Circular No. 83/2005/TT-BTC dated September 22, 2005 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the experimental self-assessment and self-payment of royalties by production and business establishments under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 161/2005/QD-TTg dated June 30, 2005

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE EXPERIMENTAL SELF-ASSESSMENT AND SELF-PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES BY PRODUCTION AND BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS UNDER THE PRIME MINISTER’S DECISION No. 161/2005/QD-TTg OF JUNE 30, 2005

Pursuant to the April 10, 1998 Ordinance on royalties;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 68/1998/ND-CP of September 3, 1998, detailing the implementation of the April 10, 1998 Ordinance on royalties;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 197/2003/QD-TTg of September 23, 2003, on the experimental self-assessment and self-payment of taxes by production and business establishments;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 161/2005/QD-TTg of June 30, 2005, on the expansion of the experimental self-assessment and self-payment of special consumption tax at the stage of domestic production; royalties; house, land tax; income tax on high-income earners and license fee by production and business establishments;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP of July 1, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

The Ministry of Finance hereby guides the experimental self-assessment and self-payment of royalties by production and business establishments as follows:

I. SUBJECTS OF APPLICATION

Subjects of self-assessment and self-payment of royalties under the guidance of this Circular are production and business establishments specified in Clause 2, Article 1 of the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 197/2003/QD-TTg of September 23, 2003, and guiding documents of the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as business establishments).

II. TAX REGISTRATION, DECLARATION AND PAYMENT

1. Tax registration:

Business establishments that experimentally implement the mechanism of self-assessment and self-payment of royalties shall continue using their tax identification numbers already granted by tax offices without having to make re-registration with tax authorities. In the process of experimental implementation, if business establishments have any change in tax registration information, they shall make additional registration with their managing tax offices according to current regulations on tax registration.

2. Declaration of Royalties:

2.1. Monthly declaration of Royalties:

a/ Monthly, business establishments shall make full calculation and declaration of natural resource tax according to current regulations in form No. 01/TNg attached to this Circular. In case there is no royalties arising in the month, business establishments shall still fill in and send the declarations to tax authorities.

- Business establishments shall fill in all elements in the declaration form (tax identification number, name, address, location of exploitation of natural resources…) and declare other relevant information such as having made tax registration with the tax office, and concurrently certify the legal validity of the declared information (by affixing their signature and seal). Declarations shall be regarded as not having been submitted to the tax authority if they are not fully completed or not duly certified.

- The deadline for submission of monthly royalties declarations to the tax office is the 25^th of the subsequent month. Business establishments shall submit their declarations by post or directly to the tax authority. The date of submission shall be determined as the date of the postmark affixed by the sending post office (for declarations submitted by post) or the date of submission to the tax authority(for declarations submitted directly to the tax authority).

b/ For kinds of Royalties for which the bases for calculation of Royalties arising in the month have not yet been identified and filled in declaration forms, business establishments may calculate the royalties amount to be paid for such kinds of royalties on the basis of accounting prices, which are either the previous year’s taxable price of a particular royalties or the plan price (for newly set-up business establishments), for making monthly royalties declarations. At year-end, business establishments shall re-determine the payable royalties amount based on the actual Royaltiable price of natural resources and make royalties self-finalization declarations under the guidance at Point 2.2 below.

c/ Declaration of estimated rebatable royalties amounts: Business establishments eligible for royalties rebate shall estimate rebatable royalties amounts according to the Royalties Ordinance and guiding documents currently in force and declare them in monthly declaration forms.

2.2. Self-finalization of Royalties:

a/ Business establishments that experimentally make self- assessment and self-payment of Royalties shall not have to make annual tax finalization with the tax authority but must make royalties self-finalization declarations according to form No. 02/TNg and submit them to the tax authority for determining royalties amounts actually arising in the year.

The time limit for submission of royalties self-finalization declarations is 60 days as from the end of the calendar year or fiscal year. In case of termination of royalties exploitation contracts; merger, consolidation, division, separation, bankruptcy, transformation of ownership; assignment, contracting and lease of state enterprises, business establishments shall make royalties self-finalization declarations and send them to the tax authority within 45 days as from the date of termination of natural resource exploitation contracts or from the date of issuance of the merger, consolidation, division, separation, bankruptcy, transformation of ownership, assignment, contracting or lease decision by competent authorities.

b/ Determination of rebatable royalties amounts: Business establishments eligible for royalties rebate shall determine by themselves rebatable royalties amounts according to actual figures, and concurrently compile dossiers of application for royalties rebate and send them to the tax authority according to regulations.

2.3. Business establishments shall be accountable before law for the truthfulness and accuracy of their royalties declaration and fully preserve documents used for determination of royalties amounts already declared.

3. Payment of Royalties:

Monthly, business establishments shall pay their declared royalties amounts into the state budget. The deadline for monthly payment of royalties is the 25^th of the subsequent month. In case there are any outstanding royalties amounts according to their royalties self-finalization declarations, business establishments shall pay them into the state budget within 60 days after the end of the calendar year or fiscal year.

