Proposal to reduce land use fee collection to 20-30%
Sharing with Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) - said that the Ministry of Finance has made many positive adjustments when drafting a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 103/2024/ND-CP. Notably, the proposal to reduce the land use fee collection rate from 100% to 30% for land within the limit and 50% for land exceeding the limit is noteworthy.
However, according to Mr. Chau, this collection rate is still high, not "enhancing the people" in the context of many economic difficulties. The draft still has some contents that need to be discussed for completion.
Mr. Chau analyzed: For households applying for land use purpose change to make a red book, applying 30-50% is still a huge burden. HoREA proposes a more reasonable rate of 20% for land within the limit and 30% for land exceeding the limit".
To prove it, he gave an example: For a 300m2 plot of land with a residential land price of VND11 million/m2, the agricultural land price is VND600,000/m2, if calculated at the current level, the land use fee can be up to VND3.12 billion. If the 30%-50% rate as in the draft is applied, this figure will decrease to more than 1 billion VND. However, if the 20%-30% rate as proposed by HoREA is applied, people will only have to pay about 676 million VND - a much more reasonable rate.
The difference of more than 360 million VND is huge for a household. Therefore, the policy needs to put itself in the position of the people to see that this adjustment is necessary and humane" - Mr. Chau emphasized.
Proposal to allow the application of sums and refunds of difference
HoREA also recommended that the Government should allow the application of the new regulation "to come back in effect first" and return the difference to households that had previously paid. The refund can be expressed in December as a later financial obligation, or in cash as a case may be, Chau said.
This proposal is based on Article 55 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents in 2025, allowing reconsideration in cases to protect the legitimate rights and interests of people and businesses.
Another point emphasized by Mr. Chau is the need to add a mechanism to determine "land fees before changing the purpose of use" in cases where households have land due to inheritance or legal transfer. "Currently, the new regulations have not fully covered all practical cases, leading to the determination that land use fees may be unreasonably high" - he said.
Similarly, for economic organizations receiving land transfers for investment, HoREA recommends calculating land fees before changing the purpose to determine the correct added value, while not creating double financial obligations for businesses.
Proposal to strongly adjust land rental prices
Regarding land rent, HoREA proposes to reduce the annual land rental price percentage from 0.25-3% to 0.25-1.5%, to better suit local realities.
HoREA cited the case of a warehouse rental company in the Khanh Hoi Port area (HCMC) that was "shocked" when it had to pay up to 20.999 billion VND in land rent/year, due to the rental price increasing by 6.36 times compared to 2022. The skyrocketing cost of land rental increases logistics costs, pushing up commodity prices and reducing the competitiveness of the economy.
One of the notable recommendations is the proposal to reduce the additional land use fee collection from 5.4%/year to 0.5%/year for cases where land use fees have not been calculated in the past.
According to Mr. Chau, the 5.4% rate is "too high", which could lead to a higher payment than the principal. For example, a project allocated land in 1995, if it is repaid at 5.4%/year for 30 years, the additional amount will be up to 162% of the land use fee - that is 1.6 times the original amount.
"We propose a rate of 0.5%/year because we both comply with the Land Law and do not cause financial shock and help businesses continue to invest and develop" - Mr. Chau said.
Concluding, Mr. Le Hoang Chau emphasized: Refinals on land finance need to be reasonable, consistent and predictable. Reducing the collection rate and adding an appropriate calculation mechanism will create conditions for people to feel secure in making red books, businesses to be confident in investing, thereby helping the real estate market recover and develop healthily".
