The Ministry of Finance is soliciting opinions on the draft decree on land use fees and land rents to remove obstacles in the implementation of the Land Law.
According to the draft, when households and individuals change the purpose from agricultural land to residential land within the local residential land allocation limit, the land use fee collection is only equal to 30% of the difference between land use fees calculated according to the residential land price and agricultural land price at the time the competent authority allows the change of purpose.
Talking with Lao Dong, Lawyer Nguyen Van Dinh (Hanoi Bar Association) - a real estate legal expert agreed and highly appreciated the provisions in the draft Resolution on removing obstacles in the Land Law as well as the draft Decree detailing them.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Dinh said that this is the solution that the Ministry of Finance proposed in September 2025 when submitting a draft Resolution of the Government to remove and handle problems related to calculating land use fees for households and individuals when changing land use purposes. Accordingly, the policies in the Government's draft Resolution in September have been incorporated into the National Assembly's Resolution to remove obstacles in the Land Law.
According to the draft, in case of changing the purpose of land use from land originating from garden land, ponds, agricultural land in the same plot of land with residential land in residential areas to residential land (and some other cases), land users will have to reduce land use fees in the direction of only having to pay 30% of the difference between land use fees calculated according to residential land prices and land use fees calculated according to agricultural land prices for the land area within the residential land allocation limit; 50% of the difference for land areas exceeding the limit exceeding the residential land allocation limit once.
Citing the example, the lawyer said that if people have 1,000m2 of agricultural land in the same plot of land with residential land in a residential area and want to change the land use purpose to residential land in province X. The local land allocation limit is 200m2.
People who want to convert 1,000m2 of agricultural land to residential land: For the first 200m2, people only have to pay 30% of the difference between land use fees calculated according to residential land prices and land use fees calculated according to agricultural land prices; for the next 200m2, people have to pay 50% of the difference; for the last 600m2, people have to pay 100% of the difference.
This is a necessary solution in the context of people having to pay land use fees when changing land use purposes too high (the effect of increasing land price lists), to ensure social security.
At the same time, the regulation on the level of preferential land use fee collection is only calculated once for a household, individual and on a plot of land, the reduction in land use fees is only applicable to the maximum of two times the limit of land allocation; this regulation ensures strictness, avoiding policy profiteering ( avoiding cases where there are subjects taking advantage of incentives, buying a series of plots of land and changing the purpose of use and then "selling" for profit).
One regulation that lawyer Nguyen Van Dinh highly appreciates is the transitional clause. According to the draft, if households and individuals have changed the land use purpose from the time the 2024 Land Law takes effect (August 1, 2024) to before the new regulation takes effect (January 1, 2026), it is allowed to apply the "process" effect in a beneficial direction: If people have not paid land use fees according to the announcement of the tax authority, the land use fee will be recalculated (calculated at 30%, 50% difference).
If the people have paid land use fees according to the notice of the tax authority (at a 100% difference according to the 2024 Land Law), the land use fees will be recalculated and if the amount recalculated is lower than the amount paid, the people will be refunded by the State by deducting from other financial obligations or being refunded in money...
The lawyer commented that this is a very humane "process" regulation and ensures fairness between those who have paid and those who have not paid the land use conversion fee.
"I myself, when giving comments and recommendations on the draft Resolution of the Government to remove and handle problems related to calculating land use fees for households and individuals when changing land use purposes in September, also proposed this "process" solution and was accepted by competent authorities in these drafts" - Lawyer Nguyen Van Dinh shared.
