The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has urged the Government to add the property industry to the list of those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and are eligible for a five-month postponement of value-added tax and land-use fee payments.

Illustrative image (Photo: vir.com.vn)

The extension is a key part of a draft Government decree on extending the deadline for tax and land-use fee payments, which is expected to come into effect soon to help businesses cope with difficulties.

HoREA also asked the Government to direct Vietnam Social Security to give property businesses a five-month moratorium for social security premium payments and instruct banks too to offer credit repayment moratoriums and not designate real estate businesses' loans as bad debts due to late payments.

HoREA Chairman Le Hoang Chau said due to the COVID-19 outbreak, businesses are unable to organise events to market, sell, break ground, or inaugurate, which has caused a huge decline in their revenues.

If the draft is approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, there will be three groups of beneficiaries.

The first comprises businesses, organisations, individuals and households involved in agricultural, forestry and fisheries production, foodstuff, textile, footwear, rubber, electronics and computers, and automobile sectors.

The second comprises the transport (railway, road, waterway, air, warehousing and support activities for transportation), accommodation and catering and tourism, and its supporting sectors.

The third features small and micro enterprises as defined by the Law on Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises.

The Ministry of Finance said payment of around  US$1.3 billion would be delayed by five months, and this is not expected to affect this year’s budget since the payments would have to be made before December 31.

Chau said the current slump is also an opportunity for real estate businesses to restructure to become streamlined and efficient, rethink of investment and key products and switch to affordable and social housing products to meet the actual needs of society