Decree 82/2023/ND-CP amend Decree 120/2016/ND-CP detailing Law on Charges and Fees

DECREE

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees^[1]

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government; and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the November 25, 2015 Law on Charges and Fees;

Pursuant to the June 25, 2015 Law on the State Budget;

Pursuant to the June 13, 2019 Law on Tax Administration;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance;

The Government promulgates the Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees

1. To amend Article 1 as follows:

“Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Decree provides the declaration, collection and remittance of charges and fees; management, use and account-finalization of charges; and responsibilities of state agencies and organizations in the collection, remittance, management and use of charges and fees.”.

2. To amend and supplement the title of, and Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 3 as follows:

Article 3. Declaration, collection and remittance of charges and fees, and account-finalization of charges

1. Charge and fee payers shall declare and pay charges and fees on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis or as soon as they arise; pay charges and fees to collecting organizations or the State Treasury in the following forms: To pay directly in cash or via credit institutions or payment service providers and pay in other law-specified forms. Based on nature and characteristics of each charge or fee, competent state agencies specified in Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on Charges and Fees shall determine appropriate payment forms and declaration and payment periods of charges and fees.

2. Charge- and fee-collecting organizations shall declare and remit charge and fee revenues as follows:

a/ On a daily, weekly or monthly basis, charge-collecting organizations shall transfer charge revenues to the account of charge revenues pending remittance into the state budget opened at the State Treasury, fee-collecting organizations shall transfer fee revenues to the account of fee revenues pending remittance into the state budget or the account of state budget revenues opened at the State Treasury. Depending on the size of a charge- or fee-collecting organization’s revenues and distance from the charge or fee collection place to a state treasury, the competent state agency specified in Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on Charges and Fees shall decide whether the charge-collecting organization transfers charge revenues to the account of charge revenues pending remittance into the state budget or fee-collecting organization transfers fee revenue to the account of fee revenues pending remittance into the state budget or the account of state budget revenues on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

b/ Charge-collecting organizations shall declare and remit charge revenues into the state budget on a monthly basis and carry out account-finalization on an annual basis; fee-collecting organizations shall declare and remit fee revenues into the state budget on a monthly basis in accordance with the Law on Tax Administration, the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration, and the Government’s Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP of October 30, 2022, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020.

c/ Organizations collecting customs charges and fees on in-transit goods, luggage and vehicles, and overseas Vietnamese representative agencies collecting charges and fees shall declare, collect and remit such charges and fees under Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP.

3. Charge- and fee-collecting organizations shall make and issue charge and fee receipts under the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, on invoices and documents, and the Government’s Decree No. 11/2020/ND-CP of January 20, 2020, on the State Treasury-related administrative procedures.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clauses 1 and 3, Article 4 as follows:

“1. Charges revenues collected for services provided by state agencies shall be remitted into the state budget. In case state agencies are allowed to have their operating expenses covered by charge revenues, such charge revenues shall be deducted at the rate determined under Article 5 of this Decree, the remainder (if any) shall be remitted into the state budget.

State agencies allowed to have their operation expenses covered by charge revenues include:

a/ State agencies implementing the financial mechanism under the Government’s Decree No. 130/2005/ND-CP of October 17, 2005, on the regimes of autonomy and accountability in the use of state payrolls and administrative management funds for state agencies and the Government’s Decree No. 117/2013/ND-CP of October 7, 2013, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 130/2005/ND-CP of October 17, 2005, and state agencies implementing special financial and income mechanisms under regulations of the Government or Prime Minister.

b/ Overseas Vietnamese representative missions.

c/ Public security and national defense agencies assigned to provide services or perform state management jobs and entitled to collect charges in accordance with the Law on Charges and Fees.”.

“3. Charges revenues collected for services provided by organizations as assigned by competent state agencies may be partly or wholly retained to cover expenses for the service provision and charge collection at the rate determined under Article 5 of this Decree. The remainder (if any) shall be remitted into the state budget. The retained charge amounts constitute turnover of charge-collecting organizations.”.

4. To amend and supplement Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 5 as follows:

“2. Charge revenues retained at charge-collecting organizations under Clause 1 or 2, Article 4 of this Decree shall be used to cover expenses for the service provision and charge collection based on estimates approved by competent agencies for the following contents:

a/ Expenses for the implementation of the autonomy regime (for state agencies) or current expenses (for public non-business units).

