Decree No. 45/2011/ND-CP on stamp duty

DECREE

Regarding stamp duty

_______

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Fees and Stamp Duties dated August 28, 2001;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Finance,

DECREE:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Decree stipulates the objects subject to stamp duty, the persons paying stamp duty, cases not required to pay stamp duty, the basis for calculating stamp duty, debt recording, and exemption from stamp duty.

Article 2. Objects Subject to Stamp Duties

1. Houses, land.

2. Hunting guns, sports guns.

3. Ships, including barges, motorboats, tugboats, push boats.

4. Boats, including yachts.

5. Aircraft.

6. Two-wheeled motorcycles, three-wheeled motorcycles, motorbikes (including electric motorbikes), and similar vehicles that must be registered and assigned license plates by competent state agencies (hereinafter referred to collectively as motorbikes).

7. Cars (including electric cars), trailers or semi-trailers towed by cars that must be registered and assigned license plates by competent state agencies.

8. Shells, chassis assemblies, engine assemblies of assets specified in Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6, and Clause 7 of this Article that must be registered with competent state agencies.

Article 3. Persons Liable for Stamp Duty

Organizations and individuals having assets subject to stamp duty as prescribed in Article 2 of this Decree shall pay stamp duty when registering ownership rights or usage rights with competent state agencies, except for the cases prescribed in Article 4 of this Decree.

Article 4. Cases Not Required to Pay Stamp Duty

1. Houses and land serving as headquarters for diplomatic missions, consular offices, representative offices of international organizations under the United Nations system, and residences of heads of diplomatic missions, consular offices, and representative offices of international organizations under the United Nations system in Vietnam.

2. Assets (excluding houses and lands) of foreign organizations and individuals as follows:

a) Diplomatic missions, consular offices, and representative offices of international organizations under the United Nations system;

b) Diplomatic officials, consular officials, administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions, consular offices, members of representative offices of international organizations under the United Nations system, and members of their families who are not Vietnamese citizens or do not have permanent residence in Vietnam and who have been issued diplomatic identification cards or service identification cards by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam;

c) Foreign organizations and individuals not falling within the scope prescribed in points a and b of this clause but exempted or not required to pay stamp duty according to international commitments to which Vietnam is a party.

3. Land granted by the State to organizations and individuals for the following purposes:

a) Public use as prescribed by laws on land;

b) Exploration, exploitation of minerals; scientific research pursuant to permits or confirmations by competent state agencies;

c) Investment in construction of infrastructure for transfer or lease, regardless of whether such land is inside or outside industrial zones or export processing zones; investment in construction of houses for business purposes. In these cases, if transferred, the organization or individual receiving the transfer must pay stamp duty; if leased or self-used, the organization or individual granted the land by the State must pay stamp duty.

4. Land granted or recognized for use for agricultural production, forestry, aquaculture, and salt-making purposes.

5. Agricultural land undergoing a change in usage rights between households or individuals in accordance with the general policy on consolidation and redistribution of land.

6. Agricultural land developed through self-reclamation by households or individuals and certified by competent state agencies with certificates of land use rights.

7. Land leased from the State or from organizations or individuals already holding legitimate land use rights.

8. Houses and lands used for community purposes by religious organizations and worship facilities recognized or permitted by the State.

9. Land used for cemeteries or graveyards.

11. Residential houses created by households or individuals through individual housing development.

12. Assets under financial leasing that transfer ownership to the lessee at the end of the lease period through the sale or assignment of the leased asset, the lessee does not need to pay stamp duty; in the case where a financial leasing company purchases assets from units that have paid stamp duty and then leases them back to the selling unit, the financial leasing company does not need to pay stamp duty.

13. Special assets, dedicated assets, management assets specifically used for national defense and security.

14. Houses and land belonging to state assets used as headquarters for state agencies, people's armed forces units, public service establishments, political organizations, political-social organizations, social-professional organizations, social organizations, and social-professional organizations.

