Over 4,000 business owners had their social insurance contributions illegally collected, with many having paid for nearly 20 years.

In a report recently submitted to the National Assembly on several issues related to the questioning session at the 5th session, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung provided an official explanation regarding the illegal collection of mandatory social insurance contributions from business owners at many local social insurance offices.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung

This issue was raised by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in its report on the results of monitoring the resolution of voter petitions submitted to the 4th session of the 15th National Assembly, which was presented at the opening session of the ongoing 5th session.

According to a report by the National Assembly Standing Committee, current regulations stipulate that individual business owners are not subject to mandatory social insurance contributions. However, from January 2003 to December 2021, social insurance agencies in many localities collected mandatory social insurance contributions from these individuals.

According to data from the Vietnam Social Security, as of September 2016, there were 4,240 individual business owners in 54 localities paying mandatory social insurance contributions.

Thus, the social insurance sector has collected mandatory social insurance contributions from a large number of individual business owners in most provinces and cities nationwide.

According to the National Assembly Standing Committee, due to the improper implementation of mandatory social insurance, individual business owners have not had their mandatory social insurance contribution periods counted towards their eligibility for social insurance benefits, especially in many cases where they have contributed for nearly 20 years.

This has angered the public, with some filing complaints and even suing the Social Insurance agency in court.

Inspections and audits have been conducted in several localities.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly believes that the collection of mandatory social insurance contributions from the wrong subjects is the responsibility of the social insurance sector, affecting the legitimate rights of individual business owners. This issue urgently needs to be addressed and resolved definitively.

Over 4,000 individual business owners had their social insurance contributions collected illegally, resulting in their inability to receive benefits (illustrative image).

Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly recommends that the Government direct the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and Vietnam Social Security to research, review, and evaluate the implementation of compulsory social insurance for individual business owners nationwide, and submit to the Government a plan to definitively resolve the voters' recommendations.

In explaining the above content, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung stated that the ministry had implemented three measures.

Firstly, the Ministry has sent a document to Vietnam Social Security affirming that the collection of mandatory social insurance contributions from business owners is not in accordance with the law and requesting Vietnam Social Security to direct local social security agencies to comply.

Minister Dao Ngoc Dung also stated that the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has conducted inspections and audits in several localities.

In addition, the ministry also coordinated with the Central Economic Committee to survey localities to review the first five years of implementing Resolution No. 28 and gather feedback on the draft revised Social Insurance Law, which includes the provision for the Social Insurance agency to collect mandatory social insurance contributions from business owners.

"Ultimately, the laws and regulations come from us."

The issue of illegally collecting mandatory social insurance contributions from business owners was also raised by National Assembly deputies during last week's socio-economic discussion session.

Representative Hoang Duc Thang participates in the National Assembly discussion.

Representative Hoang Duc Thang (Quang Tri delegation) said this is an issue causing public uproar as, by the end of December 2021, 35 provincial and city social insurance agencies were still collecting mandatory social insurance contributions from 779 individual business owners.

However, Representative Hoang Duc Thang argued that the majority of household heads participating in compulsory social insurance are those directly involved in production and business. The household head is both the employer and the employee, so the need to participate in and benefit from social insurance and health insurance schemes is legitimate.

On the other hand, at that time there was no policy for voluntary social insurance participation, so the participation of household heads in social insurance was not prohibited by relevant legal documents.

"The participation of individual business owners in social insurance is inherently positive, contributing to increased social insurance coverage," Mr. Thang said, arguing that current regulations have not kept pace with the demands of reality.

Therefore, Mr. Thang believes that legal regulations need to be amended and supplemented accordingly. "Ultimately, legal regulations originate from us. Instead of stopping this inevitable trend, that is the correct approach, all for the benefit of the people," Mr. Thang stated, urging the Government, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and Vietnam Social Security to promptly address this bottleneck.

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