Circular No. 03/2018/TT-BTC amends and supplements certain provisions of Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016, of the Ministry of Finance on the level of collection, exemption, payment, management, and use of fees for telecommunications operation rights and licensing fees for telecommunications business licenses and telecommunications service licenses.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTCdated November 14, 2016 of the Ministry of Finance on the level of fees, exemptions, collection, payment, management, and use of telecommunications operation rights fees and business license issuance service fees for telecommunications services and telecommunications business licensesexemption, collection, payment, management and use of fees for the right to operate telecommunications and fees for issuing licenses to operate telecommunications services and telecommunications business licensestelecommunications and fees for issuing business licenses for telecommunications servicesand telecommunications business licenses

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

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

Pursuant to the Law on Telecommunications dated November 23, 2009;

Pursuant to Decree No. 25/2011/NĐ-CP dated April 6, 2011; Decree No. 81/2016/NĐ-CP dated July 1, 2016 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Telecommunications Law;

Pursuant to Decree No. 120/2016/NĐ-CP dated August 23, 2016 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to Decree No. 87/2017/NĐ-CP dated July 26, 2017 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Tax Policy,

AND organize credit institutions, foreign bank branches are responsible for organizing the implementation of this Circular.The Minister of Finance hereby issues this Circular amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016 on the level of fees, exemptions, collection, payment, management, and use of telecommunications operation rights fees and business license issuance service fees for telecommunications services and telecommunications business licenses.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTC dated November 14, 2016

1. Amending and supplementing the Fee and Charge Table for Telecommunications Operation License Issuance issued together with Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTC: Appendix attached hereto.

2. Amending and supplementing Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 5 of Circular No. 273/2016/TT-BTC as follows:

“1. Telecommunications service provision fee

a) Telecommunications service revenue used as the basis for calculating the fee shall be implemented according to the provisions of Article 29 of Decree No. 25/2011/NĐ-CP dated April 6, 2011 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Telecommunications Law, Circular No. 21/2013/TT-BTTTT dated December 18, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications on telecommunications service revenue, and Circular No. 01/2016/TT-BTTTT dated January 25, 2016 of the Minister of Information and Communications amending and supplementing certain provisions of Circular No. 21/2013/TT-BTTTT dated December 18, 2013. In cases where enterprises do not account for telecommunications service revenue according to the above regulations, telecommunications service revenue is determined as sales revenue from providing telecommunications services in financial statements (including sales revenue from selling cards).

b) Quarterly, based on quarterly telecommunications service revenue data according to point a, Clause 1 of this Article, enterprises calculate the amount of fee payable using the following formula:

Amount of fee payable = Telecommunications service revenue for the quarter x 0.5%.

The time of fee payment is the same as the time of submitting the quarterly telecommunications service revenue report.

c) Annually, based on annual telecommunications service revenue data, enterprises calculate the amount of fee payable using the following formula:

Annual amount of fee payable = Annual telecommunications service revenue x 0.5%.

c.1) In case the annual amount of fee payable is higher than the sum of the four quarterly amounts, enterprises must pay the difference to the collecting organization at the time of submitting the annual report. If the annual amount of fee payable is lower than the sum of the four quarterly amounts, enterprises can offset the difference against the fee payable for the next quarter.

c.2) In case the annual amount of fee payable calculated based on telecommunications service revenue (revenue x 0.5%) is lower than the minimum fee rate specified in the Fee Table, enterprises must pay the difference to the collecting organization.

c.3) In case enterprises are granted telecommunications service provision licenses (including new grants, amendments, or supplements to licenses) after January 1 each year; licenses expire or are revoked before January 1 of the following year (operating less than a full year):

The minimum fee in this case = Minimum annual fee (specified in the Fee Table) x Number of months subject to fee/12.

Where: The number of months subject to fee is counted from the month following the month the license was granted (including new grants or amendments/supplements to licenses) to the end of the month the license expires or is revoked (including revocation when amending or supplementing the license). If the license is granted and expires or revoked in different years, the number of months subject to fee for the year of grant is counted from the month following the month the license was granted to the end of December of that year; the number of months subject to fee for the year of expiration or revocation is counted from January to the end of the month the license expires or is revoked.

Example 1: Enterprise A was granted a telecommunications service provision license from March 15, 2018 to October 15, 2018 when the license was revoked: The number of months subject to fee is 7 months, from April to October.

Example 2: Enterprise B was granted a telecommunications service provision license on March 15, 2018: The number of months subject to fee in 2018 is 9 months, from April to December. For the following year, the number of months subject to fee starts from January.

Example 3: Enterprise C was granted a telecommunications service provision license before 2018, and the license was revoked on June 15, 2018: The number of months subject to fee in 2018 is 6 months, from January to June.

2. Public Telecommunication Network Establishment Fee: Telecommunications enterprises pay annually, within the first quarter.

a) In case enterprises are granted public telecommunication network establishment licenses after January 1 each year or licenses expire before January 1 of the following year (operating less than a full year):

Amount of fee payable = Annual fee rate x Number of months subject to fee/12.

In case enterprises are granted public telecommunication network establishment licenses after January 1: The first payment deadline is the last day of the month following the month the license was granted.

b) In case licenses are amended or supplemented and the public telecommunication network establishment fee differs from the fee applied to the previously granted license:

Amount of fee payable = Fee payable based on the old license (Annual fee rate x Number of months subject to fee/12) + Fee payable based on the new license (Annual fee rate x Number of months subject to fee/12).

Any increase (or decrease) in the fee will be offset against the fee payable for the next year.

Example 4: Enterprise D has been granted a license to establish a terrestrial fixed public telecommunication network without using radio frequency bands, with a maximum of subscribers in a province or centrally-administered city: The annual fee payable is 100 million VND.

As of September 15, 2018, Enterprise D was granted by the Ministry of Information and Communications a permit to amend and supplement; expanding the scope of establishing public telecommunications networks from within one province or centrally governed city to thirty provinces or centrally governed cities. The fee applicable for the amended and supplemented permit is six hundred million VND per year.

The amount of fee that Enterprise D must pay in 2018 is two hundred twenty-five million VND, including: The amount of fee payable based on the old permit is seventy-five million VND (= one hundred million VND x 9/12); The amount of fee payable based on the new permit is one hundred fifty million VND (= six hundred million VND x 3/12).

The number of months for calculating fees under this clause shall be applied according to the provisions at point c.3, Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 2. Implementation

1. This Circular takes effect from March 1, 2018.

2. Prior to the date this Circular takes effect, enterprises that have been granted permits to provide non-revenue-generating telecommunications services and have had their permits revoked by decision shall not be required to pay the telecommunications operation rights fee.

3. The fee for repairing and maintaining submarine telecommunications cables at point 4 (b) Clause 2 Section II Table of Fee and Stamp Duty Rates for Telecommunications Operation Licenses shall apply from January 1, 2017.

4. During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, organizations and individuals are advised to promptly report them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and guidance./.