From long-term land allocation, must switch to land lease
In 2009, the Trung Vuong Primary, Secondary and High School (abbreviated as Trung Vuong School) was allocated land by the People's Committee of Quang Tri province without collecting land use fees and granted a land use right certificate with an area of 13,302m2 of land. The land use term is long-term, the form of land use is that the state allocates land without collecting land use fees to build a private educational and training facility.
The allocation of land without collecting land use fees to Trung Vuong School in 2009 was based on the provisions of the 2003 Land Law. According to Decree No. 68/2008/ND-CP dated May 30, 2008 issued by the Government on policies to encourage socialization of activities in the field of education, Trung Vuong School enjoyed the incentive of not collecting land use fees. Enjoying this incentive, the unit has focused its efforts and invested in building spacious facilities, becoming the largest private school in Quang Tri province.
In 2019, when the school proactively went through the procedures to register for the certification of assets on the land, it was discovered that, according to the provisions of Article 56 of the 2013 Land Law, the unit is a land lessee; it must change the form from land allocation without land use fees to land lease with one-time payment for the entire lease term. Then, on February 14, 2020, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province issued a decision to change the form of land allocation by the State without land use fees to land lease with one-time payment for the entire lease term for Trung Vuong School.
In compliance with regulations, from being allocated land for a long time without collecting land use fees, Trung Vuong School, following the guidance of specialized agencies, made a file to convert to land lease and paid one time.
Slow to complete land rent exemption procedures, resulting in a large debt
In the decision of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province dated February 14, 2020 on converting the form of State land allocation without land use fee collection to land lease with one-time payment for the entire lease term for Trung Vuong school, the land use term will be 50 years from July 1, 2014 (the effective date of the 2013 Land Law), and the land rent will be calculated from July 1, 2014.
Based on the decision of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, on December 22, 2021, the Quang Tri Provincial Tax Department issued a document to collect more than 850 million VND in land rent from July 2014 to January 2020 from Trung Vuong school.
Mr. Bui Manh Dung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Trung Vuong School said that the unit is eligible for land rent exemption, but because it did not understand the changes in the 2013 Land Law compared to the time the land was granted, as well as not being urged or guided by any competent authority - it was slow to complete the procedures for converting the form of land allocation and completing the procedures for tax exemption and reduction since 2014, so it was forced to pay back the land rent.
As soon as information about the law change was received, from April 1, 2020, Trung Vuong School completed the procedures for exemption from land rent, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the procedures were delayed. And in September 2024, the Quang Tri Provincial Tax Department continued to announce that because Trung Vuong School did not complete the land rent exemption documents, it had to pay land rent from July 2014 to March 2022 with an amount of more than 4.5 billion VND, with an estimated late payment penalty of about 2 billion VND.
“We have spent 62 billion VND on infrastructure and facilities in phase 1 to meet teaching and learning needs, but now we owe more than 6 billion VND in taxes. This amount is too large, beyond the school’s ability to pay, the unit is at risk of being forced to close. The unit is being charged back rent and fined for late payment due to many objective reasons, so we hope the authorities will reconsider,” said Mr. Bui Manh Dung.
According to the Department of Education and Training of Quang Tri province, Trung Vuong school has nearly 200 employees and nearly 1,500 students of all levels - it is a large school in Quang Tri province. "The collection of land rent from Trung Vuong school is not under the authority of the Department of Education and Training of the province, but the unit requests that the competent authority fully consider the objectivity of the issue. The decision on granting the land use right certificate to the school includes the content of long-term land use, the origin of use is the State allocating land without collecting land use fees. This decision was effective before the 2013 Land Law" - the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Tri province emphasized.
