Amazon Associates runs 17 country programmes: US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, Singapore, Australia, China. No Vietnam. But "no Vietnamese programme" is not "a Vietnamese person cannot join" — the US programme accepts publishers abroad, and that is how most people in Vietnam do Amazon affiliate work.
Step 1: getting paid — the real bottleneck
Amazon pays four ways: domestic direct deposit, international transfer (Fx4Cash), paper cheque, and gift card. The Fx4Cash page states it supports 52 countries — the US (USD), the UK (GBP/EUR) and the eurozone. Vietnam is not on that list. There is no direct bank transfer to a Vietnamese bank.
- Domestic direct deposit: USD 10 minimum, no fee. Requires a US bank account.
- Paper cheque: USD 100 minimum. A USD 15 processing fee, but verbatim: "If your billing address is outside the United States, and direct deposit is, therefore, unavailable to you, we will waive the $15 fee." A Vietnamese address is exempt — you still wait for post and need a bank that accepts USD cheques.
- Gift card: USD 10 minimum, spendable on Amazon only, not withdrawable.
- The route people in Vietnam actually use: open a USD receiving account with an intermediary (Payoneer and similar) to get US routing/account numbers, then declare direct deposit. This is not an Amazon-documented feature and I have not verified its success rate — treat it as an assumption to test with a small payout first.
Step 2: US tax — the answer is where the service is performed
Amazon must withhold up to 30% from non-US associates unless a valid W-8BEN is on file. The US–Vietnam tax treaty was signed in 2015 and ratified by Vietnam in 2017, but it never entered into force — so there is no treaty rate. That does not mean losing 30%.
Amazon's own help page is explicit: "Being a member of the Amazon Associates US program does not mean that you supply your services both inside and outside the United States. IE, if you are an Associate in the UK, posting links to a US based site, does not constitute US sourced income." In the tax interview, declaring that the services are performed entirely outside the US means the income is not US-sourced. Ticking the wrong box ("both inside and outside the US") is the documented cause of 30% withholding despite a completed W-8BEN — Amazon has a dedicated help page for that exact mistake.
Step 3: Vietnamese tax — 5% PIT, and one trap
Per Official Letter 7403/CT-TMĐT from the Tax Department, affiliate income received directly from a platform or brand is classified as business income, not wages. The applicable personal income tax rate is 5% under point đ, clause 3, Article 7 of the 2025 PIT Law (digital content products and services).
The exemption threshold for individual businesses is VND 1 billion of annual revenue under Decree 141/2026/NĐ-CP (raised from VND 500 million). At the 21 Oct 2026 rate of 25,846 VND/USD, that is USD 38,690 a year, or USD 3,224 a month. So USD 1,000 a month sits below the threshold — but at only 0.31x of it, with little headroom.
The trap: from 1 July 2026, an individual receiving service fees without registering a business can be taxed on the progressive 5–35% wage scale instead of 5% of revenue. At a few tens of millions of dong a month, 5% of revenue is far cheaper than progressive rates. That is why the business registration has to happen before revenue approaches the threshold, not after.
The correct order
- Settle the payout route before producing content. With no payout route, every commission number is zero.
- Join the US programme, complete the tax interview, and declare services performed outside the US.
- Register as a household business before revenue approaches VND 1 billion a year.
- Check every step with a tax accountant — this post reads public documents, it is not tax advice.
Next in this series: what Amazon affiliate pays, the four rules that lose you the account, the 90-day plan.
Sources: International Affiliate Programs, Fx4Cash FAQ, Payment methods, Why is my withholding 30%, Decree 141/2026/NĐ-CP, 2025 PIT Law.