FAILURE TO PAY TRAFFIC VIOLATION FINES MAY RESULT IN SALARY OR INCOME DEDUCTIONS FROM 01 JANUARY 2026

In recent years, the situation in which individuals commit traffic violations but delay or deliberately fail to pay fines has remained quite common, causing difficulties in law enforcement and reducing the effectiveness of administrative penalty decisions. To address this issue, the law has supplemented and improved coercive measures for enforcing penalty decisions, including the deduction of a portion of the violator’s salary or income.

1. Legal basis for the coercive measure

Under the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012 (as amended and supplemented in 2020), individuals subject to administrative penalties are obliged to comply with penalty decisions within 10 days from the date of receipt of the decision (unless a longer period is specified in the decision). Even when an individual exercises the right to lodge a complaint or initiate a lawsuit against the penalty decision, they are still required to pay the fine within the prescribed time limit (except for certain special cases provided by law). If the violator fails to voluntarily comply after the deadline, the competent authority may apply coercive measures to enforce the penalty decision in accordance with the law.

In practice, however, delays, evasion, or intentional non-compliance with administrative penalty decisions remain widespread. To remedy this situation, Government Decree No. 296/2025/NĐ-CP (effective from 01 January 2026) provides more specific and detailed regulations on coercive measures for enforcing administrative penalty decisions, including clarifying the measure of deducting a portion of an individual’s salary or income, applicable also to traffic violations.

2. When will salary or income be deducted?

The measure of deducting a portion of salary or income is not applied immediately. It is only implemented when the violator has been issued an administrative penalty decision but fails to voluntarily comply with it. In such cases, the competent authority may issue a coercive enforcement decision as the legal basis for carrying out the deduction. Salary or income deduction is applied when the individual has an identifiable source of income.

3. Subjects subject to the coercive deduction measure

Previously, Decree No. 166/2013/NĐ-CP provided that salary or income deduction applied to officials, civil servants, or individuals working and receiving salaries or income from an agency, unit, or organization; and individuals receiving social insurance benefits.

From 01 January 2026, Decree No. 296/2025/NĐ-CP expands the scope of subjects subject to deduction. Under the new decree, the subjects include officials, civil servants, public employees, members of the People’s Army, the People’s Public Security, individuals working in cryptographic organizations; individuals working and receiving salaries or income from agencies, units, organizations, or earning short-term seasonal income hired by households, business households, or employers; and individuals receiving retirement benefits under social insurance law.

It can be seen that previous regulations mainly focused on individuals with stable income, which created loopholes allowing some violators to deliberately take seasonal jobs or change employment to evade compliance. The expansion of subjects under Decree No. 296/2025/NĐ-CP, including those with short-term seasonal income, closes this loophole and enhances the effectiveness of enforcing administrative penalty decisions.

4. Deduction rates

Regarding deduction rates, Decree No. 296/2025/NĐ-CP provides that salary or income deductions may be carried out multiple times but must ensure the minimum living conditions of the coerced individual and their dependents. Specifically, for salaries and pensions, the deduction rate must not exceed 30% of the actual monthly amount received after insurance contributions and taxes; for other types of income, the deduction rate must not exceed 50% of the total monthly income.

5. Procedures for salary and income deduction

Under Articles 11 and 12 of Decree No. 296/2025/NĐ-CP, the coercive deduction of a portion of salary or income from an individual must be carried out in accordance with specific and strict procedures.

5.1. Responsibility to provide information on salary and income

Within 05 working days from the date of receipt of a written request (and accompanying documents, if any) from the authority competent to issue the coercive decision, the individual subject to coercion must provide information on their salary, income, or monthly pension as requested. Agencies, organizations, or employers managing the salary or income, and other related organizations or individuals (if any), must provide similar information within 03 working days from the date of receipt of the written request. These entities are legally responsible for the accuracy of the information provided.

The competent authority issuing the coercive decision is responsible for verifying information on the salary, income, or pension of the individual subject to coercion as the basis for issuing the coercive decision. The verification must be recorded in a verification report.

Within 02 working days from the date the information on salary, income, or monthly pension is determined, and based on the conditions for enforcing the coercive decision, the competent authority must issue a decision on coercive deduction of a portion of the individual’s salary or income.

5.2. Mandatory contents of the coercive deduction decision

A decision on coercive deduction of a portion of salary or income must contain the following essential information:

(i) Decision number; date of issuance; legal basis; full name, position, and working unit of the decision issuer;

(ii) Full name, citizen identification number, and address of the individual subject to the coercive deduction;

(iii) Name and address of the agency, organization, or employer managing the salary or income of the individual subject to coercion;

(iv) Amount to be deducted and the reason for deduction;

(v) Name and account number of the State Treasury receiving the deducted amount;

(vi) Duration of implementation;

(vii) Signature of the decision issuer and the official seal of the issuing authority.

6. Responsibilities of salary and income managing entities

Agencies, units, organizations, or employers managing the salary, pension, or income of the coerced individual are responsible for strictly complying with the coercive decision. Within 03 working days from the nearest salary or income payment date, they must deduct and transfer the deducted amount to the State Treasury account as specified in the coercive decision, and notify both the coerced individual and the decision issuer. If the coerced individual has terminated their employment or income-generating contract before the full amount is deducted, the salary or income managing entity must immediately notify the decision issuer. Any intentional failure to cooperate in providing information or to comply with the coercive decision will be handled in accordance with the law.

Accordingly, from 01 January 2026, individuals who commit administrative violations, including road traffic violations, and fail to voluntarily comply with penalty decisions within the prescribed time limit may have their monthly salary or income deducted to enforce the penalty.