People were "shocked" when they were charged with additional taxes and fined for late payment of non-agricultural land use tax.

Meanwhile, the tax authority said that according to regulations, the responsibility to declare and pay taxes belongs to the people.

Unexpectedly asked to pay taxes and fines

Mr. T. (residing in Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh City) said that recently, people in the area were notified to pay non-agricultural land use tax, but his family was not on the list of people paying.

When investigating, Mr. T. learned that his family had to go to the ward to get a declaration form for non-agricultural land use tax.

The next step is to bring your ID card and pink book to the tax office to calculate the tax. Once he knows the exact amount of tax to pay as well as the late payment penalty, Mr. T. returns to the ward to pay the tax.

"I never knew about this tax before. Now I have to go back and forth to pay it in two or three places, which is a waste of time," said Mr. T.

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thi (residing in Thu Duc City), who recently sold an apartment, said that during the process of transferring ownership, she was informed that she had not paid non-agricultural land use tax for more than 10 years. Therefore, Ms. Thi was charged both tax and late payment penalties totaling more than VND300,000.

"The amount is actually small, but I have never been notified to pay it. If we had been notified, we would have complied immediately," Ms. Thi said.

In fact, not everyone knows that they have to pay this tax. Ms. Thuy (Binh Thanh District) said that she bought land and built a house in the project area and was granted a pink book nearly 5 years ago. However, since receiving the pink book, no one has come to send a tax payment notice.

Because she was so impatient, she went to the ward to ask and was shocked to learn that no one in the project area where she lived had declared taxes.

"The ward said that anyone who has a book for more than a year but does not declare it will be fined. I find it completely unreasonable because when the book is issued, the management agency should update it and when the time comes, issue a receipt for us to pay. Currently, all information has been digitized, so this is not difficult," said Ms. Thuy.

Do people have the responsibility to declare?

According to the reporter's research, non-agricultural land use tax is the amount of money that individuals, units or organizations must pay to competent state agencies according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law. The tax rate will vary depending on the land area and the area where the land is located.

Types of land subject to non-agricultural land use tax, according to regulations, include rural residential land and urban residential land. Non-agricultural production and business land includes land for construction of industrial parks; land for construction of production and business facilities; land for mineral exploitation and processing; land for production of construction materials and pottery.

In addition, there is also non-agricultural land used for business purposes. The taxable price is the land price according to the purpose of use of the taxable land plot as prescribed by the provincial People's Committee and is stable for a 5-year cycle.

Regarding the complaints of many people about not receiving notices of paying non-agricultural land use tax for many years, and being charged with additional fees and fines when transferring, or in some cases, buying project houses that have been granted certificates for many years but still not receiving tax notices, the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department said that they will ask the local tax branch to re-examine each specific case.

However, in an exchange with us, the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department said that in principle, in cases of land ownership subject to non-agricultural land use tax, the tax authority must put them under tax management.

The responsibility for declaring and paying taxes belongs to the people because in many cases the tax authorities cannot fully grasp it, especially when the data is not yet connected.

"For new cases that arise later, without a register, people must declare so that the tax authority can register them. In cases where people do not declare after the deadline, they will be charged additional taxes and fined... according to regulations. But during the processing, the tax authority will review each case's records," he said.

Buyers become "victims"

Ms. Phan Thi Hang, director of a company specializing in supporting real estate transfers, said that since last year, many cases in which businesses supporting transfer procedures have been charged back taxes for non-agricultural land use.

According to Ms. Hang, there are cases where during the purchase and sale procedures, the homeowner immediately receives a notice of non-agricultural land use fees for more than 10 years plus a fine, but there are also cases where this notice is not received until a month later.

"There are large properties with tax and late payment penalties of several million VND, while the house has been sold, so if the tax collection notice is late, the new buyer must pay for the entire period of use by the previous owner," said Ms. Hang.

Have policies been communicated to the people?

Responding to us about the fact that many people do not understand the regulations on declaring and paying taxes on non-agricultural land use, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department said that every time a tax law is issued, the tax agency propagates policies to the people.

For non-agricultural land use tax, the tax authority delegates the responsibility to the ward for coordination in collection.

"However, this propaganda may not have reached every citizen, so many people still do not understand their obligations," he said.