In case of termination of natural resource exploitation contracts; merger, consolidation, division, separation, bankruptcy, transformation of ownership; assignment, contracting and lease of state enterprises, business establishments shall fully pay outstanding royalties amounts within 45 days as from the date of termination of natural resource exploitation contracts or from the date of issuance of the merger, consolidation, division, separation, bankruptcy, transformation of ownership, assignment, contracting or lease decision by competent authorities; if there are any overpaid royalty amounts, the tax authority shall refund them or transfer them to the new business establishments according to current regulations.

For business establishments paying royalties into the state budget by transfer via a bank or another credit institution, the date of tax payment shall be determined as the date on which the bank or credit institution deducts and transfers the tax money to the treasury as requested in the business establishments’ orders of payment into the state budget; for business establishments paying royalties in cash, the date of payment shall be determined as the date on which the state treasury or tax authority receives the tax money.

Business establishments shall fully fill in the elements in the money payment documents as guided by the tax authority or state treasury. They must clearly write on the money payment documents the royalties amounts and fines paid for each kind of tax and each period; particularly for fines paid for late payment of tax money, write the date of the tax authority’s notice but not the fine paid for late payment of each kind of tax. In case a business establishment has both the tax amount and fine paid in the period and the tax amount and fine owed from previous periods, which are not specified, the tax authority shall first deduct the owed tax amount and fine, then the royalties amount and fine paid in the period.

III. TASKS, POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF TAX AUTHORITIES

Apart from the tasks, powers and responsibilities defined in tax laws and other relevant laws, the tax authorities that manage business establishments experimentally implementing the tax self-assessment and self-payment shall have the following responsibilities:

1. To propagate, disseminate, guide and respond to inquiries from business establishments about tax policy, tax declaration and payment procedures so that business establishments can correctly understand and comply with the provisions of tax law and the tax self-assessment and tax-payment mechanism.

2. To monitor the tax self-assessment and self-payment by business establishments:

- Past the prescribed deadline for submission of monthly tax declarations or for annual tax self-finalization, tax authorities shall send notices reminding the submission of such declarations and impose fines for administrative violations according to current regulations. Past the last deadline for submission of declarations stated in the reminding notices, if business establishments still fail to pay royalties, tax authorities shall fix the payable tax amounts according to regulations.

- Past the prescribed deadline for royalties payment, tax authorities shall send tax payment-reminding notices to business establishments which fail to pay have not yet paid in full royalties amounts, and impose fines for royalties amounts still owed to the state budget according to regulations.

3. To supervise and inspect the royalties declaration and payment by business establishments.

4. To apply measures to force the payment of royalties and fines according to the provisions of law.

5. To keep confidential supplied information on production and business establishments are making experimental self-assessment and self-payment of royalties.

IV. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication in “CONG BAO.”

2 .Business establishments making experimental self-assessment and self-payment of royalities under the guidance of this Circular shall not have to make natural resource tax declarations under the guidance of Circular No. 153/1998/TT-BTC.

3. Apart from the provisions of this Circular, tax bases, tax rebate, tax refund, handling of violations, commendation and other matters shall comply with the provisions of the Royalities Ordinance and its guiding documents and other relevant legal documents on tax.

4. In the course of implementation, if facing problems, units, agencies and business establishments should report them promptly to the Ministry of Finance for study and additional guidance.

GUIDANCE

ON DECLARATION OF ROYALTIES

Part I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. In the royalties declaration form, the following abbreviation and acronym are used:

- “TN” is an acronym standing for “tai nguyen” (natural resource).

- “Business establishment” refers to business organizations and individuals.

2. Business establishments engaged in exploiting natural resources must make and send to the tax authority monthly royalties declarations (form No. 01/TNg) and annual royalties self-finalization declarations (form No. 02/TNg). They must fully write all basic information on the tax declaration period (month, year) and information on tax registration made with the tax authority in the sections coded from [01 to [10].

Should there be any change in information from code [02] to code [10], business establishments shall make additional registration with the tax authority according to current regulations and declare the additionally registered information to the tax authority.

3. Money amounts recorded on declarations shall be rounded to the monetary unit of Vietnam dong. Decimal numbers shall not be accepted. For the elements without any data arising in the period, they shall be left blank. Dark-color boxes in the declaration shall not be filled in.

4. Royalty declarations sent to the tax authority shall be considered valid only if they are completed according to the set form, with all elements accurately filled in as required at Points 1, 2 and 3 above, and are signed and sealed by the representative-at-law of the business establishments at the bottom of the declarations.

5. Business establishments that exploit various kinds of natural resources shall make only one declaration every month and make a royalties self-finalization declaration at the end of a year, in which each kind of natural resource is declared on a line and the total figures reflect the arising royalties amount, the estimated rebatable amount and the amount payable in the period of the business establishment.

Part II

GUIDANCE ON MAKING ROYALTY DECLARATIONS

(Form 01/TNg)

1. Column (2): Name of natural resource

Business establishments shall calculate royalties for each kind of natural resource at the current royalties rate. Each kind of natural resource shall be declared on one line of the declaration.

