Circular No. 136/2018/TT-BTC amends and supplements certain provisions of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC dated February 15, 2017, issued by the Ministry of Finance on the management of cash receipts and payments through the State Treasury system.

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC
dated February 15, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance on managing revenue and expenditure in cash through the State Treasury system in cash through the State Treasury system

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

Pursuant to Decree No. 222/2013/NĐ-CP dated December 31, 2013 of the Government on cash payments;

Implementing Decision No. 241/QĐ-TTg dated February 23, 2018 of the Prime Minister approving the Project to accelerate bank payment for public services: tax, electricity, water, tuition fees, medical expenses, and social welfare programs;

At the proposal of the General Director of the State Treasury;

The Minister of Finance issues this Circular amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC dated February 15, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance on managing revenue and expenditure in cash through the State Treasury system.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC dated February 15, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance on managing revenue and expenditure in cash through the State Treasury system (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC).

1. Clause 4, Article 5 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC shall be supplemented as follows:

"4. Units and economic organizations having accounts at commercial banks shall implement the payment of state budget revenues (NSNN) by means of non-cash payments or depositing cash at commercial banks to transfer into the account of the State Treasury (KBNN)."

2. Clause 1, Article 6 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC shall be amended as follows:

"1. Personal payment items include: salaries; wages; travel allowances; salary supplements; student scholarships; bonuses; collective benefits; expenditures for village cadres; implementation of policies for persons who have rendered meritorious service to the revolution; social work expenditures; retirement pensions and social assistance; lunch money for preschool children and students; other personal payment items.

In cases where personal payments must be made by bank transfer according to the provisions of Directive No. 20/2007/CT-TTg dated August 24, 2007 of the Prime Minister regarding the payment of salaries through bank accounts for individuals receiving salaries from the state budget, the transaction units and KBNN shall make payments through bank accounts as follows:

a) Applicable subjects:

- Civil servants, public officials, and employees of administrative agencies, public institutions, political organizations, political-social organizations, occupational-political-social organizations, social organizations, occupational-social organizations receiving salaries from the state budget; contractual employees receiving salaries from the state budget (excluding temporary and project-based contractual employees).

- Officers, professional military personnel, defense workers, and defense civil servants, contractual laborers under the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security who have registered bank account salary payments with commercial banks (forces within the Secret, Top Secret, and Absolute Secret categories according to the national secret classification regulations shall implement salary payments in accordance with appropriate methods).

- Other individuals receiving salaries from the state budget.

b) Contents of bank account payments, including: salaries, wages, and salary supplements; supplementary income; telephone charges for positions with standard allowances; payments for individuals implementing assigned financial responsibility systems as prescribed, and other personal payments.

c) Transaction units shall select and cooperate with commercial banks to organize contracts regarding the opening and use of unit settlement accounts and guide the beneficiaries specified in Point a, Clause 1 of this Article (hereinafter referred to as beneficiaries) to open settlement accounts at banks to receive the aforementioned personal payments. The contract shall clearly specify the responsibilities of commercial banks in maintaining the confidentiality of account information and transaction information of the unit in accordance with current laws; transferring funds into the settlement accounts of each beneficiary according to the beneficiary payment list of the unit confirmed by KBNN as stipulated in Point d, Clause 1 of this Article or posted on the electronic data exchange portal of KBNN as stipulated in Point e, Clause 1 of this Article (for transaction units under security and defense sectors, commercial banks shall transfer funds into the settlement accounts of beneficiaries based on the beneficiary payment lists provided by the units); the unit's settlement account opened at a commercial bank shall only be used for processing individual payment transfers into the settlement accounts of each beneficiary, and the transaction unit shall not use this account for other purposes; the transaction unit authorizes the commercial bank where the unit opens its settlement account to proactively deduct funds from the unit's settlement account to transfer funds into the settlement accounts of each beneficiary according to the unit's beneficiary payment list.

d) Organizing personal payments through bank accounts:

- When there is a need to pay beneficiaries, the transaction unit shall prepare and submit complete payment documents and vouchers to KBNN (the beneficiary payment list shall be prepared in two copies) to process state budget expenditure control and cash payment control according to prescribed regulations.

