Decision 2503/QD-TCHQ in 2018 on the process of settling tax exemption for imported goods under international treaties and agreements between Vietnam and non-governmental organizations issued by the Director General of the General Department of Customs

DECISION

PROMULGATING PROCEDURES FOR PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FOR EXEMPTION OF TAX IMPORTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND AGREEMENTS BETWEEN VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

DIRECTOR GENERAL OF GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Pursuant to the Law on Customs No.54/2014/QH13 dated June 23, 2014;

Pursuant to the Law on Import and Export Duties No.107/2016/QH13dated April 06, 2016;

Pursuant to the Law on International Practice No.108/2016/QH13 dated April 09, 2016;

Pursuant to Decree No.134/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 of the Government on elaboration and enforcement of the Law on Import and Export Duties;

At the request of the Director of Import-Export Duty Department,

HEREBY DECIDE:

Article 1. The procedure for processing of applications for exemption of tax on imports under International Practice and Agreements between the Vietnamese Government and non-governmental organizations (hereinafter referred to as “tax exemption application” or “application”) is issued together with this Decision.

Article 2. This Decision comes into force 15 days after the day on which it is signed.

Article 3. Director of Import-Export Duty Department, Directors of Customs Departments of provinces and cities and Directors of relevant entities affiliated to the General Department of Customs shall take responsibility to implement this Decision./.

PROCEDURE

FOR PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS FOR EXEMPTION OF TAX ON IMPORTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE AND AGREEMENTS BETWEEN VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
(Issued together with Decision No.2503/QD-TCHQ dated August 23, 2018 of Director General of General Department of Customs)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. This procedure provides for tasks to be performed at customs authorities when processing tax exemption application under International Practice to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory (hereinafter referred to as “International Practice”) or Agreements between the Vietnamese Government and Non-governmental organizations (hereinafter referred to as “Agreements”), unless otherwise prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 5 of Decree No.134/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 of the Government.

Article 2. Customs authorities and customs officials who are assigned to process the tax exemption application shall perform their task to the right subjects entitled to tax exemption, tax exemption application and tax exemption procedure as prescribed in Clause 1 and 4 in Article 16 of the Law on Import and Export Duties No.107/2016/QH13, Clause 1, 4, 6, 7 and 8 Article 5 and Clause 1, 4 and 5 Article 29 of Decree No.134/2016/ND-CP dated September 01, 2016 of the Government and instructions herein.

Article 3. The International Practice to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory specified in this Procedure shall be construed as prescribed in Article 2 of the Law on International Practice No.108/2016/QH13 dated April 09, 2016.

Article 4. Time limit for completing tasks of each part in this procedure shall not exceed the time limit prescribed in the working procedure of the General Department of Customs which is issued together with Decision No.3333/QD-TCHQ dated October 2016 of the Director General of General Department of Customs.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Section I. PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS BY GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF CUSTOMS

Article 5. Receiving and processing applications

1. Customs officials shall receive the tax exemption application at the General Department of Customs and record the number of documents provided in such application, stamp incoming Official Dispatches, clearly record the time of application receiving into those Official Dispatches and process application in accordance with regulations on application receiving issued by the General Department of Customs.

2. Archive division of the Import-Export Duty Department shall receive and process the application according to the regulations on receiving incoming applications in the Import-Export Duty Department.

3. The head of Tax Policy Division affiliated to the Import-Export Duty Department shall be assigned to process the application for assignment of application processing given to customs officials.

Article 6. Checking applications

The custom official who is assigned to process and check the application shall perform his/her duty according to the regulations prescribed in Article 2 and 3 herein. To be specific:

1. Briefly check the application and process afterwards

a. In case the tax exemption application or information therein is insufficient, or the person or goods applying for tax exemption is found not qualified for tax exemption under the International Practice or Agreement, the customs official shall send a draft document to the head of Import-Export Duty Department for signing purpose to return such application or request the applicant to provide additional document or notify such applicant that he/her or the goods is not entitled to tax exemption within 3 working days from the day on which the satisfactory application is received.

b. In case the tax exemption application or information therein is sufficient, the customs official shall carry out detailed inspection as prescribed in Clause 2 this Article.

