Circular No. 21/1999/TT-BTC guides the management of cash receipts and expenditures through the State Treasury system.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Managing Cash Receipts and Disbursements through the State Treasury System

Pursuant to Decree No. 178/CP dated October 28, 1994 of the Government on the tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to Decree 25/CP dated April 5, 1995 of the Government on the tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the State Treasury under the Ministry of Finance;

To strengthen the management of the state budget fund; the Ministry of Finance provides guidelines for managing cash through the State Treasury as follows:

This technical regulation sets out technical requirements, testing methods, sampling procedures; management requirements; responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing, trading, and importing cigarettes.

1\. All cash receipts and disbursements, including payment orders (hereinafter referred to collectively as cash), processed through the State Treasury must be strictly monitored and controlled to ensure effective budget expenditure management.

2\. All units using the state budget, and units transacting with the State Treasury that make payments in cash must register their cash plans with the State Treasury and be subject to its management over cash receipts and disbursements.

3\. The State Treasury shall manage and organize internal cash transfers within the State Treasury system to ensure the needs for cash payments and disbursements to budget-using units and transaction units.

4\. The State Treasury may retain cash receipts directly to meet the needs for cash payments and disbursements to budget-using units and transaction units, while coordinating with the State Bank and the State-owned Commercial Bank where the State Treasury has an account to ensure and balance cash according to the plan agreed upon by both parties.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

A\. MANAGEMENT OF CASH FOR BUDGET-USING UNITS AND TRANSACTION UNITS

1\. Establishment and Registration of Cash Plans

1.1\. Establishment of Cash Plans:

Each quarter and annually, budget-using units and transaction units with the State Treasury establish cash expenditure plans with the State Treasury.

a\. Administrative and service units, and transaction units establish cash plans with the State Treasury where they have accounts opened, the unit's cash plan includes mainly the following items:

- Salary and allowances of a salary nature;

- Scholarships and living expenses;

- Regular operational expenses;

- Procurement and repair costs (if cash is used).

b\. Investment Development Agencies (in addition to establishing cash expenditure plans as mentioned in point a) compile plans for capital investment and construction funding allocations, and loans for financial support in cash with the State Treasury where accounts are opened. Cash expenditures for construction investment include:

- Land clearance, compensation, and resettlement costs;

- Costs for project management bodies (such as salaries, allowance salaries, and administrative expenses);

- Expenses from fees approved by the Government and the Ministry of Finance.

c\. National Reserve Agencies (in addition to establishing cash expenditure plans as mentioned in point a) compile cash plans to serve the procurement of national food reserves according to plans approved by competent authorities. The registration of cash plans for purchasing national food reserves is established and registered by the National Reserve Agency with the Central State Treasury. The Central State Treasury approves and notifies the cash plans for purchasing national food reserves to each provincial State Treasury for implementation.

The cash expenditure plan for purchasing national food reserves mainly covers direct procurement by the National Reserve Agency. In cases of procurement through General Companies and Food Companies, payments are made by bank transfer.

d\. Units belonging to special sectors (Defense, Public Security, Government Cryptographic Services) establish cash plans with their superior management agencies. The Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Public Security, and the Government Cryptographic Service examine and consolidate detailed cash expenditure plans with the Central State Treasury for each province and city.

- The cash expenditure plan of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Public Security, and the Government Cryptographic Service is divided into two parts:

+ Internal expenditure: including salary, allowance salary, food, and petty cash for soldiers, food for prisoners, and minimum essential regular expenditure;

+ Other expenditure: including other expenditure for activities of units and armed forces.

e\. Social Insurance Agencies (in addition to establishing cash expenditure plans as mentioned in point a) compile and establish social insurance expenditure plans with the State Treasury where accounts are opened, the cash expenditure plan for social insurance includes:

- Payment of pensions to individuals funded by the state budget;

- Payment of social insurance to individuals managed by the social insurance fund.

f\. Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs Agencies establish cash expenditure plans for payments to individuals benefiting from social policies managed by the labor, invalids, and social affairs sector.

g\. For schools and educational institutions (in addition to establishing cash expenditure plans as at point a) compile and establish cash income and expenditure plans from tuition fees deposited into the State Treasury in accordance with Circular Joint No. 54/1998/TTLT-BGDĐT-BTC dated August 31, 1998 of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Finance.

