Circular No. 16/2019/TT-BTC guiding the management and use of funds allocated for implementing preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for managing and using funds allocated to implement preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency
Pursuant to the Law on State Audit dated June 24, 2015;
Pursuant to Resolution No. 325/2016/UBTVQH14 dated December 29, 2016 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly regarding the preferential regime for officials and civil servants of the State Audit Agency;

Pursuant to Decree No. 163/2016/ND-CP dated December 21, 2016 of the Government guiding the Law on the State Budget;

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

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;

Pursuant to Decree No. 66/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 12, 2018 of the Government stipulating preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency;

The Ministry of Finance issues this Circular guiding the management and use of funds allocated to implement preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency.

This Circular guides the management and use of funds allocated to implement preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency as prescribed in Appendix 6 of Resolution No. 325/2016/UBTVQH14 dated December 29, 2016 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly regarding the preferential regime for officials and civil servants of the State Audit Agency and Decree No. 66/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 12, 2018 of the Government stipulating preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency.

At the proposal of the Director of the Administrative and Public Service Financial Department;

a) The State Audit Agency;

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

Article 1. Scope of Regulation:

b) Audited agencies and units;

第二条 组织和实施奖励工作的支出水平，如政府第152/2025/NĐ-CP号决定关于分级授权和奖励领域的分权规定

c) Relevant agencies and units.

Article 2. Amounts to be deducted

The State Audit Agency shall deduct 5% from the total amount identified and recommended by the State Audit Agency that has been implemented according to Article 3 of Decree No. 66/2018/NĐ-CP dated May 12, 2018 of the Government stipulating preferential policies for officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency, including:

1. Amounts increased to the state budget from taxes, fees, and other revenues already paid into the state budget or settled through offsetting methods, including:

a) Amounts that entities with obligations to declare and pay to the state budget failed to declare, declared incorrectly, evaded taxes, engaged in tax fraud, or violated other regulations concerning the declaration and payment of the state budget, leading to underpayment of taxes, fees, and charges; land use fees; land rental fees; water surface rental fees; proceeds from the sale of state-owned property; retained earnings after setting aside required reserves according to the regulations of wholly state-owned enterprises; dividends distributed to state-owned shares in joint-stock companies with state capital; reduction in tax refunds; amounts that should have been paid to the state budget but were not paid within the prescribed period and were retained by the entity, which were subsequently recovered and paid into the state budget upon recommendation by the State Audit Agency and approved by the competent authority;

b) Additional tax payments, administrative fines for tax violations, and late payment penalties that were under-calculated or not calculated according to the laws on taxes; these amounts were discovered and recommended for recovery by the State Audit Agency, and the audited entity confirmed and paid them into the state budget;

c) Amounts that the competent authorities should have notified taxpayers to pay to the state budget according to the regulations but did not issue such notifications, and taxpayers did not pay the state budget; these amounts were discovered and recommended for payment by the State Audit Agency, and the taxpayers subsequently paid them into the state budget;

d) Increased revenue to the state budget resulting from recommendations made by the State Audit Agency, such as adjusting downward the value-added tax creditable amount through adjustments to the VAT declaration form; adjusting downward losses through adjustments to the final income tax declaration form when there is a tax liability; implementing recommendations to increase revenue through offsetting excess tax payments against corresponding tax liabilities and other offsets allowed by law;

đ) Amounts paid to the state budget by entities that collected more than the permitted amount or collected without authorization according to the law. Interest generated from these amounts, which originated from the state budget, was discovered and recommended for payment by the State Audit Agency, and the entities subsequently paid them into the state budget.

e) Mineral exploitation rights fees determined to be insufficient by authorized state agencies, which were discovered and recommended for payment by the State Audit Agency, and the entities subsequently paid them into the state budget.

