Highlights of Notable Documents in the Fields of Land and Defense

1. Abolishing regulations on agricultural land use tax reduction from February 24, 2017

This content is mentioned in Decree 21/2017/ND-CP, which amends and supplements several regulations on exemption and reduction of agricultural land use tax (ALUT).

Abolishing several clauses of Decree 20/2011/ND-CP as follows:

- Article 2: Subjects eligible for ALUT reduction;- Article 3: The limit on granting agricultural land, the limit on transferring the right to use agricultural land;- Article 6: Rental land in the agricultural land fund;- Article 7: Duration of tax exemption and reduction.

At the same time, adjusting and supplementing the subjects eligible for ALUT exemption for agricultural land within the limits of granted agricultural land.

Decree 21/2017/ND-CP comes into effect from February 24, 2017, and applies to the tax calculation period from 2017.

1. Norms for land use for building village cultural houses and children's houses

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issues Circular 01/2017/TT-BTNMT stipulating the norms for land use (LU) for building cultural facilities, medical facilities, educational and training facilities, and sports facilities.

The norms for LU to build some cultural works are stipulated as follows:

- Village cultural house (commune level): 200 - 500m^2^;- Children's house: 3,000 - 4,000m^2^ (district level); 5,000 - 7,500m^2^ or 7,500 - 10,000m^2^ (provincial level);- Cinema: 1,500 - 3,000m^2^ (district level); 5,000 - 10,000m^2^ (provincial level); 10,000 - 15,000m^2^ (central level).- Library: 500 - 1,000m^2^ (district level); 7,000 - 14,000m^2^ (provincial level); 10,000 - 15,000m^2^ (central level);- Square (provincial level): 10,000 - 20,000 m^2^.

For more LU norms for building medical, sports, and educational and training facilities, see Circular 01/2017/TT-BTNMT, which is effective from March 30, 2017.

1. Recovering evaded social insurance contributions for the Ministry of Defense

From April 2, 2017, the management of collection and expenditure of compulsory social insurance (SI) in the Ministry of Defense will be conducted according to the provisions of Circular 37/2017/TT-BQP.

Will recover and collect the monthly wage for compulsory SI for employees and employers in the following cases:

- Adjusting the increase in the monthly wage on which SI has been based for employees;- Supplementing the time period for which contributions were not made for employees working abroad under labor contracts;- Evading, delaying, or misappropriating SI contributions of employees.

Note: No interest on late payment will be calculated for the recovered amounts in cases of wage increase adjustments and supplementary unpaid contribution periods.

1. Professional soldiers discharged from the army are given priority in official recruitment

This is one of the notable contents in Decree 151/2016/ND-CP concerning policies of the Law on Professional Soldiers, Workers and Defense Public Employees.

Accordingly, professional soldiers discharged from the army will enjoy several policies as follows:

- Receive a job creation allowance equivalent to 06 months of the statutory pay rate; supported vocational training and job introduction;- Enjoy discharge allowances equivalent to 01 month of salary for each year of service calculated from the month immediately preceding discharge.- Enjoy either one-time SI allowance or preserve the period of SI participation;- Priority in adding points in the official recruitment exam or consideration for recruitment as stipulated in Article 5 Decree 24/2010/ND-CP or priority in selecting candidates for public employee recruitment as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 10 Decree 29/2012/ND-CP.

Decree 151/2016/ND-CP has been effective from December 30, 2016; policies in this Decree are to be implemented from July 1, 2016.

1. 03 cases non-eligible for seniority allowance recalculation

On February 24, 2017, the Government of Vietnam signed and issued Decree 19/2017/ND-CP stipulating salary policies and seniority allowances for workers and defense public employees.

Defense workers and public employees will not have their seniority allowance period recalculated in the following cases:

- Duration of personal leave without pay continuously for 01 month or more;- Duration of sickness and maternity leave exceeding the period prescribed by the law on social insurance;- Period under suspension or temporary custody or detention for investigation, prosecution, and adjudication purposes.

The seniority allowance rate for defense workers and public employees with 5 years of service in the regular force of the army is 5% of the current salary, plus leadership allowance and seniority allowance exceeding the grade (if any). Each subsequent year is calculated at an additional 1%.

Decree 19/2017/ND-CP comes into effect from April 15, 2017. The policies in this Decree are calculated from July 1, 2016.

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