Examining the Patek Philippe watch gifted to Mr. Le Duc Tho by the oil tycoon, valued at nearly 10 billion VND.
In the Xuyen Viet Oil case, Mr. Le Duc Tho, former Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee, received a Patek Philippe watch worth over 9.8 billion VND as a gift. Why are Patek Philippe watches so expensive?
When it comes to luxury watches, Patek Philippe, a Swiss brand, tops the list. These are extremely complex timepieces, capable only of being crafted by highly skilled and experienced watchmakers. Patek Philippe watches are considered one-of-a-kind masterpieces in the world . (See details)
In addition to gifts such as Patek Philippe watches, investigators say Le Duc Tho also received bribes totaling over 13 billion VND, and a Mercedes Benz S450 Luxury car worth over 6.6 billion VND…
Meanwhile, Xuyen Viet Oil had negative equity of 462 billion VND; owed the State 1,246 billion VND in environmental protection taxes; and owed the Price Stabilization Fund 212 billion VND… yet the company's leaders still had money to bribe officials everywhere. (See details)
The arduous process of claiming a personal income tax refund.
Many people are discouraged by the time and effort spent on procedures to receive personal income tax refunds. But they feel bad giving up, because this is the money they earned through hard work.
According to current regulations, the personal income tax refund application requires: a written request for personal income tax refund; a personal income tax return; and personal income tax withholding certificates. Therefore, if a taxpayer has income from multiple sources, it will take a considerable amount of time to gather all the necessary withholding certificates.
The Ministry of Finance has identified several reasons for delays in processing personal income tax refunds, including: taxpayers submitting tax returns to the wrong tax authority, under-declaring taxable income, incorrectly declaring the period of dependent deductions, and under-declaring deductible mandatory insurance contributions… The errors are largely due to the taxpayers themselves. (See details)
2 reasons why the personal allowance for taxpayers has not been increased.
The Ministry of Finance has just sent a document responding to the petition from voters in 6 provinces (Binh Dinh, Ha Giang, Thai Nguyen, Tra Vinh, Tuyen Quang, and Tay Ninh) regarding the consideration of adjusting the personal allowance for individual income taxpayers and their dependents, especially after the salary increase from July 1st.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the current tax deduction for taxpayers is higher than the common level applied in other countries. If there are two dependents, even a monthly allowance of 22 million VND is not subject to personal income tax after deducting insurance contributions. (See details)
Dutch milk CEO arrested; FrieslandCampina brand speaks out.
The Ministry of Public Security announced on August 30th that Mr. Nguyen Trung Vuong, General Director of Ha Lan Dairy Joint Stock Company, has been prosecuted and temporarily detained for investigation on charges of "producing and trading counterfeit food products".
Following the incident, the Dutch Lady milk brand issued a statement. “The infringing company has the general name 'Netherlands,' leading to confusion. In reality, these are two separate companies. Specifically, the Dutch Lady brand produces liquid milk, while the Dutch Milk Joint Stock Company producing and selling the counterfeit milk is powdered milk,” a representative from FrieslandCampina Vietnam stated. (See details)
From 2025, online money transfers will be prohibited without verifying the account holder's identity.
Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN stipulates that from January 1, 2025, all bank account holders must register for biometrics if they want to withdraw or transfer money online.
This is an improvement over the mandatory biometric authentication requirement for money transfers exceeding 10 million VND per transaction and 20 million VND per day, as stipulated in Decision 2345 of the State Bank of Vietnam, effective from July 1, 2024. (See details)
The vehicle registration fee for domestically produced cars will be officially reduced by 50% starting September 1st.
The government has just issued Decree No. 109/2024/ND-CP stipulating the rates of registration fees for automobiles, trailers or semi-trailers towed by automobiles, and similar types of vehicles manufactured and assembled domestically.
According to this decree, from September 1st to November 30th, the registration fee will be 50% of the rate stipulated in Government Decree No. 10 of 2022 on registration fees and current resolutions and decisions of the People's Council/People's Committee of provinces and centrally-administered cities on local registration fee rates and any amending, supplementing, or replacing documents (if any).
From December 1st onwards, the vehicle registration fee will continue to be collected at the current rate. (See details)
The 500kV circuit 3 Quang Trach – Pho Noi transmission line was inaugurated, bringing electricity to the North.
On August 29th, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) and the National Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) held the inauguration ceremony for the 500 kV circuit 3 transmission line project from Quang Trach (Quang Binh) to Pho Noi (Hung Yen).
This is a key, urgent project of paramount importance to national energy security. Therefore, the Prime Minister has issued decisive directives to all levels, ministries, agencies, and local authorities, urging them to work together. (See details)
Following the SCB financial scandal, the Ministry of Finance wants to increase fines for independent auditors by 30 times.
The Ministry of Finance has proposed increasing the maximum fine for violations related to independent auditing from 100 million VND to 3 billion VND, a 30-fold increase, to provide a sufficient deterrent. The statute of limitations for penalties will be 10 years, instead of 1 year.
In the Van Thinh Phat case, hundreds of billions of dong were siphoned off from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), but for 10 years (2012-2022), SCB's financial statements, audited by three leading auditing firms including Ernst & Young Vietnam, Deloitte Vietnam, and KPMG Vietnam, did not detect any irregularities. (See details)
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