2. Column (3): Unit of calculation

To use the unit of calculation for each kind of natural resource exploited, such as kg, m³ , ton, barrel, kW/h, etc.

3. Column (4): Exploited volume of commercial natural resource

To enter in this column data on the quantity, weight or volume of each kind of natural resource exploited in the month, regardless of the exploitation situation and purpose.

If the exploited natural resource volume cannot be identified because it comprises different substances which need to be sorted and classified, the volume used for calculation of royalties shall be the volume of each kind of substance obtained.

Particularly for natural water used for hydropower generation, the volume used for calculation of royalties shall be the generated volume of electricity, calculated in kW/h.

4. Column (5): Royaltiable price per unit of natural resource

To enter in this column the royaltiable price per unit of natural resource. Natural resource-exploiting establishments shall determine by themselves the royaltiable price per unit of natural resource under the provisions of the Royalties Ordinance and guiding documents currently in force. In case such price cannot be determined yet in the year, make declaration based on a temporary price (or accounting price), which may be the previous period’s price used for calculation of royalties. Business establishments which have just started production shall make declarations based on the plan price. At year-end or upon the termination of the natural resource exploitation contract, business establishments shall re-determine the royaltiable price according to actual figures for making royalties self-finalization declarations.

5. Column (6): Royalties rate

To enter in this column the royalty rate applicable to the kind of natural resource exploited according to regulations.

6. Column (7): Royalties fixed per unit of natural resource

To enter in this column the royalties fixed per unit of natural resource by competent authorities.

Example: Assume that VND 14 per KW/h of generated electricity is the level of royalties set by the Ministry of Finance for natural water used for hydropower generation, the business establishments shall write VND 14 on the water line in this column.

7. Column (8): Royalties amount arising in the period

To enter in this column the data determined as follows:

Or

Example:  The royalties arising in the month on natural water used for generation of hydropower shall be the volume of hydropower generated in the month multiplied by (x) VND 14.

8. Column (9): Estimated rebatable royalties amount in the period

To enter in this column the estimated rebatable royalties amount (any) of each kind of natural resource exploited in the month. Monthly, business establishments shall base themselves on the conditions for rebate of royalties prescribed in the Ordinance on Royalties and guiding documents currently in force to estimate by themselves rebatable royalties amounts in the month for determining the payable royalties amount in the month and for making declarations.

9. Column (10): Payable royalty amount arising in the period

To fill in this column the data on the payable royalty amounts in the month for various kinds of natural resources, which are determined to be the royalties amount arising in the period (column 8) minus the estimated rebatable royalties amount (column 9).

Part III

GUIDANCE ON MAKING ROYALTY  SELF-FINALIZATION DECLARATIONS

(Form No. 02/TNg)

Business establishments engaged in exploiting natural resources shall make tax self-finalization declarations for determining the royalties amounts actually payable in the year upon year-end or termination of exploitation contracts or in the cases of merger, consolidation, division, separation, dissolution, bankruptcy, transformation of ownership, assignment, sale, contracting or lease of state enterprises. Such declaration shall be made as follows:

- To declare each kind of natural resource on a line corresponding to each element of the column. For columns (2), (3), (6) and (7), to make similar declaration as guided in Part II.

- To enter into columns (4), (5) and (8) the data actually arising in the year.

- For cases of natural resource tax rebate, business establishments shall determine rebatable royalties amounts in the year according to actual figures and declare such amounts in column (9). At the same time, they must compile dossiers of application for royalties rebate and send them to the tax office, serving as a basis for determining rebatable royalties amounts.

The total figure of relevant elements in the columns shall reflect the annual amount self-finalized by business establishments. Dark-color boxes shall be left blank.

Form No. 01/TNg

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
-------------

ROYALTY DECLARATION

[01] Tax period: Month.............. year 200...

[03] Name of business establishment:.........................................................................,

[04] Head office address:...........................[05] Precinct/District:............................[06] Province/City ..................................

[07] Telephone:...................................... [08] Fax:...................................  [09] E-mail:.............................................................

[10]  Place of exploitation of natural resource:..........................................................................................................................

Unit of calculation: VND

I undertake that the above-declared data are truthful and I shall be answerable before law for the declared data.

Note: For natural water used for hydropower generation, the volume (column 4) is the volume of generated hydropower and the unit of calculation (column 3) is KW/h.

Form No. 02/TNg

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
-------------

ROYALTY FINALIZATION DECLARATION

[01] Tax period: Month.............. year 200...

[03] Name of business establishment: ....................................................................................................................................................

[04] Head office address: ..................................[05] Precinct/District:.................................[06] Province/City:.............................................

[07] Telephone:............................................. [08] Fax:.................................................  [09] E-mail:..................................

[10]  Place of exploitation of natural resource: ….......................................................

Unit of calculation: VND

I undertake that the above-declared data are truthful and I shall be answerable before law for the declared data.

Note: For natural water used for hydropower generation, the volume (column 4) is the volume of generated hydropower and the unit of calculation (column 3) is KW/h.