Circular No. 30-TC/TCT provides detailed guidance on the management of tax collection for the fishing industry.

CIRCULAR

CCircular No. 30-TC/TCT dated May 23, 1991 guiding the management regime for tax collection on the fishing industry

Implementing the Law on Business Tax, the Law on Income Tax, and Decree No. 351-HĐBT, No. 353-HĐBT dated October 2, 1990 of the Council of Ministers detailing the Law on Business Tax and the Law on Income Tax.

Based on the Natural Resources Tax Ordinance dated March 30, 1990 of the State Council, Decree No. 05-HĐBT dated January 7, 1991 of the Council of Ministers detailing the Natural Resources Tax Ordinance, and Circular No. 07-TC/TCT dated February 7, 1991 of the Ministry of Finance guiding its implementation.

Based on the characteristics of the fishing industry's operations, after reaching consensus with the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Finance guides the implementation of the Law on Business Tax, the Law on Income Tax, the Natural Resources Tax Ordinance, and the management regime for tax collection on the fishing industry as follows:

I- SCOPE OF APPLICATION

1. All organizations and individuals belonging to various economic sectors, regardless of being domestic or foreign, operating regularly or irregularly; having fixed or mobile locations (hereinafter referred to collectively as fishing exploitation units) engaging in natural marine resource exploitation and harvesting within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are subject to the laws and ordinances detailed in this circular.

2. The production and business activities of the fishing industry not covered by this circular include:

- Exploitation and harvesting of cultivated aquatic products.

- Purchasing, processing, trading in export and import of aquatic products.

- Production, trading, and other services including those directly serving natural marine resource exploitation.

These activities must pay business tax, income tax, usage fees from the state budget, and other required payments according to current regulations.

II- TAX COLLECTION POLICIES AND BASIS FOR CALCULATING TAXES

1. Current tax policies applicable to fishing exploitation activities include:

- Resource tax, which is payment for exploiting natural resources of the State, recorded as part of the cost of exploitation of the unit.

- Business tax calculated based on revenue from selling harvested aquatic products.

- Income tax collected from organizations and individuals with income from fishing exploitation activities.

- In addition, depending on the economic sector, fishing exploitation units must also comply with current tax collection and tax policies such as:

+ Units under non-state-owned economy must pay business license fee (an annual registration fee for conducting business) according to the type and level of business license stipulated in Decision No. 421-HĐBT dated December 10, 1990 of the Council of Ministers.

+ Units under state-owned economy must pay usage fees from the state budget at 0.3% per month, pay depreciation of fixed assets funded by the state budget, and other required payments according to state regulations.

2. Basis for calculating taxes:

The basis for calculating taxes includes the quantity of taxable aquatic products, the taxable price, and the tax rate.

a) Quantity of taxable aquatic products: the actual quantity of aquatic products harvested during the period:

- For large-scale fishing units implementing accounting records and documents in accordance with state regulations (hereinafter referred to collectively as units paying tax through declaration method), it is the quantity of aquatic products harvested during the period.

- Small-scale fishing units implementing quantity-based tax allocation (hereinafter referred to collectively as units paying tax through quantity allocation method).

The allocation method must be the result of close and regular cooperation between the tax department and the fisheries department, based on actual surveys of typical cases during the period, combined with reference to previous years' capacity for exploitation such as: number of vessels, horsepower (HP) of vessels, fishing profession, actual harvest productivity, labor, material, capital conditions of each unit, season, fishing grounds, etc., to determine the quantity of exploitation.

Determining the allocation quantity as the basis for calculating taxes for each unit must be carefully implemented, ensuring transparency and democracy, and must be documented in a signed record by the unit, approved by the leadership of the direct tax collection agency before issuing the tax amount and distributing the notification. The allocation quantity for taxation is jointly determined and officially announced by the Provincial/City Tax Bureau together with the fisheries authority for stable implementation over three years. For units experiencing fluctuations of about 30% due to increased harvest volume, adjustments should be made to align with reality, ensuring fair contributions.

b) Taxable price: the average selling price of each type of harvested aquatic product in the local market during the tax period.

- For units paying tax through the declaration method: the taxable price is the average actual selling price of each type of aquatic product at the fishing unit recorded on sales invoices issued by the Ministry of Finance.

