Selling gold bars for 500 million, paying 500 thousand in tax: Is that enough to prevent speculation?

The proposed 0.1% gold bar transfer tax on the transfer price is lower than that of food, medicine, milk businesses... Is that reasonable?

Taxing gold bars is reasonable.

At the regular press conference of the third quarter of the Ministry of Finance , Mr. Luu Duc Huy - Deputy Director of the Department of Management and Supervision of Tax, Fee and Charge Policies (Ministry of Finance) said that after agreeing with the State Bank, the Ministry submitted to the Government to include in the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) the regulation on collecting personal income tax on gold bar transfer transactions; not applying personal income tax to raw gold, jewelry gold, and fine arts. The initial proposed tax rate is 0.1% on the transfer value.

Regarding the time of application and tax rate, Mr. Huy said that the draft law being submitted to the National Assembly is for the Government to regulate.

Sharing with VietNamNet reporter, economic expert Nguyen Quang Huy, CEO of the Faculty of Finance - Banking (Nguyen Trai University), assessed that the Ministry of Finance's proposal to collect personal income tax on gold bar transfer transactions is a remarkable step, reflecting the State's efforts in managing the gold market, which has many potential risks of speculation and volatility.

In fact, gold bars are mainly used as a means of short-term accumulation or speculation. Therefore, imposing a tax on this type of gold is necessary to increase transparency, limit speculation and contribute to generating revenue for the budget.

However, Mr. Huy said that for most people, buying a small amount of gold for storage is a traditional habit, associated with the need for financial security and a precautionary mentality. Therefore, the policy needs to stipulate tax exemption or reduction for long-term holders with small volumes. This both protects the legitimate interests of the people and demonstrates humanism in management, ensuring that the State does not hit the habit of safe accumulation but mainly regulates large-scale speculative activities.

To improve efficiency, the expert emphasized the need to digitize all gold transactions. Managing on a digital platform not only helps to collect taxes conveniently and transparently, but also creates a basis for applying tax calculation based on the difference between buying and selling in the future, reflecting the true nature of income instead of just levying on the transaction value. This is a fair, modern step and in line with international practice.

At the same time, the State Bank needs to continue to regulate the supply and demand of gold reasonably, expand alternative financial products such as gold accounts and gold certificates, thereby reducing the pressure to hoard physical gold. When people have many safe investment options, the gold market will stabilize, and at the same time, capital in the economy will be allocated more effectively.

Is 0.1% tax low?

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Lecturer at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, commented that the proposed 0.1% gold bar transfer tax on the transfer price is a bit low. This initial tax rate is equal to the rate currently applied to securities transfers and lower than that applied to real estate transactions, so it is not enough to change gold speculation behavior.

According to Mr. Tu, businesses that only sell wholesale or retail goods have to pay 0.5% tax. While gold is a commodity that the State does not encourage investment in, the transfer tax is even lower than that of food, medicine, milk, etc.

"It would be more reasonable to consider raising the gold bar transfer tax rate to 0.5%," Mr. Tu suggested.

Meanwhile, according to economic expert Nguyen Quang Huy, the Ministry of Finance's proposal of a 0.1% tax rate is a reasonable starting point.

According to him, that level is enough to not shock the market and the people, but it is important in two aspects. First , it creates a transparency mechanism, all gold bar transactions go through the system, are recorded, helping the management agency to have a firm grasp of the data. Second, from this starting level, the State can observe and evaluate market behavior, then gradually adjust according to reality.

However, if we consider the goal of preventing speculative surfing, Mr. Huy said that the 0.1% level is only a first warning, because the expected profit of speculation is often much higher. Therefore, tax is only a tool in the overall solution, more important is a synchronous management system and safe alternative investment channels for people.

The expert gave some strategic recommendations such as a flexible tax roadmap, the 0.1% rate should be considered as the initial step, after a period of implementation, if the market still fluctuates strongly, it is possible to consider gradually increasing or adding a calculation method based on the difference between profit and loss.

According to him, the humane tax exemption threshold should be designed at a small accumulation level (for example, 1 tael/year) to protect the traditional hoarding rights of the people, especially in rural areas. Incentives for long-term holding, tax exemption/reduction for gold held for a long time can be studied, encouraging stability instead of speculation.

In addition, encourage the development of safe financial products such as gold certificates, gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), flexible government bonds... so that people have many transparent and stable investment channels.

At the same time, it is necessary to gradually change the mentality of hoarding gold to the habit of smart investment for the future through bringing financial knowledge into schools and social media.

The Ministry of Finance has submitted to the Government a plan to collect personal income tax on gold bar transactions; this does not apply to raw gold and gold jewelry.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ban-vang-mieng-duoc-500-trieu-nop-thue-500-nghin-co-du-ngan-dau-co-2449454.html