Circular No. 50/2000/TT-BTC dated June 2, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the regime of management and use of port service charges and fees on inland waterways

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE REGIME OF MANAGEMENT AND USE OF PORT SERVICE CHARGES AND FEES ON INLAND WATERWAYS

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 40/CP of July 5, 1996 on ensuring traffic order and security on inland waterways and Decree No. 77/1998/ND-CP of September 26,1998 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 40/CP of July 5, 1996;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree 87/CP of December 19, 1996 and Decree No. 51/1998/ND-CP of July 18, 1998 detailing the assignment of responsibilities in managing, establishing, executing and settling the State budget;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 04/1999/ND-CP of January 30, 1999 on charges and fees remitted to the State Budget;
Pursuant to the Finance’s Minister Decision No. 142/1999/QD/BTC of November 19, 1999 promulgating inland waterway port service charge and fee levels;
After consulting the Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Ministry of Finance provides the following guidance on the management and use of port service charges and fees on inland waterways:

1. The port service charges and fees on inland waterways constitute a source of revenues of the State budget. The payers, levels and organization of the collection of port service charges and fees on inland waterways shall comply with the Finance’s Minister Decision No. 142/1999/QD/BTC of November 19, 1999 promulgating inland waterway port service charge and fee levels.

The unit that organizes the collection of port service charges and fees on inland waterways is allowed to use at most 80% of the collected charge and fee amount to spend on port operations according to the draft expenditures approved by the competent agency and in conformity with the current financial expenditures and revenues regime; the remainder (20%) must be remitted into the State budget.

2. Contents of spending charges and fees:

The charges and fees collected by the port service on inland waterways are allowed to be used at the unit according to the estimates approved by the competent authority. They comprise:

a/ Regular expenses to ensure the operation of the organizational apparatus of the port service:

The expenditures for the operation of the port apparatus shall be determined on the basis of the current State management expenditure according to the pay role assigned by the Ministry of Communications and Transport, including: wages and allowances based on wages under the Government’s Decree No.25/CP of May 23, 1993 on provisional stipulations on the new regime of wages of public servants and employees at administrative and non-business as well as armed forces; units expenses on information and propaganda, labor protection, uniform, professional and specialization fostering, and allowances for noxious and overtime work.

b/ Special expenditures include:

- Expenditures on purchase of fuel in direct service of professional activities of the port service.

- Expenditures on purchase and major repairs of specialized means and equipment in service of the collection of charges and fees.

- Expenditures on search and rescue operation for shipwrecks and victims thereof within the area of responsibility.

- Expenditures on hiring of office (if any);

- Expenditures on purchase of receipts, prints...

c/ Deductions from reward and welfare funds for public servants and employees in charge of the collection and remittance of port service charges on inland waterways. The maximum deduction level of the reward and welfare funds shall not exceed the actual three-month wages.

3. Elaborating and implementing annual budget revenue and expenditure estimates of port service on inland waterways.

On the basis of the notice on control figures for the annual draft budget revenues and expenditures of the Ministry of Communications and Transport and the orientation for development of the branch, the Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau shall announce the control figures for the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees to the port services on inland waterways in different areas.

On the basis of the assignment of control figures for the draft budget revenues and expenditures, the quantity and loads of the means of transport entering and leaving the ports on inland waterways, as well as the content of expenditures prescribed at Clause 2 of this Circular and the current financial spending regime, the agency in charge of collection of port service charges on inland waterways shall draw up the estimates of collection of port service charges and fees on inland waterways according to the table of contents of the State Budget and send them to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau for integration into a report to the Ministry of Communications and Transport. The Ministry of Communications and Transport shall integrate the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees on inland waterways into the draft budget revenues and expenditures of port service on inland waterways of the Ministry of Communications and Transport and send it to the Ministry of Finance for integration and submission to the Prime Minister, proposing the assignment of the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees on inland waterways together with the assignment of the annual draft budget revenues and expenditures of the Ministry of Communications and Transport.

