Hanging thousands of profiles
Since August 1, many real estate transfer and land use purpose change files of people in Ho Chi Minh City have been "suspended" when transferred to the tax authority to calculate taxes and land use fees, causing many problems for people.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Ai (living in Thu Duc City) is quite tired of the story of selling her house. Due to the need to work abroad, she recently carried out the procedure to sell her townhouse in the area near Cat Lai port, Thu Duc City.
In mid-August, Ms. Ai and the buyer went to notarize the sale and submitted the documents to the Thu Duc City Land Registration Office Branch, but have not yet received tax calculation information. Ms. Ai said that the tax calculation documents were declared by her and the buyer at the correct purchase price on the contract, but the tax department received the documents and replied that they had to wait. Because the tax had not been calculated, the ownership transfer to the buyer could not be made, so the money from the sale of the house is still frozen in the bank.
“This is a big obstacle and really risky, because the time I go to work abroad is around the end of September, but the fact that the file is suspended like this will cause difficulties for me. I cannot pay taxes, cannot complete the transaction, so the seller does not receive the money, the buyer does not receive the house. The longer it takes, the more risks there are, and lawsuits arise. Who will be responsible for these damages and delays?”, Ms. Ai worried.
Not only real estate transaction records, land use change records of people in Ho Chi Minh City are also stuck at the tax calculation stage because the tax authority is waiting for instructions.
Mr. Doan Quoc Viet (residing in Phu Huu Ward, Thu Duc City) said that he had to borrow money from the bank to complete the procedures to convert an agricultural land plot of more than 500 square meters to residential land because he was afraid that when the new land price list was applied, the cost would increase significantly. However, after borrowing money and completing all the procedures, the tax payment was delayed. This caused a big impact because he had to pay interest without knowing when the documents would be completed to sell and pay the bank.
Need to clear land tax records soon
In Ho Chi Minh City, every day there are many transactions of buying and selling or changing land use purposes, because the need to transfer and buy and sell of people cannot stop when they need money to take care of family matters, but all are being broken plans just because the tax authority is waiting for instructions .
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, from August 1 to August 27, it received a total of 8,808 records. Of these, 346 records were for land use fee collection in cases of land use right recognition, and 277 records were for land use fee collection in cases of land use purpose change. In addition, there were 5,448 records of personal income tax from real estate transfers and 2,737 records of cases where no financial obligations arose.
At the recent discussion on the issue of building a new land price list between the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City Lawyers Association, Ms. Ung Thi Xuan Huong - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Lawyers Association - analyzed that up to now, the adjusted land price list is still being consulted and it is not known when Ho Chi Minh City will issue it, while the 2024 Land Law allows the application of the land price list until December 31, 2025.
According to Ms. Ung Thi Xuan Huong, in the Law on Promulgation of Documents, the effective date cannot be delayed in cases where the legal provisions are more serious and cause damage to the people. In particular, documents issued by the People's Committee and People's Council cannot be applied retroactively. Therefore, the Tax Department is not processing people's records according to the old land price list with the reason of waiting for the new land price list, which is completely inappropriate. Because if Ho Chi Minh City issues a new land price list, it cannot be delayed from August 1, but must be applied from the date the new land price list takes effect, that is, 15 days after issuance.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has just sent an urgent document to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee regarding the settlement of land records from August 1, 2024. This is the second petition from the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department in the past month on this issue.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department recommends that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee promptly issue a decision to adjust the land price list and provide guidance and direction on the application of legal documents (land price list, land price adjustment coefficient, land rent calculation percentage, etc.). From there, the tax authority can promptly calculate financial obligations on land for records arising from August 1, 2024.
In addition, to avoid backlog of records and complaints, affecting the actual needs and legitimate rights of the people, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department will report to the General Department of Taxation on the settlement of the above cases of no financial obligations arising when carrying out procedures to grant certificates to people.