2. Amounts improperly spent from the state budget that have been returned to the state budget (for expenditures that have been settled), including:

a) Incorrect unit prices, quantities, standards, and other discrepancies related to construction projects and investment programs;

b) Using state budget funds for purposes not included in the state budget's expenditure program, not in accordance with assigned tasks, or spending in violation of regulations, standards, and quotas;

c) Using funds outside the state budget for purposes not in line with the intended use of those funds or spending in violation of authority, regulations, standards, and quotas.

3. Improperly spent state budget amounts at points a and b of Clause 2 of this Article, which have been reduced in payment (for the amounts specified in point a, Clause 2, of this Article); reduced in payment, reduced in the next period's budget forecast (for the amounts specified in point b, Clause 2, of this Article) and have been processed by the competent authority to reduce state budget spending according to the recommendation of the State Audit Agency.

4. Excess budget allocations beyond the prescribed quota and incorrect sources identified by the State Audit Agency that have been recovered and paid into the state budget, reduced in payment, or canceled from the budget forecast (reducing state budget spending) include:

3. The amounts improperly spent from the state budget as stipulated in Points a and b, Clause 2 of this Article, which have been identified by the State Audit Agency and recommended for reduced payment (for the amounts specified in Point a, Clause 2 of this Article); reduced payment, reduced deduction from the next period's or subsequent year's budget estimate (for the amounts specified in Point b, Clause 2 of this Article), and have been processed by the competent authority to reduce state budget spending according to the State Audit Agency's recommendations.

4. The funds allocated exceeding the allocation quota and incorrectly sourced, as identified and recommended for recovery and deposit to the state budget, reduced payment, or cancellation of the budget estimate (reduction in state budget spending) by the State Audit Agency include:

a) Excess budget allocations beyond prescribed limits; budget allocations from higher-level budgets that are higher or exceed the amount that lower-level localities, ministries, sectors, or units should receive due to incorrect reporting by lower-level localities, ministries, sectors, or units (incorrect sources, incorrect needs, discrepancies); funds from salary reform identified insufficiently or incorrectly by the unit or competent authority (for localities or units receiving budget subsidies for salary reform), which have been discovered and recommended by the State Audit Agency and processed by the competent authority to recover and pay into the state budget, reduce payments, or cancel the budget estimate (reduce state budget expenditures);

b) Budget allocations made with incorrect sources, not within the scope of state budget expenditures, not in accordance with assigned tasks (whether settled or not), discovered and recommended by the State Audit Agency, which have been paid into the state budget by the unit or processed by the competent authority to deduct from the budget estimate and allocate for repayment; reductions in contract values remaining for investment construction projects under audit.

5. The amount of funds extracted does not include the amount refunded according to the conclusion of the competent authority regarding the recommendation of the State Audit Agency.

Article 3. Use of Extracted Funds for Priority Treatment of the State Audit Agency

The State Audit Agency uses the extracted funds for the following purposes:

1. Encouragement and reward expenses for officials, civil servants, employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency (outside annual rewards stipulated by the Law on Commendation and Reward) not exceeding 0.8 times the state-prescribed salary level, including:

a) Rank-based salary.

b) Allowances:

- Position allowance;

- Over-quota allowance;

- Professional preference allowance as specified in Appendix 4 issued together with Resolution No. 325/2016/NQ-UBTVQH dated December 29, 2016 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the treatment of officials and civil servants of the State Audit Agency.

2. The remaining funds after providing encouragement and rewards for officials, civil servants, employees, and workers of the State Audit Agency shall be used for investing in material infrastructure and enhancing the capacity of the industry, including:

a) Investment costs to expedite the construction progress of the State Audit Agency's office premises when necessary, while the funding according to the Public Investment Law is insufficient; repair, maintenance, renovation, upgrading, expansion of material infrastructure; purchase, repair, maintenance, and upkeep of assets, machinery, equipment, work tools, and transportation means for auditing operations; support operational costs of the State Audit Agency's office premises;

b) Supplementary training, development, seminar, workshop expenses to improve auditing skills; organizing study tours both domestically and internationally for auditors, officials, and workers of the State Audit Agency; scientific research expenses; information technology expenses; expenses for implementing talent attraction policies; auditing activity travel expenses; promoting and disseminating laws related to auditing; enhancing industry capacity;

c) Supplementary expenses for auditing operations; payment for information services supporting auditing activities;

d) Expenses for handling complaints and reports in implementing the conclusions of the State Audit Agency;

