Increase in registration fee: Lose hundreds of millions more when buying a car
The policy of increasing registration fees has caused many car buyers to pay hundreds of millions of dong more than before.
Recently, the Ministry of Finance issued Decision 942/2017 adjusting the price list for calculating registration fees (LPTB) for cars and motorbikes, effective from May 24. This Decision adds LPTB calculation prices for 135 types of imported cars with 9 seats or less; 19 types of domestically assembled cars with 9 seats or less; two types of imported electric cars and many other types of vehicles.
Consumers suffer
Mr. Duy Tien (Binh Tan) has just bought a Toyota Fortuner. The old LPTB price of this car model is 950 million VND, now it has increased to 1.149 billion VND according to the new adjustment of the Ministry of Finance. "Instead of only paying 95 million VND/car as before, I have to pay nearly 115 million VND. Obviously, car buyers have suffered losses because they have to pay more than the previous regulations" - Mr. Tien said.
Mr. Tran Tan, representative of an imported car business unit, pointed out: Genuine cars have genuine prices. When car manufacturers reduce the selling price by 5%, 10% or 15%, customers will receive a corresponding reduction in LPTB. However, if the discount is less than 20%, the Ministry of Finance will not update the LPTB calculation price list. This causes car buyers to suffer because they still have to pay LPTB according to the price of the car that has not been reduced.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the construction of a national LPTB price list aims to prevent tax evasion. Because for a long time, there has been a situation where the selling price of a car listed on the invoice is very low compared to the market price. In principle, dealers should sell the car at a higher price than the purchase price. However, dealers still record the car sale invoice at the same price as the company price, if there is a difference, the difference is not significant. That helps businesses evade taxes, and at the same time helps car buyers reduce LPTB when registering their cars.
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From now on, car buyers will suffer losses due to having to pay additional registration fees. |
However, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hien, in charge of Toyota's used car system, said that no matter how the tax is imposed, consumers will suffer. Because all of these costs are calculated by car manufacturers into the selling price of the car, and the final buyer has to bear the burden.
Ms. Hien also said that Toyota's policy is to have a unified price nationwide. Dealers are not allowed to sell higher than the price set by the company. For example, if a car model has a nationwide listed price of 1 billion VND, the dealer will receive a 7% commission. The dealer can only sell for 1 billion VND, not higher. Dealers can reduce the selling price by reducing their own profits.
Hit this one, hit that one
A representative of an imported car dealer in Ho Chi Minh City said that increasing the price of calculating LPTB for some car models is a correct policy to prevent tax evasion and trade fraud. Specifically, used car dealers often declare low import prices and selling prices to pay low taxes and fees. For example, a new car costs 3 billion VND. This car is used for a year and resold for 2.5 billion VND, but the seller and buyer agree to declare the purchase price as only 1 billion VND to evade taxes and reduce LPTB.
“Therefore, the Ministry of Finance increased the regulation that the price of used cars is calculated based on the price of new cars minus 5%/year. No matter what price you buy a used car at, there is only one calculation formula,” this person analyzed.
Lawyer Tran Xoa, Director of Minh Dang Quang Law Firm, also said that increasing the LPTB price for many car models is indeed to prevent tax evasion. However, this increase does not "hit" the seller but "hits" the buyer. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance needs to make appropriate adjustments so that car buyers do not suffer losses, while still preventing tax evasion by dealers.
Lawyer Xoa analyzed: “Car manufacturers should be responsible for offering suggested prices that are as close to market prices as possible. It is impossible for a manufacturer to offer a low suggested price just for reference, then dealers use the “rare goods” trick with some car models to sell at sky-high prices, making huge profits but declaring low prices to evade taxes. If the dealer does not sell at the suggested price, the manufacturers need to cut cooperation and hand over to other dealers to comply with the regulations. Car manufacturers must be responsible for ensuring the benefits that car buyers deserve.”
Lawyer Xoa said that this solution is unstable and only temporary. When the government increases the price for calculating LPTB, car manufacturers/dealers increase the selling price with the reason that this car model is “hot” and many people buy it. At that time, the dealers still earn more profit, but the buyers have to pay more.
Buying a supercar requires paying a "huge" tax The car that leads the list of additional LPTB calculation prices of the Ministry of Finance is McLaren 650S Spider with LPTB calculation price up to 22.02 billion VND. A person in Hanoi who buys this car pays LPTB 12%, can pay up to 2.64 billion VND. Some other supercars also have sky-high LPTB prices. Specifically, Bentley Flying Spur costs 19.5 billion VND, McLaren 570S costs 12.6 billion VND and the LPTB payment is 2.34 billion VND and 1.5 billion VND respectively. 10% is the general LPTB rate. The regulation allows provinces and cities to apply a higher rate but not more than 50% of this general rate. Thus, the highest LPTB rate is 15%. Currently, the registration fee for cars with less than 10 seats registered for the first time in Hanoi is 12%. Other provinces and cities commonly apply the general rate of 10%. |
According to VNN
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