If harvested aquatic products are sold for foreign currency revenue, the tax is calculated in foreign currency and converted to Vietnamese Dong at the buying exchange rate published by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time of tax calculation, or may be paid in foreign currency as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance.

- For units paying tax through the quantity allocation method.

To ensure that the taxable price is relatively close to the actual market price, depending on the specific situation of each locality, during each round of quantity allocation and tax allocation, provincial/city tax bureaus under central jurisdiction must coordinate with relevant agencies (fisheries, finance, pricing) to set a taxable price for aquatic products consistent with local market prices and notify the units to implement. When prices fluctuate (increase or decrease) by 20% or more, the revenue and allocated tax rate must be adjusted accordingly to reflect reality.

c) Tax rate:

Fishing exploitation units (regardless of whether they pay tax through the declaration method or the quantity allocation method) determine a unified tax rate ratio applied to all types of taxes as follows:

Dividing the total allocated tax payable by the revenue yields the allocated tax rate on revenue.

- Resource tax applicable to Vietnamese organizations and individuals engaged in fishing exploitation shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 07-TC/TCT dated February 7, 1991 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of the Natural Resources Tax Ordinance.

+ Collect 3% for natural aquatic resource exploitation on rivers, streams, lakes, etc...

+ Collect 4% for natural aquatic resource exploitation at sea, specifically: collect 10% for swiftlet nest exploitation, and 6% for cuttlefish, pearl, sea cucumber, and red coral exploitation.

- Business income tax, collect 2% based on the sales revenue from exploited aquatic products.

- Income tax: collect 1% based on revenue for small households; 30% on taxable income for entities that file taxes using the declaration method.

To determine the income tax rate, it is necessary to conduct typical surveys on production and business costs, accurately calculate all cost factors and types of taxes that can be deducted; determine the taxable income during the period for each type of entity.

For medium and large-sized entities that pay taxes using a different declaration method but essentially still allocate various taxes based on sales volume, in this case, apply a 30% tax rate on taxable income to find the income tax rate based on sales volume as follows:

III- TAX REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT

According to the provisions of tax laws and the Tax Ordinance, entities exploiting aquatic resources must pay natural resource taxes locally where they exploit, pay business income tax at the place of business sale revenue, pay business license tax, income tax, and other payable amounts (if any) at the location of their main office. Due to the characteristics of aquatic resource exploitation activities and ensuring strict tax collection management at the source, tax registration and payment procedures for aquatic resource exploitation entities are as follows:

1. Declaration and registration for tax:

All aquatic resource exploitation entities must register for taxes with the local tax authority directly managing tax collection (where household registration and business licenses are issued) no later than five days before commencing operations (or splitting, merging, or dissolving) and annually, no later than fifteen days of the first month of the year.

Aquatic resource exploitation entities must maintain accounting records according to the Accounting and Statistics Ordinance of the State Council, issue purchase and sale documents, and collect money in accordance with state regulations. For non-state-owned economies, depending on the scale of business as stipulated by the local tax authority, they must also implement private accounting systems issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The tax registration form must be made in two copies sent to the tax authority, detailing all taxes payable; business license tax, natural resource tax, business income tax, income tax, and other payable amounts according to the prescribed system, and the indicators listed in the attached Circular (Form No. 1).

Upon receiving the tax registration form, the tax authority must:

- Review the declared information, compare with actual conditions, confirm on the form: one copy returned to the entity as proof of having completed the registration process, one copy retained by the tax authority (accounting department).

- Address entities that declare incorrectly according to tax laws and the Tax Ordinance.

- Categorize entities by recording the registration indicators of each form in the directory and tax registration forms according to the correct industry code for each economic sector.

- Assign staff to manage tax collection suitable to the scale and management level of production and business of the entity.

- Coordinate with fisheries authorities in managing and issuing Business Licenses and Fishing Logs for entities.

- Announce the types of taxes payable, the amount of tax, and the payment deadlines for taxpayers in January each year, including business license tax, natural resource tax, business income tax, income tax, etc.

2. Tax Payment Procedures:

Business license tax is paid at the beginning of the year; natural resource, business income, and income taxes are paid periodically, with deadlines set by the tax authority.

