More than 8,000 enterprises nationwide currently owe social insurance premiums totalling some VNĐ2 trillion (US$87 million). These debts are very difficult to retrieve, with some even impossible to get, according to Viet Nam Social Insurance (VSI).

More than 8,000 enterprises nationwide currently owe social insurance premiums totalling some VNĐ2 trillion (US$87 million).— Photo zing.vn

The VSI said last year the agency conducted more than 4,000 inspections at enterprises and units which owed social insurance debt for a long time. After the punishments were imposed, only more than 40 per cent of violating enterprises paid the debts.

Unpaid social insurance premiums so far have reached about VNĐ5.737 trillion ($250 million), below the planned debt ratio of 3 per cent.

The VSI has faced difficulties in recovering debts, especially those owned by enterprises whose owners fled, those which went bankrupt and those which stopped operation but ran out of money to pay the debt after asset liquidation.

There is no regulation on how to compensate labourers working for these enterprises.

The VSI said that the agency has categorised cases of social insurance debt and applied solutions.

Enterprises which fail to pay the debt less than one month after the deadline will be reminded. Those which fail to pay the debt two to three months after the deadline will have to pay interest. Those which have been in debt for more than three months will be inspected and fined.

The VSI has also transferred dossiers of debt-owing enterprises to inspection agencies for further punishment.

To address the issue, the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed a decree managing the collection of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance debts. It aims to protect labourers of enterprises which went bankrupt or have had their owners flee.

The decree proposes that the funds used to pay labourers whose insurance is owed will be sourced from the sum of money called debt interests that debt-owing employers have to pay.

According to the proposed decree, debts of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance are divided into four types.

They are debts of less than one month, from one to three months, more than three months and debt difficult to be recovered. — VNS