Government responds to proposal to tax personal income on gold bar transfers

In the draft revised Personal Income Tax Law, the Government proposes to stipulate a taxable threshold for gold bars when transferring and a tax rate of 0.1% on the transfer price of each gold bar.

Illustration photo - Photo: QUANG DINH

The draft revised Law on Personal Income Tax is being considered by the National Assembly and is expected to be approved at this 10th session.

The Government will specify the threshold value of gold bars subject to tax.

Notably, in the report explaining, accepting and revising the bill, the Government explained opinions on personal income tax on gold bar transfers.

In particular, the auditing agency proposed to properly consider imposing tax on gold bar transfers, to avoid inconveniences for people who transfer gold not for speculative or business purposes.

It is recommended that the drafting agency continue to study appropriate tax rates and application methods, clearly distinguishing between short-term gold investment and long-term gold storage to ensure the goal of controlling speculative activities and making the gold market healthy.

Some National Assembly delegates, when discussing, also disagreed with taxing gold bar transfers because many people buy gold to store, not speculate.

Low tax rates are not effective in regulating and create unnecessary administrative burdens; taxation lacks humanity and is difficult to enforce.

There are suggestions to consider removing this regulation to avoid being inconsistent with the gold hoarding habit of Vietnamese people...

Some opinions also suggest reviewing the regulation on taxing gold bars because it could lead to double taxation, when people buy gold and pay tax, then when they sell it again, they are taxed again.

Some people say that gold bars are already subject to value added tax, so adding personal income tax is unreasonable and could distort the market.

Explaining this content, the Government stated that in response to the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the Government has directed the drafting agency to carefully review and study relevant legal regulations, international practices and current gold market management conditions to perfect this provision in the draft law.

The completion of regulations must ensure that they both meet the requirements of Party and State leaders in contributing to the management of the gold market and have a necessary roadmap to ensure feasibility in implementation and receive consensus from the majority of affected subjects.

At the same time, the Government stated that the proposal to tax gold transfers has been carefully reviewed and researched, based on synthesizing opinions from agencies, ministries, branches and on the basis of absorbing opinions from National Assembly deputies.

Accordingly, the bill assigns the Government to base on the gold market management situation, prescribe the time of application, the taxable gold bar value threshold and adjust the tax rate in accordance with the gold market management roadmap and will collect personal income tax on gold bar transfers at a tax rate of 0.1% on the transfer price each time.

The Government's assignment of specific regulations on the taxable value threshold of gold bars is to eliminate cases where individuals buy and sell gold for the purpose of saving and storing (not for business purposes), in line with the current practice of buying and storing gold of a segment of the population.

This regulation ensures that the Government has a legal basis to decide on tax collection and specific contents such as tax thresholds and tax rate adjustments when the conditions for gold market management meet the requirements of tax collection and management.

In addition, because this is a new regulation with a wide range of impacts, the regulation as in the draft law is a necessary step to contribute to protecting the stability of the economy , properly implementing the direction of the Party and State on strictly managing gold trading activities.

Thereby, contributing to limiting speculation in gold, attracting social resources to participate in the economy.

Research on income tax exemption for individuals transferring single houses and residential land

The Government also clarified the inheritance bill's provisions of current law on tax exemption for income from transfers, inheritances, and gifts of real estate between husband and wife; biological father, biological mother and biological child; adoptive father, adoptive mother and adopted child; father-in-law, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law; father-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law; paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother and paternal grandchild; maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother and grandchild; and siblings.

This regulation has been implemented stably over time and has not caused any problems, so it is recommended to keep it as drafted.

In addition, absorbing delegates' opinions, the Government will direct the drafting agency to study specific regulations on individuals transferring single-family homes and residential land exempted from tax in the guiding document of the law to ensure clarity and transparency.

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THANH CHUNG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chinh-phu-phan-hoi-de-xuat-danh-thue-thu-nhap-ca-nhan-voi-chuyen-nhuong-vang-mieng-20251206082421453.htm