- Payments to persons engaged in job performance, service provision or charge collection, including salaries, remuneration, law-specified salary-based allowances and salary-based contributions (except salaries for cadres and civil servants paid from the state budget under the law-specified regimes).

- Expenses for supplies and resources for job performance, service provision and charge collection such as stationeries, office supplies, communication, electricity, water and business-trip allowances under current standards and norms.

- Expenses for regular repair of assets, machinery and equipment directly used in job performance, service provision and charge collection.

- Expenses for purchase of supplies and materials to serve job performance, service provision and charge collection.

- Other expenses related to job performance, service provision and charge collection.

b/ Expenses other than those for the implementation of the autonomy regime (for state agencies) and non-current expenses (for public non-business units)

- Expenses for procurement and extensive repair of assets, machinery and equipment serving job performance, service provision and charge collection.

- Other non-current expenses related to job performance, service provision or charge collection.

3. In addition to the expenses specified in Clause 2 of this Article, charge-collecting organizations being state agencies and public non-business units implementing special financial and income mechanisms under separate regulations of the Government or Prime Minister may use retained charge revenues under regulations of the Government or Prime Minister until the salary reform is carried out under Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW, of the 7^th plenum of the 12^th Party Central Committee, on the reform of the salary policy for cadres, civil servants, public employees, armed forces’ personnel, and employees of enterprises.

4. For charge revenues retained at charge-collecting organizations to cover the  expenses specified in Clause 2 of this Article: State agencies shall comply with the Government’s Decree No. 130/2005/ND-CP, Decree No. 117/2013/ND-CP and the Government’s decrees on the management and use of the state budget for national defense, security and external affairs. Public non-business units shall comply with the Government’s Decree No. 60/2021/ND-CP of June 21, 2021, on the financial autonomy regime applicable to public non-business units. 

5. Annually, charge-collecting organizations (state agencies and public non-business units) shall carry out account-finalization of revenues and expenditures under regulations. After carrying out account-finalization of revenues and expenditures under the law-specified regimes, retained charge revenues that are not used up in the year may be carried forward to the subsequent year for further spending under regulations. After 2 years from the year when the charge revenues are carried forward, if charge revenues are no longer used for spending tasks, charge-collecting organizations shall report such to the related line ministries for reporting to the Ministry of Finance (for charges falling under the competence of the Ministry of Finance, Government, and National Assembly Standing Committee); or to line departments (for charges falling under the competence of People’s Councils of provinces and centrally run cities (below referred to as provincial-level People’s Councils) for reporting to provincial-level People’s Committees, for remittance into the state budget or submission to competent agencies for re-determining retention rates as appropriate.”.

5. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 6 as follows:

“3. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall:

a/ Receive written requests of charge- and fee-collecting organizations in sectors and fields under their management, and examine and submit such written requests to the Government (for charges and fees to be decided by the Government or National Assembly Standing Committee) or send a written notice to the Ministry of Finance for the latter to formulate and submit to the competent authority for promulgation (or promulgate according to its competence) documents on rates and collection, remittance, exemption, reduction and management and use of charges and fees on the list of charges and fees promulgated together with the Law on Charges and Fees.

b/ For a charge or fee that may be collected by more than one organization or local agency (it is not required to issue a separate document for each charge- or fee-collecting organization): Assign functional units to formulate schemes, examine and submit to the Government (for charges and fees falling under the deciding competence of the Government or National Assembly Standing Committee) or send a written notice to the Ministry of Finance for the latter to formulate and submit to the competent authority for promulgation (or promulgate according to its competence) documents on rates and collection, remittance, exemption, reduction and management and use of charges and fees on the list of charges and fees promulgated together with the Law on Charges and Fees.

c/ In case it is necessary to amend, supplement or annul charges and fees on the list of charges and fees promulgated together with the Law on Charges and Fees: Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, formulating schemes for submitting to the Ministry of Finance for the latter to report to the Government for submission to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision.”.

Article 2. To annul Article 7 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing and guiding a number of Articles of the Law on Charges and Fees.

Article 3. Effect

1. This Decree takes effect on January 12, 2024.

2. In case legal documents referred to in this Decree are amended, supplemented or replaced, the amending, supplementing or replacing documents prevail.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decree.-

On behalf of the Government
For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
LE MINH KHAI