Answering readers of Lao Dong Newspaper, Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc - Director of Phap Tri Law Company (Hanoi Bar Association) said that for cases where people buy land illegally allocated by villages and communes from previous years, when carrying out procedures for issuing red books, one of the important issues is to determine whether to pay land use fees or not?
Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc cited a real case of an elderly woman buying a land plot out of a total of 18 plots illegally allocated by the commune. The remaining households have all been granted red books, especially in the case of this woman, although she has completed procedures for issuing certificates, the tax authorities require payment of about 5.3 billion VND.
The reason is that the remaining households all have receipts showing that they have paid money to the commune-level People's Committee when land was allocated illegally. Meanwhile, due to difficult life, this woman lost her papers, no more receipts or documents proving that she had paid money.
According to the lawyer, according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law and the 2024 Land Law, if people do not have documents proving that they have paid money to be allocated land illegally, they may have to pay 100% of the land use fee according to regulations.
In many years of carrying out procedures for issuing land use right certificates, even without receipts or receipts, the woman has obtained many confirmation documents, including confirmations from surrounding households, people who directly allocated land before, commune-level authorities and people who participated in the land allocation process.
According to Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc, if it cannot be proven that money has been paid, the land user must fulfill financial obligations according to regulations at the time of issuance of the certificate. The important issue is to determine which documents are legally recognized as documents proving that money has been paid.
Previously, Article 8 of Circular No. 76/2014/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance stipulated documents proving that money had been paid, including receipts, receipts or other documents proving that money had been paid to people who illegally allocated land or commune-level People's Committees to use land.
In the above case, the woman no longer has receipts, invoices, documents, but has many documents confirming that she has paid money.
However, according to the lawyer, the previous regulations were not specific about the concept of "other papers". While the amount of financial obligations is up to 5.3 billion VND, competent authorities tend to be cautious in determining whether the confirmation papers are sufficiently valid to prove it or not, because if the determination is not accurate, it may affect the state budget.
Currently, legal regulations are more specific and clearer. Article 12 of Decree 103/2024/ND-CP on land use fees and land rent has specifically stipulated documents proving that money has been paid to be used for land.
In addition to receipts, invoices, and documents, in cases where land users no longer have these types of documents but the commune-level People's Committee still keeps a list, records, documents, or has confirmation showing that people have paid money to use the land, these documents can be used as a basis for consideration.
The lawyer argued that the new regulation has concretized the concept of "other papers" previously, including a certificate. For the above case, people already have many certificates, including the confirmation of the person directly assigning the land, the village head, the accountant and the commune-level People's Committee. These are the bases that can be considered to determine whether money has been paid, thereby considering not having to return land use fees according to regulations.
Another issue is that decisions related to financial obligations and complaint resolution in the case have been issued for many years.
According to the lawyer, the statute of limitations for complaints against administrative decisions and administrative acts according to regulations is usually 90 days from the date of receipt or notification of the administrative decision or act. Meanwhile, the statute of limitations for initiating an administrative lawsuit is usually one year. Therefore, if the administrative decision was issued from 2021 - 2022, the statute of limitations for complaints and lawsuits against old decisions may have expired.
In this case, people can present new bases, dossiers, documents and new legal bases when legal regulations have changed; and send petitions according to regulations to competent agencies such as commune-level People's Committees, Branches of Land Registration Offices and tax authorities to request a review of the case.
