Joint Circular No. 121/2014/TTLT-BTC-BKHCN guiding the preparation of budget estimates, management, use, and settlement of funds for the regular functions of public science and technology organizations

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for regular operational expenses according to the functions of public scientific and technological organizations

 in accordance with their functions

 of public scientific and technological organizations

_______________

Pursuant to Decree No. 215/2013/NĐ-CP dated December 23, 2013, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to Decree No. 20/2013/NĐ-CP dated February 26, 2013 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003, promulgated by the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on State Budget;

Pursuant to Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP dated September 5, 2005 of the Government on the self-management and self-responsibility mechanism of public scientific and technological organizations; Decree No. 96/2010/NĐ-CP dated September 20, 2010 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP dated September 5, 2005 of the Government on the self-management and self-responsibility mechanism of public scientific and technological organizations and Decree No. 80/2007/NĐ-CP dated May 19, 2007 of the Government on scientific and technological enterprises;

The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Science and Technology jointly issue this Circular guiding the preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of accounts for regular operational expenses according to the functions of public scientific and technological organizations.

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

Thông tư này quy định chi tiết khoản 4 Điều 38 Luật Thủy sản số 18/2017/QH14 đã được sửa đổi, bổ sung tại điểm c khoản 21 Điều 14 Luật số 146/2025/QH15.

a) This Circular guides the preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of accounts for state budget funds supporting public scientific and technological organizations to carry out regular tasks according to their functions.

b) This Circular does not apply to scientific and technological tasks as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 25 of the Law on Science and Technology.

Thông tư này áp dụng đối với tổ chức, cá nhân có liên quan đến hoạt động kinh doanh đối tượng thủy sản nuôi chủ lực trên lãnh thổ Việt Nam.

This Circular applies to public scientific and technological organizations (hereinafter referred to as scientific and technological organizations), excluding those scientific and technological organizations that have been converted into scientific and technological enterprises.

For public scientific and technological organizations engaged in basic research, strategic research, policy research, construction of economic and technical standards, serving state administration; public research and development organizations, public science and technology service organizations established after the effective date of Decree No. 96/2010/NĐ-CP dated September 20, 2010 of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP dated September 5, 2005 of the Government on the self-management and self-responsibility mechanism of public scientific and technological organizations and Decree No. 80/2007/NĐ-CP dated May 19, 2007 of the Government on scientific and technological enterprises (Decree No. 96/2010/NĐ-CP), which are provided with regular operational funding from the state budget under the method prescribed in Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 96/2010/NĐ-CP of the Government, shall not prepare a regular operational budget within the budget for implementing regular tasks according to their functions.

Article 2. Requirements for Regular Tasks According to Functions Supported by State Budget Funds

Regular tasks according to the functions of public scientific and technological organizations supported by state budget funds must meet all of the following requirements:

1. Be consistent with the functions and tasks of the organization as specified in the decision on establishment, charter, or organizational and operational regulations of the scientific and technological organization;

2. Be assigned by the competent authority in accordance with regulations and not overlap with the scientific and technological tasks mentioned in Point b, Clause 1, Article 1 of this Circular;

3. The budget for implementing the task must be appropriate to the available state budget funds;

4. Upon completion of the task, there must be acceptance and evaluation of results meeting the requirements of the assigning authority.

Article 3. Establishing the budget estimate for state financial support

The establishment of the budget estimate for regular tasks according to the functions of scientific and technological organizations shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law, Government Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003 guiding the implementation of the State Budget Law (Government Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP), Circulars of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of Government Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP, and current regulations. This Circular provides additional guidance on the following matters:

1. Basis for establishing the budget estimate for state financial support:

a) The list and content of regular tasks according to the functions established by scientific and technological organizations, approved by the supervising authority for ordering and assigning tasks.

b) The number of people participating in each task; the time spent on performing the task, salary coefficients, and other allowances for those participating in the task.

Scientific and technological organizations base their estimates on the content of the tasks to determine the number of participants, positions, and titles within the tasks, the time each person spends on the task, and detail this information in the task description.

