Land rent reduction by 30% for those affected by the Covid-19 in Vietnam

The Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has decided to cut 30% of the annual land rent in 2021 by recently issued Decision No. 27/2021/QĐ-TTg (“Decision 27”), which takes immediate effect as from its signing date, 25 September 2021.

Some notable points of Decision 27 are as follows:

• The applicable beneficiaries shall include organizations, units, enterprises, households, and individuals who directly lease land from the State under competent State agencies’ decisions or contracts and make rent payment annually;
• The rent cut also covers those that are not entitled to land rent exemptions or reductions, as well as those who are benefiting from land rent reductions in line with other legal regulations on land and relevant rules;
• The reduction is applied to the rent in 2021, not applied to the rent in previous years that hasn’t been paid or rent arrears;
• To those who are entitled to the reduction but have already paid the 2021 land rent, the excess of the paid amount upon the decision of the competent authority will be deducted from the land rent of the next period or following year. Those who don’t have a following period to pay land rent will have their excessive payment refunded in conformity with legal regulations on tax management and relevant rules; and
• To apply for the reduction, the land tenant must submit a dossier of required documents (Article 4, Decision 27) to tax offices, Management Boards of Economic Zones, Management Boards of Hi-tech Parks or other agencies as prescribed by law (via electronic or other methods) from 25 September 2021 to 31 December 2021. The application will be rejected if it is submitted after 31 December 2021. Within 30 days from the date of receipt of the complete and valid dossier as prescribed, the competent authority shall determine the reduced amount of land rent and issue a decision on land rent reduction in accordance with the law on land rent collection.

This Decision is considered as the government’s effort to support and ease difficulties for land users and involved parties, especially real estate developers, who got impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.