2. Check in detail the tax exemption application and process afterwards

The customs official shall check the tax exemption application and make comparison to see whether the categories and quantity of goods listed the application are consistent with those specified in the International Practice or Agreement. To be specific:

a. In case categories and quantity of tax-free goods are specified in the International Practice or Agreement, the customs official shall carry out the task prescribed in Clause 1 Article 8 herein.

b. In case the International Practice or Agreement does not specify categories and quantity of tax-free goods, the customs official shall send a draft document to the head of Import-Export Duty Department for approval purpose in order to request the applicant to provide an additional list of imported tax-free goods which includes categories and quantity of such goods within 3 working days from the day on which the sufficient application is received.

c. In case categories and quantity of goods applying for tax exemption stated in the list of goods expected for import provided by the applicant cannot be identified whether they are consistent with those specified in the International Practice or Agreement, the customs official shall send a draft document to the head of Import-Export Duty Department for the purpose of obtaining opinions from the professional management authority within 3 working days from the day on which the satisfactory application is received.

d. After completing the task prescribed in Point b and c Clause 2 this Article, the customs official shall follow instructions in Article 7 herein.

Article 7. Processing applications in case the International Practice or Agreement does not specify categories and quantity of tax-free goods 0}

1. Asking for opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in respect of categories and quantity of tax-free goods

The customs officials shall:

- send the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a proposal of categories and quantity of tax-free goods together with the report submitted to the Ministry of Finance

- submit the document for asking opinions from entities affiliated to the Ministry of Finance to the General Department

- Receive and consolidate opinions given by entities affiliated to the Ministry of Finance

- submit the report sent to the Ministry of Finance and the proposal sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the General Department for approval purpose

- submit the document sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Finance for approval purpose

2. Processing the application after obtaining opinions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

According to opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the customs official shall perform the following tasks:

a., In case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs request for advice of the professional management authority, the customs official shall draft an enquiry and send it to the head of General Department and a document asking for advice of the professional management authority in terms of categories and quantity of tax-free goods within 3 working day from the day on which the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is received.

b. In case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not concur with the proposal, the customs official shall sent a notification to the applicant within 3 working days from the day on which the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is received.

c. In case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concurs with the proposal, the customs official shall send a report to the Prime Minister to request approval for categories and quantity of tax-free goods within 3 working days from the day on which the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is received together with the report sent to the General Department and Ministry of Finance.

Article 8. Notifying the result to the applicant

1. In case categories and quantity of tax-free goods are specified in the International Practice or Agreement, within 3 working days from the day on which the satisfactory application is received, the customs official shall send a notification to the head of General Department, the applicant and the Customs Department of province and city in which the applicant's head office is located and request such applicant to:

- provide the list of tax-free goods for the Customs Department of province and city where the applicant's head office is located for it to grant an import quantity monitoring sheet applied to tax-free imports (the duty-free allowance book in the form of leaflet, hereinafter referred to as “the import quantity monitoring sheet”) under instructions provided in Appendix issued thereto in case tax exemption is given according to the import quantity monitoring sheet.

- send the list of tax-free goods to the system of the customs authority in case of electronic tax exemption

2. In case the Prime Minister issue a decision on categories and quantity of tax-free goods, the customs official shall complete the following tasks within 3 working days from the day on which the notification from the Prime Minister is received:

a. If the Prime Minister does not concur with the proposal of categories or quantity of goods, the customs official shall send a notification to the head of General Department for signing purpose then send such notification to the applicant.

b. In case the Prime Minister concurs with the proposal of categories and quantity of tax-free goods, the customs official shall send a notification to the head of General Department for signing before sending such notification to the applicant and Customs Department of the province, city where the applicant's head office is located and request such applicant to:

- provide the list of tax-free goods for the Customs Department of province and city where the applicant's head office is located for it to grant an import quantity monitoring sheet according to Appendix issued thereto in case tax exemption is given based upon the import quantity monitoring sheet.

- notify the list of tax-free goods to the system of the customs authority in case of electronic tax exemption

Section II. PROCESSING OF APPLICATIONS BY CUSTOMS DEPARTMENTS OF PROVINCES

Article 9. Processing the application containing the list of tax-free goods at Customs Departments

1. In case of tax exemption according to the import quantity monitoring sheet:

The Customs Department of province shall grant an import quantity monitoring sheet within 3 working days from the day the satisfactory application is received if receiving the list of tax-free goods provided by the applicant together with a notification of the General Department of Customs.

a) For the case in which the list of tax-free goods provided by the applicant is consistent with the one provided by the General Department of Customs:

The customs official in charge of processing the application at the Customs Department shall make a report associated with 2 original copies of the list of tax-free goods (one submitted by the applicant and one provided by the General Department of Customs), 1 original copy of the import quantity monitoring sheet and a dossier then submit them to the head of Customs Department for approval purpose.