đ) Expenses for motivating and encouraging collectives and individuals who actively cooperate in implementing the conclusions and recommendations of the State Audit Agency; cooperation in performing industry tasks;

e) The State Audit Agency proactively uses the extracted funds for expenses as stipulated in this Circular. The expenditure levels for the above items are reviewed and decided by the Chief State Auditor to ensure they are appropriate to actual operations, financial resources, and must be defined in internal expenditure regulations or management and usage regulations for the extracted funds, bearing responsibility for their decisions.

Article 4. Responsibilities of agencies and units

1. State Audit Office and State Audit Teams:

a) When compiling audit results, State Audit Teams shall prepare a summary table of recommendations, detailed according to tax identification number (if available), name, address of the unit, and corresponding contents as prescribed in Clause 1 of Appendix 6 of Resolution No. 325/2016/UBTVQH14 dated December 29, 2016 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and specifically provided for in Article 2 of this Circular, and send it to the State Treasury, simultaneously sending it to the tax management agency (for recommendations to increase tax revenue and other revenues managed by the tax agency);

b) In the audit conclusion, State Audit Teams shall require guidance and request units to clearly record the content and amount on the documents implementing the audit recommendations. The recording content shall be carried out according to the guidelines set forth in Appendix 3 attached to this Circular;

c) Annually, based on the reports from audited units, with supporting documents (attached documents or confirmation letters from relevant agencies) and the report on the implementation of audit recommendations by the State Audit Office, the State Audit Office shall prepare a Summary Table of Implementation of Audit Recommendations for the Year (Appendix 1 issued together with this Circular) nationwide and send it to the State Treasury (both in writing and file data) for verification and confirmation;

d) For recoveries to be remitted to the state budget as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 2 of this Circular, the State Audit Office shall recommend that the recovery be remitted to the budget level corresponding to the funds involved.

2. For audited units, verification units, and related units confirming audit recommendations:

a) When implementing the State Audit Office's recommendations, they must comply strictly with the requirements specified in point b, Clause 1 of this Article in the audit conclusion. In cases where a unit pays money into the state budget before receiving a letter from the State Audit Office, the document should clearly state: "paid into the state budget according to the recommendation of the State Audit Office in the final settlement report...". Documents implementing the State Audit Office's recommendations shall follow the guidelines set forth in Appendix 3 attached to this Circular;

b) In addition to reporting on the implementation of audit recommendations as required by the State Audit Office, annually when preparing the annual settlement report, audited units shall base their report on the documents implementing audit recommendations or confirmation letters from relevant agencies, and submit a report on the amount of recommendations implemented during the year to the superior management unit, which will then compile a report on the implementation of audit recommendations (detailing each document and implementation content) to be sent to the State Audit Office and the Ministry of Finance.

3. Local financial, tax, and customs authorities: Confirm documents implementing the State Audit Office's recommendations for those recommendations that have been implemented at the request of the auditing unit; Specifically:

a) Tax and customs authorities shall confirm (Appendix 2b issued together with this Circular):

- Amounts paid into the state budget but not fully recorded with the phrase "paid into the state budget according to the recommendation of the State Audit Office".

- The tax authority confirms that the unit adjusts losses due to tax checks and verifications.

- Increases in revenue collected by the Tax and Customs authorities through tax offsetting methods for the contents specified in point d, Clause 1, Article 2 of this Circular (between the amount already paid and the tax the unit must pay according to the State Audit Office's recommendation).

b) Financial authorities shall confirm (Appendix 2c issued together with this Circular): Increases in revenue, deductions from payments, deductions from settlements, deductions from budgets, and confirmation of recoveries remitted to the state budget.