The total number of people participating in regular tasks according to the functions of scientific and technological organizations must not exceed the number of staff positions already approved by the competent authority.

c) Economic and technical norms issued by the relevant ministries and sectors and current regulations. In cases where there are no norms for certain expenditures, detailed justifications for the basis of the budget estimate must be provided.

d) Regulations on fees, charges, and other income from scientific and technological organizations.

2. Requirements for establishing the budget estimate:

Annually, based on the procedures and deadlines for establishing the state budget estimate as stipulated by the State Budget Law and related legal documents; based on the guidance provided in this Circular and the current financial expenditure system, scientific and technological organizations are responsible for:

a) Establishing the revenue budget of the unit: establishing the revenue budget for each regular task according to the functions: fees, charges, income from business activities, and other lawful revenues as prescribed by law.

If the unit engages in service activities, it must cover its costs as required by law. Any surplus from the service revenue budget exceeding the service expenditure budget (if applicable) after fulfilling all obligations to the State as prescribed, will be added to the revenue budget to supplement the funding for regular tasks according to the functions of the unit as prescribed.

b) Establishing the expenditure budget: Based on the current legal provisions and the guidance on the content and norms of expenditure set forth in Article 4 of this Circular, scientific and technological organizations are responsible for establishing the detailed expenditure budget needs for each regular task according to the functions, linked to specific contents and products (or results), with clear explanations of the basis for establishing the detailed expenditure budget for each work item.

c) Determining the difference between the revenue budget and the expenditure budget, and the amount of state financial support requested.

d) Consolidating the revenue and expenditure budgets, the amount of state financial support requested for regular tasks according to the functions, into the overall budget of the organization's activities for the year, and submitting them to the supervising authority for consolidation.

3. The supervising authority bases its consideration and determination of specific tasks and funds for each subordinate scientific and technological organization on the situation and capacity of the state budget funds, consolidates these into the overall budget of the organization's activities, and reports to the competent authority as prescribed.

Article 4. Content and Standards of Expenditure

1. Salary expenditure according to the state salary scale, wages, and contributions based on salary for employees (including both direct and indirect labor) performing tasks according to each position and title to carry out regular functions approved by competent authorities, including:

a) Salary and allowances shall be implemented in accordance with current state regulations on salary systems.

b) Wages shall be implemented according to the labor contracts between the head of the science and technology organization (or authorized person) and employees participating in the performance of tasks. Depending on needs and nature of work, the head of the science and technology organization decides the number of workers needed under contract and the payment amount for contracted labor based on actual costs within the unit's budget.

c) Social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance, trade union fees: shall be implemented in accordance with the Social Insurance Law, Health Insurance Law, Trade Union Law, and guiding documents for implementing these laws.

2. Expenditures according to economic and technical standards set by the specialized management ministry and current regulations:

a) Purchase of raw materials, materials, energy: based on tasks and economic and technical standards prescribed by the specialized management ministry.

b) Payment for public services.

c) Office supplies expenses: office supplies, tools, equipment directly serving the execution of tasks.

d) Information dissemination expenses.

e) Conference, seminar expenses, travel expenses shall be carried out in accordance with Circular No. 97/2010/TT-BTC dated July 6, 2010, of the Ministry of Finance stipulating travel expenses and conference organizing expenses for government agencies and public institutions.

f) Rental expenses: renting equipment to perform tasks when the science and technology organization does not have it, hiring domestic labor under contract and at market prices at the location and time of hiring.

g) Repair, maintenance, periodic maintenance, inspection, calibration of assets and equipment serving professional work: shall be implemented in accordance with the Bidding Law and current regulations.

h) Survey and statistics expenses as stipulated in Decree No. 40/2004/NĐ-CP dated February 13, 2004, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Statistics Law, Circular No. 58/2011/TT-BTC dated May 11, 2011, of the Ministry of Finance on managing, using, and settling funds for surveys and statistics.

i) Fee and charge collection expenses shall be carried out in accordance with Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002, of the Government detailing the implementation of the Fees and Charges Ordinance, Decree No. 24/2006/NĐ-CP dated March 6, 2006, of the Government amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002, of the Government detailing the implementation of the Fees and Charges Ordinance, and circulars guiding the decrees.

j) Other direct expenses for task implementation.