After 2 original copies of the list of tax-free goods and 1 original copy of the import quantity monitoring sheet are signed and verified by the head of the Customs Department, the customs official shall record such list and sheet into a monitoring book and transfer them to the archive department for stamping and issuing purpose then return 1 original copy of the list of tax-free goods and 1 original copy of the import quantity monitoring sheet to the applicant, and keep another original of the list of tax-free goods.

b) For the case in which the list of tax-free goods submitted by the applicant is inconsistent with the one provided by the General Department of Customs:

The customs official who is assigned to process the application at the Customs Department shall make a report associated with a notification sent to the applicant with the aim of notifying the ineligibility for granting the import quantity monitoring sheet and submit them to the head of Customs Department for approval purpose.

After the report and notification are signed, such customs official shall transfer them to the archive department for stamping and issuing purpose to then them to the applicant.

2. In case of electronic tax exemption

When receiving the list of tax-free goods provided by the applicant through the system, the customs official shall process the application and compare the list of tax-free goods submitted by the applicant with the one provided by the General Department of Customs.

a) For the case in which the list of tax-free goods submitted by the applicant is consistent with the one provided by the General Department of Customs:

- The customs official in charge of application processing shall make a report and send it to the head of the customs authority together with the application for approval purpose.

- The general management code granted shall contain the following elements in order: code of registration of the list of tax exemption/registration year/number in case of registration made on the VNACCS (For instance: 34CC-2018-0001).

A general management code refers to a code granted in each case of tax exemption. One case of tax exemption may contain more than one electronic tax exemption item. Monitoring of general management code granting shall be carried out through a book outside of the system and such grant shall be updated into the criteria “general management code” when granting approval for electronic list of tax exemption on the system.

- The customs official shall input the result information into the system and accept the list of tax exemption registered through the CTL function (code A) and give response to the applicant through the system for processing electronic data.

b) For the case in which the list of tax-free goods submitted by the applicant is inconsistent with the one provided by the General Department of Customs:

- The customs official in charge of application processing shall make a report on ineligibility for tax exemption and send it to the head of customs authority together with the application for approval purpose.

- The customs official shall input the result information into the system and refuse the list of tax exemption registered through the CTL function (code N) and give response to the applicant through the system for processing electronic data.

Article 10. Processing of applications by Customs Sub-deparments

If the applicant starts to import goods, the Customs Sub-department which carries outs customs procedures shall check the application and take on the following duties:

1. Not process the tax exemption application in case the goods are imported as authorized or provided according to the wining-bidder document or direct appointment of contractor document; however; the authorization contract and contract for goods supply fail to state that the import duty is not included in the price of goods.

2. In case of goods other than those prescribed in Clause 1 mentioned above:

a. In terms of tax exemption according to the import quantity monitoring sheet:

The customs official shall check the number and date of registration of the list of tax-free goods stated in the customs declaration, update the quantity of goods imported into the original of the import quantity monitoring sheet granted to the applicant and sign for verification purpose as authorized, and store 1 copy of import quantity monitoring sheet containing name and quantity of goods exempted from import tax with import dossier.

b. In terms of electronic tax exemption:

- The customs official shall request the head of customs authority to give tax exemption through the system.

- Such customs official shall accept all information in the declaration and perform next tasks of the customs procedure after the head of customs authority grant approval for the declaration. The system shall automatically deduct the quantity of imported tax-free goods in consistent with the quantity of goods stated in the list of tax-free goods until the entire quantity of goods on the list are imported.

Article 11. Actions taken in case the entire quantity of goods specified on the monitoring sheet is imported

1. When the entire quantity of goods specified in the monitoring sheet is imported, the customs authority carrying out the last customs procedure shall give a verification to the original of import quantity monitoring sheet granted to the applicant, keep 1 copy of such sheet, give another one to the applicant and send the original one to the customs authority which grant the import quantity monitoring sheet.

2. The Customs Department of province and city where the import quantity monitoring sheet is granted shall take responsibility to check and compare goods information in such sheet with the one in the list of import quantity deduction granted as well as handle relevant issues.

Section III. Document retention

Article 12. Storing records at the General Department of Customs

The customs official who is assigned to process the application for tax exemption shall gather all documents provided in such application with the written announcement of the list of tax-free goods and transfer them to the archive department for storage purpose after completing the task prescribed in Article herein.

Article 13. Document retention at Customs Departments

1. After completing the task prescribed in Article 9 herein, the customs official who is assigned to process the application at the place where the import quantity monitoring sheet is granted or to accept the list of goods registered on the system shall retain the document of granting import quantity monitoring sheet.

2. When receiving the response from the Customs Sub-department of the place where the import quantity monitoring sheet is ended, the Customs Department of the place in which such sheet is granted shall compare the implementation of the import quantity monitoring sheet with the document of granting such sheet, liquidate the sheet and retain it together with the document of granting the import quantity monitoring sheet.

---------------

This document is handled by Vinas Doc. Document reference purposes only. Any comments, please send to email: [email protected]