- Based on the documents and vouchers submitted by the transaction unit, KBNN shall review and, if conditions are met, proceed to transfer funds into the settlement account of the unit opened at a commercial bank; simultaneously, confirm on one copy of the beneficiary payment list (if the beneficiary payment list consists of two or more pages, it must be stamped by KBNN) and return it to the transaction unit for submission to the commercial bank where the unit has opened its settlement account.

For units under the security and defense sectors, the transaction unit shall bear full responsibility for the content recorded on the payment request documents and shall independently send the unit's beneficiary payment list to the commercial bank where the unit has opened its settlement account, ensuring that only individual payment amounts for beneficiaries are transferred into the unit's settlement account at the bank; the unit shall not transfer other funding into this account.

- Based on the payment list for beneficiaries of the unit confirmed by the State Treasury and the amount in the unit's settlement account, the commercial bank shall process the transfer of funds from the unit's settlement account to the individual settlement accounts according to each beneficiary.

e) In the case where the transacting unit (excluding units under the security and defense sector) participates in public services on the State Treasury's electronic public service information portal, the transacting unit shall prepare complete disbursement documents, sign electronically, and send them to the State Treasury through the State Treasury's electronic public service information portal; in which, the payment list for beneficiaries shall be prepared directly on the State Treasury's electronic public service information portal or uploaded as an electronic file (file) according to the structure announced by the State Treasury during the first participation and updated monthly if there are changes.

The State Treasury controls salary payments according to the prescribed regulations, and if the conditions are met, transfers money into the unit's settlement account at the commercial bank. After receiving the money transferred by the State Treasury, the commercial bank where the unit has its settlement account accesses the State Treasury's Electronic Data Exchange Portal to retrieve the payment list for beneficiaries of the unit and proceeds with transferring money from the unit's settlement account to the individual settlement accounts of each beneficiary.

g) The State Treasury collaborates with the State Bank of Vietnam and commercial banks to survey and evaluate the actual provision of services by commercial banking systems in each locality, report to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and decision on localities that must implement personal payments through accounts in accordance with the actual situation.

Specifically, regarding the implementation of personal payments through accounts by units under the security and defense sector, the State Treasury units coordinate with the transacting units under the security and defense sector to organize implementation based on the proposals of the security and defense units in the locality.”

3. Article 7 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC is amended as follows:

a) Clause 2 is amended as follows:

"2. Units using the State budget register cash withdrawal requirements for each settlement day or for different settlement days, but must clearly specify the quantity and time of cash withdrawal at each settlement day. The registration of cash withdrawal with the State Treasury is carried out in one of the following forms:
a) Registration by phone with authorized staff of the State Treasury (Head of Accounting Department or authorized person for provincial-level State Treasuries; Chief Accountant or authorized person for district-level State Treasuries).
b) Registration through the State Treasury's electronic public service information portal (in cases where the State Treasury has implemented the cash withdrawal registration service via public services).
c) Registration in writing with the State Treasury (according to Form 01 issued together with this Circular)."

b) Clause 4 is amended as follows:

"4. In cases where units using the State budget conduct transactions with the State Treasury opening settlement accounts at commercial banks and immediately withdraw cash on the same working day at the commercial bank for expenditures that require prior cash withdrawal registration according to Clause 1 of this Article or for expenditures not within the scope requiring cash withdrawal at commercial banks, but the unit requests cash withdrawal at the commercial bank, then after controlling State budget expenditure and cash payment according to the prescribed regulations, the State Treasury will transfer the cash withdrawal document electronically to the commercial bank where the State Treasury opens an account for the unit using the State budget to withdraw cash at the commercial bank according to the procedure stipulated in Article 8 of this Circular."