Entities exploiting aquatic resources that register to operate and register for taxes in a locality must complete tax payment procedures at the local tax authority. The payment procedures are as follows:

a) Entities paying taxes through the declaration method:

The number of entities paying taxes through the declaration method in aquatic resource exploitation activities is very limited. Non-state-owned economic entities all adopt the quota method. In state-owned enterprises, the declaration method is only applied to large entities that maintain reliable accounting records. Additionally, state-owned fishing enterprises must closely coordinate bookkeeping with product quotas in aquatic resource exploitation.

For entities paying taxes through the declaration method, within the first five days of the month, they must submit the previous month's tax declaration form to the direct tax collection authority. The declaration form is made in two copies submitted to the tax authority according to the attached Circular (Form No. 2).

After reviewing and confirming the declaration form, the tax authority establishes a tax ledger and notifies the tax payment. For state-owned enterprises, the Ministry of Finance has established a self-payment tax system, where entities proactively prepare cash payment receipts or bank transfers to the state budget without requiring the tax authority's signature upon reaching the payment deadline specified by the tax authority. Therefore, based on the reviewed declaration form, the tax payment notification must clearly indicate the current tax amount, previously prepaid tax, outstanding tax from the previous period (or excess tax paid), total tax due with details of each type of tax (natural resources, business income, income...) and the payment deadline.

Based on the tax authority's notification, no later than fifteen days from receipt of the notification, the entity must prepare a detailed tax payment receipt, pay the full tax due into the state budget at the treasury (or Bank) where the entity maintains its transaction account. The tax payment receipt must detail each type of tax consistent with the total tax due according to the state budget classification.

b) Entities paying taxes through the quantity quota method:

The quantity quota and tax quota for each type of entity have been thoroughly implemented according to the procedure, openly and democratically... The tax authority announces the quantity quota, tax calculation price, tax rate, tax amount payable (based on detailed types of tax) and the tax payment deadline to the taxpayer.

Upon maturity, based on the tax authority's notification, the taxpayer shall pay the full amount of tax due to the State budget at the nearest treasury (or Bank). In exceptional cases, the tax authority may directly collect taxes or authorize collection, and deposit them into the treasury at the end of the day or periodically according to the agreement between the tax authority and the State Treasury. When collecting taxes, the tax receipt must be made in three copies: copy 1 submitted to the tax authority, copy 2 handed over to the taxpayer, and copy 3 retained at the stub of the receipt.

The tax payment notice and the tax collection receipt must detail the amount of tax paid for each type of tax corresponding to the total tax paid according to the detailed accounts of the State budget.

3. Tax inspection, settlement, and finalization:

a) Tax inspection:

Tax inspection work occupies an important part in the content of the management system at the grassroots level, overseeing all stages of tax business operations on a regular basis.

- Tax registration inspection promotes compliance with the correct content and time frame stipulated for supplementary registration of indicators when there are changes, particularly changes in fishing activities, horsepower of vessels, labor, etc., to accurately determine revenue and prevent revenue loss.

- Inspection of accounting records and vouchers in accordance with the regulations set by the State for each economic sector, suitable to the scale of business of non-state-owned households as guided by the tax authority, with particular emphasis on the reconciliation of accounting entries with actual operations.

- Inspection of tax declaration and payment procedures (for state-owned enterprises implementing self-payment systems, monthly declarations and payments according to the tax authority's notifications; for non-state-owned households implementing quota payments according to the tax authority's notifications), and inspection of late payment penalties.

- Cooperation with fisheries agencies and border police at control stations to inspect compliance with necessary procedures during operations and tax obligations through inspection logs, fishing activity logs, and tax receipts.

Any violations discovered during inspections that require legal action must be documented in a record and processed according to the law, consistent with the authority of each type of tax officer as prescribed.

b) Settlement and finalization of tax payments:

Fishing exploitation entities must settle and finalize tax payments in the following situations:

- Entities declaring and temporarily paying various taxes monthly, upon annual business settlement or organizational changes such as mergers, divisions, dissolution, etc., must settle and finalize taxes within the deadline specified by the tax authority, not later than 45 days from the end of the year or fishing season, and not later than 15 days after the settlement if additional tax is owed. If excess tax has been paid, it can be offset against future tax liabilities or refunded.

