Legal Document Updates in English (16/2011)

CARGOES IN INTERNATIONAL MULTIMODAL
TRANSPORTATION MUST HAVE CUSTOM SEALS
 

On April 04, 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 45/2011/TT-BTC regulating customs formalities for cargoes in international multimodal transportation.

Accordingly, Cargoes in international multimodal transportation (hereinafter called as cargoes for short) must go through customs formalities and be subject to customs supervision in the course of preservation in, and transportation via the Vietnamese territory; cargoes must be transported according to the right routes, the right border gates and delivered to the consignees at the border gates or inland clearance depots (ICD) inscribed in the multimodal transportation vouchers.

Cargoes must be stored in containers or assorted transport means or special-use vehicles, which meet the requirements on customs sealing. For super-long or super-weighty cargoes, or cargoes being transport means, which cannot be sealed up, the Branches of Customs shall confirm on the list of cargoes in international multimodal transportation and the international multimodal transportation operators

or the carriers must take responsibility before law for keeping intact the cargoes throughout the transportation and preservation process in Vietnam.

Cargoes transported from overseas delivered to their consignees outside the Vietnamese territory shall be exempted from actual inspection, except for cases where the smuggling.

Cargoes transported from overseas to Vietnam and delivered to their consignees in the Vietnamese territory must go through customs formalities according to current provisions at the Customs Branches of the border gates or the Customs Branches of inland clearance depots (ICD) inscribed in the multimodal transportation vouchers. The customs formalities for cargoes imported shall comply with the provisions applicable to correlative imported cargoes.

This Circular takes effect on May 19, 2011 and annuls the Circular No.125/2004/TT-BTC dated 12/24/2004 of the Ministry of Finance guiding customs formalities for cargoes in international multimodal transportation.

PAY 2% VAT FOR POSTPAID TELECOMMUNICATIONS
SERVICES REVENUE
 

On March 15, 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 35/2011/TT-BTC guiding some contents on value-added tax (VAT) on telecommunications services.

Within that, In case a telecommunications service business commercially provides postpaid telecommunications services in provinces and/or centrally run cities other than that in which its head office is based and establishes dependent cost-accounting branches that pay VAT by the credit method and join in providing these telecommunications services in such localities.

VAT amounts payable in the localities in which its dependent cost-accounting branches are based shall be determined to be 2% (for postpaid telecommunications services subject to the VAT rate of 10%) of revenues (exclusive of VAT) from postpaid telecommunications services in these localities.

Monthly, after completing the comparison of figures on telecommunications connection service charges, telecommunications service businesses shall make out value-added invoices and declare and pay VAT according to current regulations.

The time limit for completing the comparison complies with economic contracts between telecommunications service businesses but must not exceed 2 months counting from the month in which telecommunications connection service charges arise. 

In case a telecommunications service business completes the comparison late, resulting in the making out of value-added invoices for the provision of telecommunications connection service after the above time limit, it shall be sanctioned for such tax-related violation under current regulations. The time for calculating fines on late VAT payment is the date following the deadline for submission of tax declaration dossiers for telecommunications connection service charges of which the comparison is completed late.

FORMALLY USE E-INVOICES FROM MAY 1^st
 

On March 14, 2011, the Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 32/2011/TT-BTC guiding the creation, issuance and use of e-invoices for goods sale and service provision.

According to this Circular, E-invoices shall be created, billed and processed in the computer system of an organization having a tax identification number upon sale of goods or provision of services and stored in computers of involved parties under the law on e-transactions. Invoices which are billed in paper but processed, transmitted or stored in e-devices are not e-invoices.

An e-invoice is legally valid when it fully satisfies the following conditions:  reliability for the integrity of information contained in the e-invoice is assured. Criteria for information integrity evaluation are completeness and intactness except changes in appearance arising in the exchange, storage or display of an e-invoice; information contained in an e-invoice can be accessed and used in complete form when necessary.

A seller that chooses to use e-invoices for goods sale or service provision shall notify a buyer of the format of its e-invoices, the mode of transmission and receipt of e-invoices between the seller and buyer.

A goods seller or service provider which creates e-invoices must satisfy the following conditions: Being an economic organization or being an economic organization; Having a place and lines for information transmission and communication networks and transmission devices; Having qualified and capable personnel for creating, billing and using e-invoices under regulations; Having e-signature under law; Having goods sale or service provision software; Having processes for backup, recovery and storage of data.

Before creating e-invoices, an organization shall issue a decision on application of e-invoices (made according to a form provided in the Appendix to this Circular, not printed herein) and send it to its managing tax office in hard copy or electronically through the tax office’s website and take responsibility for this decision.

This Circular takes effect on May 1, 2011. Contents other than those guided in this Circular shall be implemented under the Government’s Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP of May 14, 2010, and the Finance Ministry’s Circular No. 153/2010/TT-BTC of September 28, 2010.

CHARTER CAPITAL OF OVER ONE (01) BILLION VND
CAN CREATE SELF-PRINTED INVOICES
 

The Ministry of Finance issued the Circular No. 13/2011/TT-BTC dated February 08, 2011 amending and supplementing Circular No. 153/2010/TT-BTC of September 28, 2010, guiding the Government’s Decree No. 51/2010/ND-CP of May 14, 2010, on goods sale and service provision invoices.

Accordingly, Points a and b, Clause 1, Article 6 of Circular No. 153/2010/TT-BTC are amended in the open direction to the entities eligible to print invoices by themselves. In particular, enterprises with a charter capital of one (01) billion VND or higher actually contributed at the time of notifying the issuance of invoices instead of five (05) billion VND as regulated in the Circular No. 153.

Operating businesses other than those defined at Point a of this Clause may themselves print invoices for sale of goods and provision of services when fully satisfying the following conditions: Having obtained a tax identification number;

Having turnover from goods sale and service provision; Having equipment systems (computers, printers, cash registers) for printing and making out invoices upon sale of goods or provision of services; Being accounting units as defined in the Accounting Law and having a goods sale and service provision software linked with the accounting software to enable automatic transfer of invoice data to the accounting software (or database) at the time of making out invoices.

Besides, organizations are not being sanctioned for tax-related violations or having been sanctioned for tax-related violations with total paid fines of less than fifty (50) million VND within three hundred and sixty five (365) consecutive days up to the date of notifying the first issuance of self-printed invoices.”

This Circular takes effects on March 25, 2011.

TERMINATION OF GOLD DEPOSIT MOBILIZATION AND GOLD LENDING
 

On April 29, 2011, the State Bank of Vietnam issued the Circular No. 11/2011/TT-NHNN providing for termination of gold deposit mobilization and gold lending of the credit institutions.

Accordingly, Credit institutions are not entitled to loan in gold to clients and other institutions (including the credit contracts signed but not released or released but not be up; not to send gold at other credit institutions; not to perform trust operations, investment and other forms of credit in gold.

Credit institutions are not mobilized capital in gold, except for issuing short-term gold certificates to pay for gold at the request of clients when collection of gold and cash balance is not sufficient to pay. The issuance of short-term gold certificates of credit institutions shall end on May 01, 2012.

This Decree also regulates that credit institutions are not converted the previous mobilized capital in gold into Vietnam dong and other monetary forms. For the capital in gold have been converted into money must be settled later than June 30, 2011.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, the purpose of issuing the Circular No. 11/2011/TT-NHNN is to reduce dollarization in the economy, restrict the speculation in order to stabilize foreign exchange market (foreign currencies, gold), reduce payment method by gold in circulation.