3. In cases where there are no established standards for expenditures, the science and technology organization must provide detailed explanations of the basis for building the budget estimate according to the content of the work.

Article 5. Allocation, management, utilization, and settlement of state budget funds for support

The allocation, management, utilization, and settlement of state budget funds to support scientific and technological organizations for the implementation of regular tasks according to their functions shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law and guiding documents for the implementation of the Law. This Circular provides additional guidance on the following matters:

a) Allocation and assignment of budget estimates:

After being authorized to allocate the state budget estimate, central and local state agencies, and first-level budget units shall proceed to allocate and assign the state budget estimate to subordinate scientific and technological organizations (including detailed funding for regular tasks according to their functions for each specific task) after obtaining the review opinion of the same-level financial agency.

b) Utilization and settlement of funds:

At the end of the year, scientific and technological organizations shall compile and settle the funds utilized for regular tasks according to their functions into the annual budget settlement of the unit in accordance with Circular No. 01/2007/TT-BTC dated January 2, 2007, issued by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the examination, verification, and notification of annual settlements for administrative agencies, public service units, organizations supported by the state budget, and budgets at all levels, and current regulations.

Article 6. Responsibilities of the supervising agency and scientific and technological organizations

1. Responsibilities of the supervising agency:

a) Guide and direct subordinate scientific and technological organizations to implement the provisions of this Circular.

b) Approve the list and assign regular tasks according to their functions to scientific and technological organizations through the direct assignment method of science and technology tasks and enhance cost contracting down to final products (or results).

c) Acceptance and evaluation of the results of regular tasks according to their functions assigned to scientific and technological organizations.

d) Handle collective and individual responsibilities in cases where regular tasks according to their functions are not accepted or fail to meet requirements as stipulated; consider not assigning these tasks to scientific and technological organizations in the following year.

đ) Take the lead and coordinate in issuing or proposing competent authorities to issue economic and technical standards as a basis for placing orders and assigning tasks.

e) Take the lead and coordinate with the same-level financial agency to conduct regular annual inspections of the management and utilization of state budget funds for implementing regular tasks according to their functions.

2. Responsibilities of scientific and technological organizations:

a) Develop a list of regular tasks according to their functions in accordance with the guidance of the supervising agency.

b) Allocate personnel directly to carry out regular tasks according to their functions in accordance with their expertise and qualifications to ensure the effectiveness of task implementation.

c) Establish and perfect internal expenditure regulations in accordance with Joint Circular No. 12/2006/TTLT-BKHCN-BTC-BNV dated June 5, 2006, issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Home Affairs guiding the implementation of Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP dated September 5, 2005, of the Government on the mechanism of self-management and self-responsibility of public scientific and technological organizations (Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP) and the provisions of this Circular to apply uniformly within scientific and technological organizations, and submit them to the higher-level supervising agency for reporting and send them to the State Treasury where the organization has its transaction account as a basis for controlling expenditures.

Scientific and technological organizations that have not been approved for organizational restructuring plans or organizational reform plans as stipulated in Decree No. 115/2005/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 96/2010/NĐ-CP must urgently develop and complete such plans to submit for approval by competent authorities. After December 31, 2015, scientific and technological organizations that have not been approved for such plans will not be provided state funds for the implementation of regular tasks according to their functions as stipulated in this Circular.

Article 7. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect from October 8, 2014, and applies to the preparation of the state budget revenue and expenditure estimates for 2015 and subsequent years.

2. During implementation, if the regulatory documents cited for application in this Joint Circular are amended, supplemented, or replaced by new documents, they shall be applied according to the new documents.

3. During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, units are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology for research and resolution./.