- Entities paying taxes under the quota method, in principle, pay taxes in full for each period as stipulated by the tax authority without needing settlement or finalization.

Due to the seasonal nature of the fishing industry, although taxes are paid at the registered residence and place of business, when fishing moves to different locations, resource taxes may need to be paid locally. Therefore, upon returning to the home location, the tax authority will refund the resource tax paid elsewhere.

To obtain a refund of resource tax paid elsewhere, the procedure is as follows:

- The entity fills out a declaration of resource tax paid elsewhere according to the tax authority's form, specifying the time, location of exploitation, amount of resource tax paid, accompanied by the tax receipt issued by the local tax authority and sent to the tax authority where the entity is registered.

- After reviewing the declaration and tax receipt, the tax authority confirms the declaration of the entity, noting the name of the head of the tax authority who reviewed it and affixing the seal.

- Retain the declaration as a tax receipt and return the tax receipt issued by the local tax authority to the entity.

- Deduct the resource tax paid elsewhere from the entity's tax liability for the next period, or process a refund for the entity.

If the resource tax paid at the registered location is less than the tax paid at the exploitation location, only the tax paid at the registered location can be deducted, while the tax quota for the entity should be reassessed to better reflect reality.

IV- TAX EXEMPTIONS AND REDUCTIONS

Tax exemptions and reductions for fishing exploitation entities are implemented according to Articles 18 of the Business Income Tax Law, Article 21 of the Corporate Income Tax Law, Article 12 of the Resource Tax Ordinance, and detailed provisions in Decrees No. 351-HĐBT, No. 353-HĐBT, and No. 06-HĐBT of the Council of Ministers, specifically:

- Entities with income below 50,000 VND per person per month are exempted from business income tax and corporate income tax.

- Damage from natural disasters or enemy actions between 20-50% results in a proportional reduction in business income tax, resource tax, and corporate income tax. If damage exceeds 50% and affects assets, capital, etc., they may be exempted from business income tax, resource tax, and corporate income tax.

- Reinvested profits are subject to a reduced corporate income tax rate. The reduction rate equals the ratio of reinvestment funds from profits to taxable income for the year, but the maximum reduction cannot exceed 50% of the corporate income tax payable for the year.

For state-owned fishing enterprises, if the remaining profit after paying corporate income tax does not ensure the minimum level required to allocate two funds for rewards and welfare as stipulated by the Council of Ministers, they may be eligible for a reduction in corporate income tax; or a maximum reduction in resource tax of up to 50% in the first year, up to 40% in the second year, and up to 30% in the third year from the start of exploitation.

The Ministry of Finance delegates to the Provincial Tax Departments, Municipal Tax Departments, and Special Administrative Regions under central jurisdiction the authority to examine and decide on tax exemptions and reductions for aquatic resource exploitation bases that qualify for such exemptions and reductions according to the Tax Law and Tax Ordinance, and must report to the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Taxation) at least fifteen days before issuing the decision.

The procedure for examining tax exemptions and reductions shall be carried out as follows:

- Aquatic resource exploitation bases that qualify for tax exemptions and reductions must submit a detailed application explaining the reasons for requesting the exemption or reduction to the direct tax collection agency using the form provided by the tax authority.

- The tax authority must verify, investigate, and propose a written recommendation for resolution along with the application from the base, to be sent to the higher-level tax authority.

- After receiving complete and properly processed files from the District Tax Agencies, the Provincial Tax Departments, Municipal Tax Departments, and Special Administrative Regions must review, examine, and issue a written decision sent to the direct tax collection agency, while simultaneously informing the requesting base of the results. The examination and decision on tax exemptions and reductions shall be conducted annually or per fishing season.

V - MANAGEMENT MEASURES FOR TAX COLLECTION

To ensure compliance with the Tax Law and Tax Ordinance regarding aquatic resource exploitation activities, tax authorities must implement the following management measures for tax collection:

1. Regularly organize extensive publicity campaigns through various means to all levels, sectors, and individual fishermen to ensure that everyone understands the state's tax policy correctly and voluntarily fulfills their civic duties.