Basing itself on the assignment of the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges on inland waterways, the Ministry of Communications and Transport (Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau) shall assign the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees on inland waterways to the attached units and, to the Ministry of Finance, the State Treasury and the local tax office. The notice on assignment of the draft must list in detail all the items of revenues and expenditures according to the table of contents of the State budget, in conformity with the total revenues and expenditures assigned by the State to the Ministry of Communications and Transport. The Ministry of Finance shall have to examine the draft. If the draft revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees notified to the units do not correspond with the draft revenues and expenditures already assigned, the Ministry of Finance shall propose that they be readjusted accordingly.

On the basis of the assigned draft revenues and expenditures for the whole year, the port services on inland waterways shall draw up the draft revenues and expenditures of the port services on inland waterways every quarter and detail them according to the items of revenues and expenditures of the State budget table of contents sent to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau and the State Treasury where the unit opens its transaction account. The Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau shall integrate the draft budget revenues and expenditures in each quarter and send it to the Ministry of Communications and Transport and the Ministry of Finance.

Basing itself on the revenues of charges and fees and on the draft expenditures approved by the competent level, the spending approval order of the head of the unit and the other lawful and valid dossiers and papers the State Treasury shall make advance allocation or payment to the unit according to Circular No.40/1998/TT-BTC of March 31, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the regime of management, allocation and payment of the State budget expenditures through the State Treasury and the stipulations in this Circular. The port services on inland waterways must periodically remit 20% of the revenues on charges and fees of the port services of inland waterways into the State budget according to Chapter 021A, Serie 09, Clause 04, Item 032, Sub item 15 of the State Budget Table of Contents.

The unit organizing the collection must open a charges collection account at the Treasury where the transaction is conducted; Periodically from 7 to 10 days the charges and fees collected from the port service on inland waterways must be remitted to the revenue account at the State Treasury.

4. Regulating charges and fees of port service on inland waterways.

In case the revenues of charges and fees of port service on inland waterways of the unit left over for expenditures at the prescribed rate is lower than the rate ratified by the competent level, the Inland Waterway Bureau Department is allowed to regulate the revenue from the unit having a higher revenue to a unit with a lower revenue within 80% of the total revenues of the port services in the inland waterways group in order to ensure the operation. More concretely:

The regulation shall be based on the revenues from port service charges and fees on inland waterways periodically deposited at the State Treasury at the end of each month and each quarter. After deduction of the draft expenditures ratified by the competent level, the remainder shall be remitted by the unit to the account of the Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau in order to regulate for the attached units with revenue lower than expenditures according to the draft expenditures already approved by the competent level.

The Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau is allowed to open its account at the State Treasury to carry out this regulation.

The port service units shall make expenditure according to the approved; if the revenue falls short of the draft, the draft expenditures shall be reduced correspondingly.

5. Final account settlement on revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees on inland waterways.

At the end of each quarter and each year, the unit organizing the collection of charges and fees of the port service on inland waterways shall have to make the final account settlement of all the revenues and expenditures of port service charges and fees (including the regulated charges and fees) according to the regime of accountancy prescribed for the administrative and non-business units.

In case the port service charges and fees on inland waterways left over for expenditures (including charges and fees left at the port service unit and the charge and fee account opened at the Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau) are not used up at the year end, the unit must continue to remit them to the State budget.

6. The Ministry of Communications and Transport (Vietnam Inland Waterway Bureau) shall have to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in organizing regular (or unnotified) inspection of the units organizing the collection in order to ensure that the collection complies with the regime, the expenditures are made for the right purpose and effectively and all violations (if any) are handled in time.

7. This Circular takes effect on of January 1st, 2000. Other stipulations on the use of inland waterways port service charges, which are contrary to this Circular, are now annulled.

In the process of implementation, if any difficulty arises, the agencies should report it in time to the Ministry of Finance for study and settlement.