1.2\. Registration of Cash Plans:

a\. Cash expenditure plans are established quarterly and annually and submitted to the State Treasury within the following deadlines:

- Annual plans are submitted before December 10 of the previous year;

- Quarterly plans are submitted before the last day of the month preceding the quarter.

b\. For units under the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Public Security, Government Cryptographic Service, and the National Reserve Agency, annual plans are submitted before December 15 of the previous year, and quarterly plans are submitted before the 15th day of the last month of the quarter preceding the current quarter for the Central State Treasury to approve and notify the units to coordinate implementation.

c\. If there are unexpected cash expenditure needs during the quarter that are not included in the previously registered cash plans with the State Treasury, units must establish supplementary cash plans and submit them to the State Treasury for approval.

2\. Organization of Management.

2.1\. Units generating cash receipts (such as fees and charges...) must fully deposit them into the State Treasury where they have accounts opened, except in cases permitted by regulations to retain cash.

2.2\. Budget-using units should enhance non-cash transactions and limit cash transactions, especially for payments to economic organizations with accounts at banks or the State Treasury.

2.3/ The State Treasury shall control cash expenditures of budgetary units to ensure compliance with prescribed regulations, and refuse to pay cash expenditures that are outside the plan and not in accordance with this Circular.

B/ MANAGEMENT AND TRANSFER OF CASH IN THE STATE TREASURY SYSTEM

1. Establish plans for cash receipts and disbursements.

1.1/ Quarterly and annually, the State Treasury shall establish plans for cash receipts and disbursements through the State Treasury and send them to higher-level State Treasuries and banks where units have accounts to adjust cash to meet the needs for cash payments.

a/ The basis for establishing the State Treasury's cash plan includes:

+ Budget revenue and expenditure plans;

+ Cash expenditure plans of transaction units;

+ Implementation status of the previous period's cash plan.

b/ The State Treasury's cash plan consists of two parts:

- The cash receipt part includes mainly the following items:

+ Cash revenues from the state budget such as tax, fee, fine revenues, loans from the public, and other cash revenues of the state budget;

+ Cash deposits from transaction units (excluding state budget revenue sources);

+ Other cash revenues.

- The cash disbursement part includes mainly the following items:

+ Cash disbursements from the state budget, including:

* Construction investment expenditures, management fees for construction projects (including both direct disbursements by the State Treasury and construction investment disbursements through the General Department of Investment and Development);

* Regular expenditures for administrative and public service units;

* Social insurance expenditures (including expenditures from the social insurance fund);

* Special expenditures (for the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Office of Official Communication under the Government);

* Expenditures for purchasing food reserves;

* Debt repayments to the public;

* Other cash disbursements;

+ Cash deposits to transaction units.

c/ Based on the cash plans of budgetary units and transaction units within its jurisdiction, the State Treasury shall determine the need for cash adjustments from the bank (where the account is opened) or higher-level State Treasuries; excess cash must be deposited with the bank or higher-level State Treasury.

1.2/ Procedures for establishing cash plans in the State Treasury system.

a/ For district and county State Treasuries:

District and county State Treasuries shall establish cash plans and submit them to provincial and municipal State Treasuries and banks where accounts are opened (in cases where banks adjust cash) according to the following deadlines:

+ Annual plans submitted before December 10 of the preceding year;

+ Quarterly plans submitted before the last day of the month preceding the quarter.

b/ For provincial and municipal State Treasuries:

- Provincial and municipal State Treasuries shall consolidate cash receipt and disbursement plans across their jurisdictions (including those at provincial and municipal State Treasury offices and subordinate districts and counties) and submit them to the Central State Treasury and the People's Bank of Vietnam at provincial and municipal levels according to the following deadlines:

+ Annual plans submitted before December 20 of the preceding year;

+ Quarterly plans submitted before the last day of the month preceding the quarter.