4. Article 8 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC is amended as follows:

"Article 8. Cash Withdrawal at Banks
1. Units using the State budget when conducting transactions with State Treasury units opening settlement accounts at commercial banks and having a need to make cash payments of one hundred million (100,000,000) VND or more in a single transaction, shall withdraw cash at the commercial bank where the State Treasury unit opens an account according to the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article, except for the following cases:
a) The unit has both a deposit into the State Treasury and a cash payment in the same transaction, ensuring that after offsetting, the actual cash payment at the State Treasury does not exceed one hundred million (100,000,000) VND.
b) The State Treasury unit directly pays compensation or support to citizens upon the request of the competent authority.
2. Cash withdrawal procedures at banks:
a) Units using the State budget are responsible for accurately recording full information (name; address; ID card number and date of issuance or military force identification certificate or citizen identity card or passport still valid) of the cash recipient (unit staff) on the payment request documents sent to the State Treasury.
b) The State Treasury controls State budget expenditure and cash payment according to the prescribed regulations, and if the conditions are met, transfers the cash withdrawal document according to the bilateral electronic payment process to the commercial bank where the State Treasury opens an account to request the commercial bank to provide cash to the unit using the State budget. On the State Treasury's cash withdrawal document, all information about the unit's cash recipient as specified in Point a of this Clause must be recorded.
c) Based on the cash withdrawal document transferred by the State Treasury and the ID card or military force identification certificate or citizen identity card or passport still valid of the cash recipient, the commercial bank where the State Treasury opens an account processes the cash issuance to the unit using the State budget (through the unit's cash recipient); simultaneously, reports a debit to the State Treasury according to the bilateral electronic payment process between the State Treasury and the commercial bank.
3. The entity using the State budget funds as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article shall be responsible for processing cash withdrawal procedures at commercial banks on the same day it receives the cash withdrawal documents from the Treasury Bank (KBNN) to transfer to commercial banks; simultaneously, cooperate to complete all required procedures according to the bank's requirements when receiving cash from commercial banks. The entity using the State budget funds shall bear full responsibility for managing, preserving, transporting, and utilizing the cash received from commercial banks in accordance with the content of expenditures already approved for payment by the Treasury Bank. In case the entity using the State budget funds cannot withdraw cash on the same day the Treasury Bank transfers the cash withdrawal documents to commercial banks, the entity must notify the Treasury Bank so that it can coordinate with the commercial bank where the Treasury Bank has an account to process the cash withdrawal documents transferred according to the bilateral electronic payment procedure between the Treasury Bank and the commercial bank.

5. Clause 1 of Article 9 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC shall be amended as follows:

"1. Management of cash at the provincial Treasury Bank (KBNN) and district-level Treasury Bank (KBNN) (collectively referred to as the provincial-level KBNN and district-level KBNN) shall be carried out according to the quarterly cash reserve limit announced by the provincial-level KBNN."

6. Clause 3 of Article 10 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC shall be amended as follows:

"3. Fees for opening and maintaining a settlement account of the entity at a commercial bank (if applicable); fees for transferring money from the entity's settlement account to each beneficiary's settlement account; various fees for issuing credit cards and annual fees for the entity's credit card (if applicable) shall be accounted for and settled under other expenditure items, sub-items of various fees and charges of entities using the State budget funds. Expenses that public service organizations must pay to banks or intermediary service providers when implementing revenue from public service activities are regular expenses of public service organizations and shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 16/2015/NĐ-CP dated February 14, 2015 of the Government on the self-management mechanism of public service organizations."

7. Clause 3 of Article 11 of Circular No. 13/2017/TT-BTC shall be amended as follows:

"3. The transaction entity is responsible for the accuracy of the payment statement for the entity's beneficiaries; simultaneously, it is responsible for sending the complete and accurate payment statement for the entity's beneficiaries, which has been confirmed by the Treasury Bank, to the commercial bank where the entity has a settlement account in accordance with Clause 1 of Article 6 of this Circular. In case the transaction entity participates in public services on the KBNN's electronic public service information portal, the entity must inform the commercial bank where the entity has a settlement account to access the KBNN's electronic data exchange portal to retrieve the payment statement for the entity's beneficiaries."

Article 2. Effective Date

1. This Circular takes effect from April 1, 2019. In cases where the legal documents cited for application in this Circular are amended, supplemented, or replaced by new documents, implementation shall be in accordance with the provisions of the amended, supplemented, or replacing documents.

2. The Treasury Bank (KBNN), relevant agencies, units, organizations, and individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.