15. Houses and land compensated (including houses and land purchased with compensation or support funds) when the State reclaims houses and land according to the law.

16. Assets of organizations and individuals that have been certified with ownership and usage rights certificates when re-registering ownership and usage rights are not required to pay stamp duty in the following cases:

a) Assets that have been certified with ownership and usage rights certificates by competent authorities of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, or competent authorities under the old regime, and now are being renewed with new certificates without changing the owner of the asset;

b) Assets of state-owned enterprises that have been transformed into joint-stock companies or other forms of restructuring state-owned enterprises as prescribed by law;

c) Assets that have been certified with ownership and usage rights certificates of households when dividing such assets among household members and re-registering;

d) Assets of organizations and individuals that have been certified with ownership and usage rights certificates and must re-register ownership and usage rights due to loss, damage, or deterioration of the certificate;

đ) In cases where there is an increase in land area when renewing land use right certificates but the boundaries of the land plot remain unchanged, no stamp duty is required for the additional land area.

17. Assets of organizations and individuals that have paid stamp duty (except for cases not required to pay or exempted from paying stamp duty) and subsequently transferred to other organizations or individuals for registration of ownership and usage rights are not required to pay stamp duty in the following cases:

a) Organizations, individuals, cooperative members contribute their assets to a business, credit organization, or cooperative, or when the business, credit organization, or cooperative is dissolved, divided, or withdraws capital for organizations or individuals who contributed assets previously;

b) Assets of a business allocated to its units or a business reallocates assets among its units within the business in the form of increasing or decreasing capital, or administrative agencies reallocate assets within their budgetary units according to the decision of the competent authority;

18. Assets of organizations or individuals that have paid the initial stamp duty and are subsequently divided or contributed due to division, separation, privatization, merger, consolidation, or renaming of the organization according to the decision of the competent authority;

19. Assets of organizations and individuals that have paid the stamp duty are transferred to another locality for use without changing the owner.

20. Commiseration houses, solidarity houses, houses supported with humanitarian nature, including land attached to these houses, registered in the name of the recipient.

21. Special-purpose vehicles: fire trucks, ambulances, rescue vehicles, garbage trucks, sprinklers, street sweepers, X-ray imaging vehicles; special-purpose vehicles for disabled veterans, war invalids, and persons with disabilities registered under the name of disabled veterans, war invalids, or persons with disabilities;

22. Aircraft used for commercial cargo and passenger transportation.

23. Fishing boats and vessels.

24. The shell, frame assembly, or engine assembly of assets specified in Clause 8, Article 2 of this Decree must be re-registered within the warranty period if they are replaced;

26. Assets that are goods for business operations of organizations or individuals registered to conduct business activities in accordance with the law but not registered for ownership or use with the competent state agency;

Chapter II

BASES FOR CALCULATING STAMP DUTIES

Article 5. Basis for Calculating Stamp Duty

The basis for calculating stamp duties is the assessed value of stamp duties and the rate of stamp duty collection (%).

The price for calculating stamp duty is set by the People's Committee of provinces and centrally-run cities.

The Ministry of Finance shall specify the detailed procedures and formalities for issuing the valuation for stamp duty as prescribed in this Article;

Article 7. The rate of stamp duty for registration tax (%)

1. Houses and land: the rate of collection is 0.5%.

2. Hunting guns and sports guns shall be taxed at a rate of 2%;

3. Ships, barges, speedboats, tugboats, push boats, boats, yachts, aircraft: the rate of collection is 1%.

4. Motorcycles: the rate of collection is 2%. However:

a) Motorcycles owned by organizations or individuals in centrally-administered cities; provincial cities; districts where the provincial People's Committee has its headquarters shall pay the initial stamp duty at a rate of 5%;

b) For motorcycles paying the second or subsequent stamp duties, the tax rate shall be 1%. In cases where the owner has declared and paid stamp duty on motorcycles at a rate lower than 5%, then transferred them to organizations or individuals in areas specified in point a of this clause, they shall pay stamp duty at a rate of 5%;

