cannot own land (condos yes, land no), long-term settling means leases or a Filipino spouse's title.
- The banking system is parochial: moving money in is easy, opening accounts and moving it out less so.
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 Manila/Cebu: $14,200”, not a range.