- The cash receipt and disbursement plans of provincial and municipal State Treasuries should clearly define:

+ The level of cash adjustment provided by commercial state-owned banks for provincial and municipal State Treasuries, districts, and counties;

+ The level of cash adjustment provided by the People's Bank of Vietnam for provincial and municipal State Treasuries.

c/ For the Central State Treasury:

Based on the cash receipt and disbursement plans submitted by provincial and municipal State Treasuries, and based on the cash disbursement plans for armed forces, social insurance, assistance to beneficiaries of social policies, and food reserve purchases, the Central State Treasury shall consolidate the overall system's cash receipt and disbursement plans and submit them to the Central People's Bank.

+ Annual plans submitted before December 31 of the preceding year;

+ Quarterly plans submitted before the last day of the month preceding the quarter;

2/ Cash reserve limits.

a/ State Treasury units may maintain cash reserves up to the limit announced by higher-level State Treasuries.

- Provincial and municipal State Treasuries shall approve and announce cash reserve limits for subordinate district and county State Treasuries.

- The cash reserve limit at provincial and municipal State Treasury offices shall be determined by the Director of the Provincial State Treasury based on actual cash receipt and disbursement needs in the area.

b/ The cash reserve limit for State Treasuries shall be determined as follows:

Where:

- Total cash payment needs during the period (quarter) based on the approved cash plan.

- The number of working days in the period (quarter) is uniformly defined as 78 days.

- The reserve period: Determined by the Director of the Provincial State Treasury depending on the disbursement tasks and the frequency of cash adjustments between provincial and municipal State Treasuries and district and county State Treasuries.

3/ Management and concentration of cash to meet cash disbursement needs in the State Treasury system.

3.1/ State Treasury units shall closely cooperate with tax authorities and financial agencies to collect state budget revenues in cash into the State Treasury.

3.2/ The State Treasury shall implement checks, controls, and cash payments to budgetary units and transaction units according to approved cash plans and valid payment vouchers.

In cases of cash shortages, State Treasury units may apply preferential payment procedures; first ensuring salaries, allowances, defense and security expenditures, social insurance, social assistance, debt repayments to the public, and essential minimum expenditures of the unit.

3.3/ Cooperate with banks in adjusting cash for payments.

- For cases where the People's Bank of Vietnam and commercial state-owned banks adjust cash: The State Treasury shall coordinate with the bank to unify schedules for quarterly cash deposits and withdrawals, divided by month.

- In cases where the State Treasury of the province/city directly transfers cash to the State Treasuries of the district/county: The State Treasury of the province/city shall specify the schedule for quarterly cash transfers, broken down by month, to ensure proactive cash payments, prevent capital accumulation, and maintain the liquidity of each State Treasury unit. Cash transfers between the State Treasury of the province/city and the State Treasury of the district/county shall be carried out according to the mechanism for capital transfers within the State Treasury system.

4/ Reporting and inspection.

4.1/ Monthly, quarterly, and annually, the State Treasury of the district/county shall report on the implementation of cash receipts and payments to the State Treasury of the province/city, and simultaneously send the reports to the bank where the account is opened.

+ Monthly report: submitted before the 5th day of the following month.

+ Quarterly report: submitted before the 10th day of the first month of the following quarter.

+ Annual report: submitted before January 15 of the following year.

- The State Treasury of the province/city shall compile the situation of cash receipts and payments (including those at the provincial/city State Treasury Office and the districts/counties under its jurisdiction) and submit them to the Central State Treasury and the Central Bank of the province/city.

+ Monthly report submitted before the 10th day of the following month.

+ Quarterly report submitted before the 15th day of the first month of the following quarter.

+ Annual report submitted before January 20 of the following year.

- The Central State Treasury shall compile the reports from the provinces/cities and submit them to the Central Bank quarterly and annually.

+ Quarterly report submitted before the 25th day of the first month of the following quarter.

+ Annual report submitted before January 31 of the following year.

4.2/ Inspect the management of cash.

- Each State Treasury unit at the provincial/city and district/county levels shall be responsible for inspecting the management and adjustment of cash within their own units.

- Higher-level State Treasuries shall inspect the management and adjustment of cash in subordinate State Treasury units.

- During inspections, if violations are discovered, the heads of the State Treasury units shall take appropriate measures within their authority and report to higher-level State Treasuries.

III. IMPLEMENTATION

1/ This Circular shall take effect fifteen days from the date of signature.

2/ Units under the State Treasury system, units using the state budget, and units transacting with the State Treasury shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.