Circular No. 20/2005/TT-BTC dated March 16, 2005 of the Ministry of Finance providing for the regime of collection, remittance and use management of the fee for the grant of mineral activity permits

CIRCULAR

PROVIDING FOR THE REGIME OF COLLECTION, REMITTANCE AND USE MANAGEMENT OF THE FEE FOR THE GRANT OF MINERAL ACTIVITY PERMITS

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Charges and Fees of August 28, 2001 and the Government Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP of June 3, 2002, detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees; after obtaining comments of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,
The Ministry of Finance hereby provides for the regime of collection, remittance and use management of the fee for the grant of mineral activity permits as follows:

I. FEE PAYERS AND RATES:

1. Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals, when being granted mineral activity permits by state management agencies according to the provisions of Article 9 of the Government Decree No. 76/2000/ND-CP of December 15, 2000, detailing the implementation of the Law on Minerals, must pay a fee for the grant of permits for survey, exploration, exploitation (including full extraction) or processing of minerals according to the provisions of this Circular.

Where it is otherwise provided for by treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded, the provisions of such treaties shall apply.

2. The rates of fee for the grant of mineral activity permits are specified as follows:

In case of extension of permits or re-grant of permits upon transfer or inheritance, persons having permits extended, transferees or heirs must pay the fee at a rate equal to 50% of the corresponding fee rate mentioned above.

3. The fee for the grant of mineral activity permits shall be collected in Vietnam dong. If foreign organizations and individuals wish to pay the fee in a foreign currency, they may pay it in US dollar (USD) at the average exchange rate on the inter-bank foreign currency market, announced by the Vietnam State Bank at the time of collection.

II. FEE COLLECTION, REMITTANCE AND USE MANAGEMENT

1. Agencies granting mineral activity permits defined in Article 9 of the Government Decree No. 76/2000/ND-CP of December 15, 2000, shall collect the fee according to the provisions of this Circular, and register, declare and remit the collected fee amount into the state budget according to the provisions of the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC of July 24, 2002, guiding the implementation of charges and fees stipulated by laws.

2. The fee-collecting agency shall deduct 40% of the total actually collected fee amount before remitting it into the state budget to cover fee collection expenses as follows:

- Expenses for printing (or purchase) of relevant dossiers or books and permits;

- Expenses for purchase of stationery, public-duty allowances according to current criteria and norms;

- Other expenses used directly for fee collection.

The fee-collecting agencies must use, and make annual settlement of, the total fee amount deducted under the above-said regulations for the proper purposes with lawful documents according to regulations; if such amount has not yet been used up, the remainder shall be carried forward to the subsequent year for further spending according to regulations.

3. After subtracting the amount deducted at the percentage set at Point 2 above, the fee-collecting agencies must remit the remainder (60%) of the total actually collected fee amount into the state budget (the corresponding chapter and category, Item 047, Sub-Item 20 of the current State Budget Index).

4. The fee settlement shall be made simultaneously with the state budget settlement. Annually, the fee-collecting agencies shall settle with tax offices the used fee receipts, the collected fee amount, the amount deducted and kept at units, the amount remittable into the state budget, the amount already remitted into and the amount still owned to the state budget; settle the use of the deducted amount with finance bodies of the same level strictly according to regulations.

III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO" and replaces the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 96/1997/TT-BTC of December 31, 1997, guiding the regime of collection and remittance of the fee for the grant of mineral activity permits.

2. Fee payers and concerned agencies shall have to strictly implement the provisions of this Circular.

Any problems arise in the course of implementation should be reported by agencies, organizations and individuals to the Ministry of Finance for study and additional guidance.