Thông tư liên tịch 71/2000/TTLT-BTC-TCHQ

JOINT CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE REGIME ON THE COLLECTION, REMITTANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE USE OF CUSTOMS FEES

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999 on charges and fees belonging to the State budget;
Pursuant to Chapter IV of the Government’s Decree No. 16/1999/ND-CP of March 27, 1999 stipulating the customs procedures, customs supervision and customs fees;
The Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs hereby jointly guide the regime on the collection, remittance and management of the use of customs fees, as follows:

I. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

1. Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals shall have to pay customs fees as prescribed in this Circular (except for the case specified at Point 2 of this Section) when they are given the State management over customs by the Vietnamese competent agencies according to the provisions in the Government’s Decree No. 16/1999/ND-CP of March 27, 1999 on customs procedures, customs supervision and customs fees.

2. Customs fees shall not be paid in the following cases:

a/ Goods, luggage and other articles, which are exempt from customs fees or other fees and charges according to the international agreements which Vietnam has signed, acceded to or agreed with.

b/ Goods which are humanitarian and non-refundable aid; gifts presented to State bodies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations, people’s armed force units; gifts to individuals within the limits not liable to income tax imposed on high-income earners; belongings and chattels of foreign organizations and individuals entitled to diplomatic immunities; hand-carried luggage.

c/ Goods which are going through customs procedures and must be put into customs warehouses for the completion of the customs procedures on the next day.

d/ Goods exported or imported on the spot.

e/ Escort of sea-going ships and goods, luggage aboard sailing from Buoy Zero into the sea port areas and vice versa.

II. FEE LEVELS AND ORGANIZATION OF FEE COLLECTION AND REMITTANCE

1. The customs fee levels are prescribed in the appendix tables (I, II, III, IV and V) issued together with this Circular. They shall be applied to a number of cases as follows:

a/ 50% of the prescribed level of the fee for customs procedures clearance shall be collected for the following goods items:

- Exported goods.

- Goods processed for foreign countries and goods being stones, sand, gravel, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, petrol and oil, gypsum and assorted ores.

b/ For goods temporarily imported for re-export or temporarily exported for re-import, the fees shall be collected in lump sum for the first clearance of import or export procedures.

c/ The conversion unit: 1 cubic meter is equivalent to 1 ton (m3 = ton)

d/ In specific cases where the payable storage charge amounts are equivalent to or exceed the value of the goods and/or luggage, the collection level being equal to 30% of the value of the consigned goods and/or luggage shall apply.

e/ For goods which have been kept at the customs warehouses for more than six months (or more than two months for difficult-to-preserve goods like foodstuff, cigarettes...) from the date the customs office issues the third notice inviting the goods owners to come and receive their goods but the latter fail to reply or nobody turns up to receive such goods, the customs office shall organize their liquidation according to the Government’s regulations. The sale proceeds shall be remitted into the customs office’s account of temporary deposits. Within six months if the goods owners can invoke plausible reasons, they may receive back such sale proceeds; past six months such proceeds shall be remitted into the State budget after subtracting the sale expenses.

2. The customs offices of the provinces and centrally-run cities; border-gate customs offices and customs units of equivalent levels or lawful customs clearance points of the customs offices of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have the duty to organize the customs fee collection according to the provisions of this Circular (hereinafter collectively referred to as customs fee-collecting agencies).

The customs fee-collecting agencies shall have the tasks, powers and responsibilities as specified in Article 14 of the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999 on charges and fees belonging to the State budget.

3. Procedures for customs fee collection and remittance:

Organizations and individuals liable to pay customs fees (collectively called goods owners) shall have to declare the goods quantities and transport means proposed for customs procedure clearance by the customs offices according to the customs service’s regulations. Basing themselves on the declaration forms and dossiers accompanying goods or means proposed for customs procedure clearance, the customs offices shall have to conduct the inspection and inform the goods owners of the fee amounts payable at the levels prescribed in this Circular and the time limits for fee payment are prescribed below:

- The customs procedure clearance fee must be paid before the customs offices make the inspection and certification "having completed the customs procedures".

- The customs warehouse fee must be paid before the goods are delivered from the customs warehouses.

- The escort fee must be paid before the customs offices provide an escort.

