CIRCULAR

PRESCRIBING FEES FOR APPRAISAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION AND IMPROVEMENT PLANS BY CENTRAL-LEVEL AUTHORITIES, COLLECTION, TRANSFER, MANAGEMENT AND USE THEREOF

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

Pursuant to the Law on Minerals dated November 17, 2010;

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

Pursuant to the Law on Environmental Protection dated November 17, 2020;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 on elaboration of the Law on fees and charges;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020 on elaboration of the Law on Tax Administration; the Government's Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP dated October 30, 2022 providing amendments to the Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP;

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Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 87/2017/ND-CP dated July 26, 2017 defining functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam;

At the request of the Director of the Tax Policy Department;

The Minister of Finance of Vietnam promulgates a Circular prescribing fees for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans by central-level authorities, collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. This Circular stipulates fees for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans carried out by central-level authorities as prescribed in Article 36 of the Government’s Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP dated January 10, 2022, the collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

2. This Circular applies to payers, collectors, and other organizations and individuals involved in the payment and collection of fees for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans carried out by central-level authorities.

Article 2. Payers and collectors

1. Payers are organizations and individuals that request central-level authorities to appraise their environmental remediation and improvement plans.

2. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment or regulatory authorities that are assigned by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to appraise environmental remediation and improvement plans shall collect appraisal fees as prescribed in this Circular.

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Fees for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans are provided for in the following table:

No.

Project’s total investment (VND billion)

Fee (VND million)

1

Up to 10

6,0

2

Exceeding 10 to 20

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3

Exceeding 20 to 50

15,0

4

Exceeding 50 to 100

27,0

5

Exceeding 100 to 200

30,0

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Exceeding 200 to 500

39,0

7

Exceeding 500 to 1.000

44,0

8

Exceeding 1.000 to 1.500

48,0

9

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49,0

10

Exceeding 2.000 to 3.000

51,0

11

Exceeding 3.000 to 5.000

53,0

12

Exceeding 5.000 to 7.000

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13

Exceeding 7.000

61,0

Article 4. Fee declaration and transfer

1. Payers shall pay fee amounts as prescribed in Article 3 of this Circular to collectors when they submit applications for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans in the forms prescribed in the Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC dated December 22, 2022 of the Minister of Finance of Vietnam prescribing forms and time limits for collection, transfer and declaration of fees and charges within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam.

2. Collectors shall transfer total amount of fees collected in the previous month to the dedicated account opened at the State Treasury by the 05^th of each month. Collectors shall declare, collect, transfer and make statements of fees in accordance with the provisions of the Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC.

Article 5. Management and use of fees 

1. Each collector shall transfer the entire amount of collected fees to state budget. Expenditures on appraisal and fee collection shall be covered by funding derived from state budget and specified in the collector’s cost estimate according to policies and levels of state budget expenditures as prescribed by laws.

2. If the collector is a regulatory authority allowed to retain a portion of collected fees to cover its operating expenses as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 4 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016, it shall be allowed to retain 70% of total amount of collected fees for covering its expenses incurred during appraisal and fee collection, and transfer the remaining amount of collected fees (30%) to state budget.

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b) After making annual statements of revenues and expenses, the unused amount of retained fees in a year shall be carried forward to the following year for covering the collector’s expenses as prescribed; at the end of 02 years of fee carryforward, the unused amount of fees shall be paid to state budget.

Article 6. Implementation

1. This Circular comes into force from March 20, 2023.

2. The Circular No. 35/2017/TT-BTC dated April 25, 2017 of the Minister of Finance of Vietnam prescribing fees for appraisal of environmental remediation and improvement plans and modified environmental remediation and improvement plans by central-level authorities, collection, transfer, management and use thereof is abrogated.

3. Other contents concerning the collection, transfer, management and use of appraisal fees, receipts, and disclosure of regulations on collection of appraisal fees which are not mentioned in this Circular shall comply with regulations of the Law on fees and charges, the Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, the Law on tax administration, the Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020, the Government’s Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP dated October 30, 2022, the Government’s Decree No. 11/2020/ND-CP dated January 20, 2020, the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020, the Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC dated September 17, 2021 of the Minister of Finance, and the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP dated October 19, 2020.

4. During the implementation of this Circular, if any legislative documents referred to in this Circular are amended or superseded, the new ones shall apply.

5. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam for consideration./.

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