2. Proactively seek leadership from People's Committees at all levels by drafting specific work programs, management measures, and recommendations to localities concerning guidance coordination, concrete measures to address difficulties, ensuring centralized and unified direction in coordinating closely with related sectors: fisheries, public security, border defense, finance, price control, etc., to implement these measures.

a) Register and comprehensively grasp all households (bases) engaged in aquatic resource exploitation within the jurisdiction, guiding households to declare and register taxes according to the prescribed forms, classifying households based on business registration certificates, entering them into the directory book according to the specific economic component code. Issue tax exemption certificates to households eligible for exemption.

b) Conduct surveys on the actual exploitation capacity of each base within the jurisdiction regarding indicators such as the number of vessels, total horsepower (capacity) of vessels, actual yield, and type of product for each type of vessel and fishing method (survey typical objects for similar types of vessels, same horsepower, same fishing tools, same fishing grounds and seasons...), sources of aquatic resources in each fishing ground during each season, etc.

c) Coordinate with fisheries agencies, border defense forces to perform the following tasks:

- The tax authority issues tax registration certificates and fishing activity books to bases according to the unified forms prescribed by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the establishment of accounting records and issuance of invoices uniformly issued by the Ministry of Finance.

- Fisheries agencies issue business registration permits.

- Border defense forces supervise and permit vessels to sail out to fish.

- Propose the local People's Committee to establish inter-sectoral inspection stations comprising public security, border defense, fisheries, and taxation to inspect compliance with management regulations for aquatic resource exploitation and tax collection.

d) Organize meetings with taxpayers to guide and disseminate tax policies. Organize democratic discussions on the quantity of quotas, taxable value, tax rate, amount of tax payable, etc. Based on the guidance and investigation of typical bases, determine and extrapolate for similar bases.

3. Classify aquatic resource exploitation bases specifically as follows:

- Bases capable of submitting taxes through self-declaration methods (very limited).

- Bases paying taxes through quota methods.

The classification of bases for applying tax collection methods depends on both the scale of business operations and the capabilities of tax officials to ensure effective tax collection management and prevent revenue loss.

4. Concentrate competent and morally sound staff to manage key regions and bases, while also deploying sufficient personnel to oversee activities within the jurisdiction:

- Direct the implementation of tax collection procedures from household registration, tax declaration organization, household classification, establishment of taxpayer directories, tax declaration and payment organization, exemplary management, adjustment of quota tax rates, and innovation in base management by separating functions at each stage for mutual supervision and monitoring.

- Regularly and periodically conduct tax inspection and settlement work for taxpayers and tax officials to ensure tax collection according to policy and prevent national budget revenue loss.

5. Tax collection for aquatic resource exploitation activities shall be directly handled by tax authorities or may be delegated to other agencies when necessary, as specified by the Provincial Tax Departments, Municipal Tax Departments, and Special Administrative Regions.

6. To ensure conditions for tax collection on aquatic resource exploitation, the tax sector is allowed to retain 5% of procedural fees calculated from the total tax collected to support the organization of combined tax collection forces such as remuneration for commissioned collection agencies and sectors with combined forces (fisheries, public security border defense, village people's committees, etc.).

The General Department of Taxation shall submit to the Ministry for promulgation the management, distribution, and use of retained procedural fees according to regulations.

VI- IMPLEMENTATION

1. Organizations and individuals engaged in aquatic resource exploitation must comply with the laws and ordinances on taxes as detailed in this Circular. Any violations of tax policy will be penalized according to the provisions of the Value Added Tax Law, Income Tax Law, and Natural Resources Tax Ordinance.

2. The Ministry of Finance will coordinate with the Ministry of Fisheries to study and submit to the Council of Ministers for the abolition of tax collection systems established by localities outside those stipulated by laws and ordinances already enacted by the National Assembly and State Council.

3. The tax authorities at all levels shall closely coordinate with fisheries agencies to disseminate guidelines for aquatic resource exploitation establishments to comply with the Law - Ordinance on Tax and the detailed provisions of this Circular.

During implementation, any difficulties encountered should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Taxation) for study and resolution.

4. This Circular takes effect from the date of issuance; all previous documents that conflict with this Circular are hereby abolished.

Attached to this Circular are model registration forms for tax, tax declaration forms, mineral resource tax settlement declaration forms, applications for tax reduction and exemption, and model fishing operation logs.