- The customs sealing fee must be paid immediately after the customs offices finish the sealing of goods.

- The transit fee must be paid immediately when the procedures are carried out for the transit of goods, luggage and transport means.

- The fee for re-granting customs documents must be paid before the customs offices re-grant such documents.

The customs fees shall be collected in Vietnam dong. Where the foreign exchange counters are not available at the customs fee-collecting places, the fees may be collected in foreign currency(ies) at the average exchange rate on the inter-bank market announced by the Vietnam State Bank. The customs fee-collecting agencies may open accounts for temporary custody of collected customs fees at the State Treasuries in the localities where they are headquartered. Once every ten days at most, the customs fee-collecting agencies shall have to remit the fees collected in the period into the provincial/municipal customs offices’ temporary fee-deposit accounts already opened at the State Treasuries. The provincial/municipal customs offices shall have to monitor and manage the amounts of customs fees collected and remitted into the budget by the collecting agencies in the provinces and cities under the guidance at Point 5 of this Section.

The customs-fee payers shall have to request the fee-collectors to issue fee receipts according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance. Where a fee is collected not at the prescribed level or fee collection receipts or documents are not issued according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance, the fee payers may lodge their complaints or denunciations about acts of violation committed by individuals or units according to the provisions in Article 16 of the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999.

4. The Customs Service is allowed to temporarily deduct 35% of the total amount of collected customs fees to spend on the organization of customs fee collection according to the following concrete contents:

- Expense for production of customs lead seals, paper seal and seal stamps.

- Expenses for goods preservation.

- Other expenses under the prescribed regime.

The General Department of Customs must incorporate the total amount of fees temporarily deducted according to the above-mentioned percentage (35%) into the annual financial estimates, use it for the right purposes with full lawful payment vouchers, and remit all the unspent amount, if any, after the year-end settlement, into the State budget according to the procedures prescribed at Point 5 of this Section.

5. Not later than the 15th day of the month, the provincial/municipal customs offices shall fill in the procedures for remitting 65% of the total amount of fees collected in the preceding month into the State budget according to the corresponding chapter, clause and category of Section 044 of the State budget contents as prescribed. The customs fee amounts remitted into the State budget shall be channeled all into the central budget.

Quarterly and at the end of every fiscal year, the customs fee-collecting agencies shall have to settle all collection vouchers as well as the results of the customs fee collection and remittance with the immediate superior customs offices. The provincial/municipal customs offices shall sum up the settlement of the customs fee collection and remittance and report it to the General Department of Customs. Annually, the General Department of Customs shall settle the customs fee collection and remittance with the Ministry of Finance.

6. Handling of violations:

Fee payers, customs fee-collecting agencies as well as individuals and other individuals that violate the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999 on charges and fees belonging to the State budget and the detailed guidance in this Circular shall be sanctioned according to the provisions in Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP.

III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. The General Department of Customs shall guide, organize and inspect the collection, remittance and management of the use of customs fees according to the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999 and the guidance in this Circular.

2. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing and replaces Joint Circular No. 45/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ of May 23, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs stipulating the customs fee collection and remittance regime. Where fees have been collected at the levels prescribed in the fee level tables enclosed with Joint Circular No. 45/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ, the differences between the levels prescribed in Joint Circular No. 45/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ and those prescribed in this Circular shall be refunded.

Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported by the concerned organizations and individuals to the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs for study and settlement.

I. CUSTOMS PROCEDURE CLEARANCE FEE TABLE

(Issued together with Joint Circular No. 71/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ of July 19, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs)

II. FEES FOR GOODS AND LUGGAGE CONSIGNED AND PUT AT CUSTOMS WAREHOUSES

(Issued together with Joint Circular No. 71/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ of July 19, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs)

III. FEES FOR CUSTOMS ESCORT - SEALING

(Issued together with Joint Circular No. 71/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ of July 19, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs)

IV. FEES FOR GOODS, LUGGAGE IN TRANSIT OR TRANSPORTED ACROSS VIETNAM

(Issued together with Joint Circular No. 71/2000/TTLT/BTC-TCHQ of July 19, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs)

V. ADMINISTRATIVE FEE

1. The fee for re-certifying documents of goods or luggage: 12,000 (twelve thousand) VND/case.