Official Dispatch No. 5362/TCT-CS dated December 14, 2015 of the General Department of Taxation on introduction to Circular No. 195/2015/TT- BTC dated November 24, 2015 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the Decree No. 108/2015/ND-CP dated October 28, 2015 of the Government guiding a number of Articles of the Law on Special Excise Duty and the Law on amending the Law on Special Excise Duty

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION

Official Dispatch No.5362/TCT-CSdated December 14,2015of the General Department of Taxation on introduction to Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC

To: Departments of Taxation of central-affiliated cities and provinces

On November 24, 2015, the Ministry of Finance promulgated Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC to provide guidelines for the Government s Decree No. 108/2015/NĐ-CP dated December 28, 2015 on guidelines for some Article of the Law on special excise duty (SET) and the Law on Amendments to the Law on special excise duty. The Circular comes into force from January 01, 2016. Some new contents of Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC:

1. Taxable prices

a) Taxable prices for imported goods (except for gasoline) sold by the importer:

The selling price exclusive of VAT is determined in accordance with regulations of law on VAT; environmental protection tax is determined in accordance with regulations of law on environmental protection tax.

b. The limit on taxable prices is reduced from 10% to 7%; identification of trading establishments is also specified:

Where an importer of goods subject to SET (except for cars having fewer than 24 seats and gasoline), or a manufacturer of goods subject to SET (except for cars having fewer than 24 seats) sells such goods to trading establishments, taxable prices are selling prices imposed by such importer or manufacturer and must not fall below 7% of the average price of products sold by the trading establishments in the month.

If the selling prices imposed by the importer of goods subject to SET (except for cars having fewer than 24 seats and gasoline), or a manufacturer of goods subject to SET (except for cars having fewer than 24 seats) fall below 7% of the average price of products sold by the trading establishments in the month, the taxable price shall be imposed by a tax authority in accordance with regulations of law on tax administration.

The aforementioned trading establishments must not have a parent company-subsidiary company relationship with the importer or manufacturer, or have the same parent company as the importer or manufacturer, and must be the first link of the distribution chain that has a sale contract with the importer or manufacturer, or with the parent company or a subsidiary that has the same parent company as the importer or manufacturer of goods subject to SET. The parent company-subsidiary company relationship shall be determined in accordance with the Law on Enterprises.

c. Amendments to regulations on taxable prices where an importer, manufacturer, or assembler sells cars having fewer than 24 seats to trading establishments:

With regard to imported cars having fewer than 24 seats, the taxable price is the selling price imposed by the importer which must not fall below 105% the cost price of an imported car. Cost price of an imported car = price on which import duty is imposed+ import duty (if any) + SET at importation. If the selling price imposed by the importer is lower than 105% of the cost price of an imported car, the taxable prices shall be imposed by a tax authority in accordance with regulations of law on tax administration.

The taxable price of a cars having fewer than 24 seats manufactured or assembled in Vietnam is the selling price of the same type of products manufactured which must not fall below 7% of the average price imposed by the trading establishments. The average price imposed by trading establishments for comparison is the selling price of a car without additional features requested by the customer. If the selling price imposed by the manufacturer or assembler is lower than 7% of the average price of the same type products sold by the trading establishment in the month, the taxable price shall be imposed by a tax authority in accordance with regulations of law on tax administration.

d. Taxable prices for tobacco are clarified as follows:

The taxable prices for goods/services specified in Clause 1 through 9, Article 5 of Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC are inclusive of surcharges (if any) imposed by manufacturers or sellers. Taxable prices of tobacco are inclusive of mandatory contributions and supportive budget specified in the Law on Prevention of harmful effects of tobacco.

2.SET deduction:

A taxpayer that manufactures goods subject to SET from materials subject to SET may deduct the paid SET on materials imported or purchased from another domestic manufacturer from the SET payable. Deductible SET is equal to SET on the amount of materials used to manufacture the goods that are sold. SET that remains after deduction in the period shall be carried forward to the next period.

For biofuel, the amount of deductible SET in the period depends on the amount of paid SET on a unit of material purchased in the previous period for manufacturing of biofuel.

Payers of SET on goods subject to SET at importation (except for gasoline) may deduct SET paid at importation from SET payable on goods sold domestically.  Deductible SET is equal to SET on goods subject to SET that are sold after import, and must not exceed the SET on goods sold domestically.  The taxpayer may include SET that remains after deduction because of a force majeure event in expenses when calculating corporate income tax.

Conditions for deducting SET:

-When importing materials subject to SET to manufacture goods subject to SET, and when importing goods subject to SET, the receipt for SET payment at importation is the basis for SET deduction.

-If materials are purchased from a domestic manufacturer:

+ A sale contract which specifies that the materials are directly manufactured by the seller; copies of the Certificate of Business Registration of the seller which bears the seller’s signature and seal.

+ Bank transfer receipts.

+ VAT invoices. The amount of SET paid by the buyer when buying materials equals (=) taxable price multiplied by (x) SET rate, where:

SET payable is calculated as follows:

If SET payable or paid SET on the quantity of materials used for manufacturing of goods sold in the period, the figures of the previous period may be used to calculate deductible SET and the actual amount shall be determined at the end of the quarter or year. In any case, deductible SET must not exceed the SET on the quantity of materials set out in technical regulations applied to such products. The manufacturer must register such technical regulations with the supervisory tax authority.

3.Places for manufacturers of bio-fuel to declare and pay SET:

Enterprises permitted to manufacture E5 and/or E10 shall declare and deduct SET at tax authorities in charge of the areas where their headquarters are located. SET on E5 and E10 procedures remains after deduction may be offset against SET payable on other goods/services.

4.Additional documents to SET declaration:

SET payers shall use form No. 01/TTĐB (SET declaration) and form No. 01-1/TTĐB (Deductible SET on purchased materials and imported goods) enclosed to Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC.

5.Amendments guidelines for cases in which goods/services are not subject to SET:

-Goods imported from abroad into a free trade zone, goods sold to a free trade zone from inland and used within the free trade zone, goods traded between free trade zones, except for: goods taken into a free trade zone having residents, not hard fences, and passenger cars having fewer than 24 seats.

-Aircraft, cruise ships used for passenger transport, cargo transport, and tourism services, and aircraft serving national defense and security purposes.

Above are some amendments of Circular No. 195/2015/TT-BTC. Difficulties that arise during the implementation should be reported to General Department of Taxation for consideration./.

For the Director

The Deputy Director

Cao Anh Tuan