4. For agencies authorized to allocate budgets, arrange sources, approve settlements (annual budget settlements, project completion settlements...):

a) When allocating budgets or investment capital plans with budget deductions, arranging source refunds according to the State Audit Office's recommendations, they shall clearly record the content and amount of budget deductions and source refunds as specified on the documents implementing the recommendations (Appendix 3 issued together with this Circular)

b) When approving annual budget settlements or project completion settlements with deductions according to the State Audit Office's recommendations, they must clearly record the content and amount of deductions on the approval document;

c) When handling the allocation of sources to refund improperly used funds according to the State Audit Office's recommendations, the agency authorized to allocate budgets and handle sources shall clearly record this on the budget allocation document and supplementary (allocation) source document for refunds;

d) Confirm documents implementing the State Audit Office's recommendations at the request of the audited unit for increases in revenue, deductions from payments, deductions from settlements, deductions from budgets, and confirmation of recoveries remitted to the state budget that have been implemented but not clearly recorded as "implemented according to the recommendation of the State Audit Office" (Appendix 2c issued together with this Circular).

5. For State Treasuries at all levels:

a) Local State Treasury (where the audited unit implements the State Audit Office's recommendations):

- Based on the content recorded on the audited unit's documents, record for verification and confirmation of the implementation of the State Audit Office's recommendations;

- Confirm documents implementing the State Audit Office's recommendations for recommendations implemented through the State Treasury (paying into the state budget, reducing payments...) (Appendix 2a issued together with this Circular).

b) State Treasury: Annually, based on the Summary Table of Implementation of Audit Recommendations for the Year, supported by documents from the audited unit, and verification and confirmation from relevant agencies provided by the State Audit Office (Appendix 1 issued together with this Circular), the State Treasury shall verify, confirm, and send to the State Audit Office.

Article 5. Establishing budget estimates, managing, and settling accounts for funds allocated

1. Annually, at the time of establishing the state budget revenue and expenditure estimates; the State Audit Agency shall base on the actual amount of money discovered and recommended by the State Audit Agency up to the time of establishing the budget estimate to forecast the funds allocated at 5% of the planned year; establish the expenditure budget for the portion of allocated funds of the planned year; consolidate these within the annual revenue and expenditure budget of the agency or unit, and send them to the Ministry of Finance for consolidation into the national budget estimate to be submitted to the competent authority for decision.

2. The expenditure budget for funds allocated from the 5% source shall be separately noted in the annual revenue and expenditure budget of the State Audit Agency.

3. Handling discrepancies between the allocated funds and the budgeted amounts: Based on the report on the implementation results of recommendations by the State Audit Agency that have been confirmed, the Ministry of Finance will consider resolving discrepancies between the amount allocated based on the confirmed findings and recommendations and the amount budgeted in the State Audit Agency's expenditure budget as follows:

- In cases where the amount allocated based on confirmed findings and recommendations exceeds the amount budgeted in the current year, the shortfall will be allocated in the budget of the following year after confirmation (for example, if confirmation is made in 2018 for findings and recommendations from 2015 and prior years, the shortfall compared to the 2015 budget will be allocated in the 2019 budget). If necessary, the State Audit Agency may issue a document requesting additional allocated funds and prepare a detailed budget proposal attached with the confirmation document of the recommendation implementation receipts to submit to the competent authority for additional allocation of funds according to regulations.

- In cases where the amount allocated based on confirmed findings and recommendations is less than the amount budgeted in the current year, the excess will be deducted from the amount to be allocated in the following year after confirmation.

4. Management, utilization, and settlement of accounts for funds from the 5% source shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law and other current legal documents.

Article 6. Effectiveness

1. This Circular takes effect from May 10, 2019, and applies from the 2017 fiscal year.

2. Circular No. 165/2015/TT-BTC dated November 5, 2015, issued by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the management and distribution of uniforms and preferential treatment for the State Audit Agency; the establishment and use of the 5% fund from the amount paid into the state budget by the State Audit Agency, ceases to be effective from the date this Circular takes effect.

3. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies and units are requested to reflect these issues to the Ministry of Finance for study and resolution within their authority.