Mr. Thai Minh Giao, Deputy Director of the Tax Department of Ho Chi Minh City, on the afternoon of May 6, said that May 6 was the deadline for the Dream Republic Joint Stock Company and Sheen Mega Joint Stock Company, two winners of the land auction in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, to send the first payment of nearly VND8 trillion, (equivalent to 50 percent of the auction winning value). However, these two companies still have not paid anything, even though they made written commitments to pay VND100 billion (US$4.34million) to the State budget before April 30 to show their "goodwill" to continue implementing the project.
On January 2, 2022, the People's Committee of HCMC issued a decision approving the winning results of the Thu Thiem land auction. On January 6, the tax agency issued a notice asking these two enterprises to pay the first installment, 50 percent of the auction winning value, or nearly VND4 trillion ($174.11 million), to the budget within 30 days. Until February 6, they still did not pay, so the tax agency charged a late payment fee of 0.03 percent per day for three months. Up to now, the deadline of three months has passed, but the land auction winners still have not paid. Therefore, the tax authority said that it would apply the coercive measure of "deducting money from the bank account" to recover the debt.
According to a source of the SGGP Newspaper, the bank accounts of these two companies currently have no money. In recent years, these companies have also had no revenue. Therefore, the coercive deduction of account deposits is only a statutory action. According to the regulations, until the end of July 6, if these companies fail to pay the winning bid, registration fee, and late payment interest, the contract will expire. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment will submit to the People's Committee of HCMC to withdraw the projects, and these companies must lose their deposits.