6. For the shell, frame assembly, or engine assembly of assets specified in Clauses 3, 4, and 5 of this Article which must be registered with the competent state agency, the corresponding stamp duty rates for each type of asset shall apply. The maximum stamp duty rate for assets specified in this Article is 500 million VND per asset, except for cars carrying fewer than 10 passengers (including the driver), aircraft, and yachts;

Chapter III

DEBT RECORDING, EXEMPTION FROM STAMP DUTY FOR TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP

Stamp duty arrears for land of households or individuals eligible for land use fee arrears as stipulated in Clause 8, Article 2 of Government Decree No. 120/2010/NĐ-CP dated December 30, 2010, amending and supplementing certain articles of Government Decree No. 198/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004, on land use fees. When settling stamp duty arrears, households or individuals must pay stamp duty based on the land price set by the provincial or centrally-administered city People's Committee at the time of determining the land use fee obligation;

If households or individuals eligible for stamp duty arrears transfer or convert houses or land to other organizations or individuals, they must settle all outstanding stamp duty before transferring or converting;

Article 9. Exemption from Stamp Duty

1. Housing and land of poor households; housing and land of ethnic minority people in communes, wards, towns in difficult areas; housing and land of households or individuals in communes under the Special Difficult Commune Development Program, mountainous areas, remote areas, and far-flung areas; housing and land of households or individuals of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands;

2. Non-motorized inland waterway vessels with a total weight up to 15 tons; motorized inland waterway vessels with a main engine power up to 15 horsepower; inland waterway vessels with a passenger capacity up to 12 people;

3. Houses and land of entities implementing socialization in education and training; healthcare; culture; physical education and sports; environment, in accordance with the law, registered for land use rights and house ownership for these activities;

4. Houses and land of non-state entities registered for land use rights and house ownership for activities in education and training; healthcare; culture; physical education and sports; science and technology; environment; society; population, family, and child protection and care, in accordance with the law, except for cases specified in Clause 3 of this Article;

5. Houses and land of scientific and technological enterprises registered for land use rights and house ownership in accordance with the law;

6. Other cases decided by the Prime Minister;

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 10. Effective Date

1. This Decree takes effect from September 1, 2011, and abolishes the following regulations:

a) Government Decree No. 176/1999/NĐ-CP dated December 21, 1999, and Government Decree No. 80/2008/NĐ-CP dated July 29, 2008, on stamp duty;

b) Clause 3, Article 22 of Government Decree No. 16/2001/NĐ-CP dated May 2, 2001, on the organization and operation of financial leasing companies;

c) Decision No. 245/2003/QĐ-TTg dated November 18, 2003, of the Prime Minister on stamp duty arrears for housing and land of households and individuals in communes under the Program 135 and households and individuals of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands;

d) Clause 1, Article 7 of Government Decree No. 53/2006/NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2006, on policies encouraging the development of non-state service providers;

đ) Clause 4, Article 10 of Government Decree No. 80/2007/NĐ-CP dated May 19, 2007, on scientific and technological enterprises;

e) Relevant provisions on stamp duty mentioned in:

- Article 102 of Government Decree No. 181/2004/NĐ-CP dated October 29, 2004, on the implementation of the Land Law;

- Clause 1, Article 7, Decree No. 69/2008/NĐ-CP dated May 30, 2008 of the Government on policies to encourage socialization in activities within the fields of education, vocational training, healthcare, culture, sports, and environment.

2. From the date this Decree takes effect, for passenger cars with less than 10 seats (including the driver), the current regulations on the collection of preliminary registration fee shall continue to be applied until the People's Councils of provinces and centrally-run cities issue new rates for the preliminary registration fee in accordance with this Decree.

Article 11. Responsibility for Implementation

1. The Ministry of Finance shall provide guidance on the implementation of this Decree.

2. The Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government-attached agencies, Chairpersons of provincial and centrally-run city People's Committees, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Decree./.