Joint Circular No. 30 TT/LB guiding the procedures for allocating and remitting social insurance funds managed by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

JOINT CIRCULAR

GUIDELINES FOR THE WITHHOLDING AND PAYMENT OF MANAGEMENT FEES INTO THE SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND MANAGED BY THE GENERAL UNION OF VIETNAMESE WORKERS

Implementing Decision No. 131-HĐBT dated October 30, 1986 of the Council of Ministers on amending the ratio for withholding management fees for social insurance managed by the General Union of Vietnamese Workers;

After reaching consensus with the State Planning Committee, the General Statistics Office, the State Price Control Committee, and the Ministry of Labor;

The General Union of Vietnamese Workers, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Bank of Vietnam provide specific guidelines for the withholding and payment of management fees into the social insurance fund managed by the General Union of Vietnamese Workers as follows:

I - BASIS FOR CALCULATING MANAGEMENT FEES TO BE WITHHELD AND PAID INTO THE SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND

According to Article 1 and Article 3 of Decision No. 131-HĐBT dated October 30, 1986 of the Council of Ministers, starting from October 1, 1986, enterprises, construction sites, agricultural farms, forestry farms, state agencies, people's organizations employing workers and civil servants under the scope of implementing the state social insurance system, and public-private joint ventures that have unified the implementation of the state wage system shall pay monthly into the social insurance fund managed by the General Union of Vietnamese Workers an amount equal to 5% of the total wage fund paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants in that month.

Currently, the state has not issued new regulations regarding the components of the wage fund. Based on the temporary regulations on the components of the wage fund issued by the Prime Minister in Decree No. 14/CP dated February 1, 1961 and Circular No. 86/TTg dated August 22, 1962; Circular explaining the components of the wage fund No. 453-TCTK dated February 1, 1961, Circular No. 110-TCTK dated March 22, 1963 of the General Statistics Office, and Decree No. 235-HĐBT dated September 18, 1985 of the Council of Ministers on improving the wage system for workers and civil servants and armed forces personnel, temporarily guiding as follows:

A/ The total wage fund serving as the basis for calculating the amount to be paid into the social insurance fund at the rate of 5% mentioned above is:

The total amount of wages actually paid monthly by enterprises, organizations, and agencies (hereinafter referred to as units) to pay salaries and allowances with the nature of wages for workers and civil servants as stipulated in Decree No. 235-HĐBT dated September 18, 1985 and other decisions related to wages issued by the Council of Ministers.

The temporary wage fund includes the following items:

1/ Monthly wages, daily wages according to the wage scales and position salary tables established and uniformly applied throughout the country by the state.

2/ Wages paid based on production, piecework, or time-based wages with fixed rates or unit prices.

3/ Daily wages paid to auxiliary workers.

4/ Wages paid to workers under contracts with state agencies and enterprises.

5/ Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants when producing products that do not meet specifications within the prescribed regulations.

6/ Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants during periods of work stoppages due to equipment or machinery breakdowns, lack of raw materials, fuel, or materials, or due to natural conditions such as rain, typhoons, floods, etc.

7/ Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants during periods of job transfers or mobilization for national and social duties within the scope of state regulations.

8/ Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants sent for study under prescribed regulations but still counted in the establishment of the agency or enterprise. Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants during annual leave or personal leave within the scope of regulations.

9/ Wages paid to workers and civil servants during probationary periods, and newly graduated students during their internship period receiving wages at the prescribed percentage.

10/ Wages paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants during the period waiting for retirement or disability pension procedures according to the prescribed regulations.

11/ Royalties, lecture fees paid to cadres, workers, and civil servants in state agencies and enterprises.

12/ Regular bonuses.

13/ Regional allowance.

14/ Allowance for living cost differential by region.

15/ Special seniority allowance.

16/ Seniority allowance exceeding the standard range.

17/ Preferential allowance.

18/ Night shift, overtime, additional shift allowance (including overtime and additional shifts on rest days and holidays), additional allowance for those who do not take annual leave but continue working.

19/ Responsibility allowance.

20/ Hazardous, difficult, dangerous allowance.

21/ Mobility allowance.

22/ Combat allowance.

23/ Examination supervision and marking allowance for professors, lecturers, and teachers in general education schools (primary, secondary), vocational training, technical secondary, college, and university.

24/ Termination allowance (excluding termination allowance covered by the social insurance fund).

25/ Relocation allowance to production bases.

26/ Allowance for scientific and technical personnel with talent and exceptionally skilled workers.

27/ Allowance for cadres, workers, and civil servants working on ships at sea.

28/ Allowance for divers during diving periods.

29/ Monthly and daily allowances for those awaiting reassignment for long periods and not yet assigned to new wage scales.

30/ Other allowances with the nature of wages (if any).

B/ Sources of management fees to be withheld and paid into the social insurance fund:

The wages and allowances of cadres, workers, and civil servants within the staffing quota and the wage fund mentioned above, which are funded from administrative management expenses; party and mass organization offices; cultural and social services (culture, education, health, social welfare); economic construction services; revenue-expenditure offset activity funds; training and cadre development funds, scientific research funds, etc., and production and business operation funds, shall also be funded from these sources for the payment into the social insurance fund.

II. MANAGEMENT FEES FOR SUBSIDIES AND METHODS OF ACCOUNTING FOR SOCIAL INSURANCE EXPENSES

IN ECONOMIC BASE UNITS:

1/ For units enjoying budgeted management fee allocations: (including administrative and service units, schools, etc.).

- Administrative and public service agencies, including people's mass organizations that employ workers and civil servants subject to the state social insurance system, public service institutions for culture and society, economic construction, kindergartens, schools, etc., shall contribute to the social insurance fund at a rate of 5% of the total payroll for workers and civil servants in these units, which shall be provided from the state budget within the approved budget estimates and recorded under Item III (social allowance), Sub-item 2 (5% contribution from the payroll fund to the social insurance fund).

- For students and trainees who are officials, workers, and civil servants sent to study and have been removed from their original units' rolls, receiving living expenses proportional to their salaries covered by their respective schools, the schools must contribute 5% of the total scholarship paid to these officials and workers to the social insurance fund. This 5% contribution shall be recorded in a separate sub-item for easier tracking.

- For officials and workers sent to study cultural, political, technical, and vocational courses without being removed from their original units' rolls, the units must deduct 5% from the total payroll paid to these officials and workers; simultaneously, the units must also pay social insurance benefits to the workers and officials at the same time as paying their salaries.

- For full-time staff responsible for Party work, trade union work, youth work, women's work, etc., in enterprises, the entity paying the salaries to such staff must deduct 5% from the total salary paid to these staff members and contribute it to the social insurance fund.

2/ - For production and business units under basic construction projects:

The amount deducted at 5% from the total payroll of officials, workers, and civil servants in these units shall be contributed to the social insurance fund and shall be borne by the unit and included in the cost of products and circulation fees according to the guidance of the competent authority.

III. TIME AND METHOD OF CONTRIBUTING FUNDS TO THE SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND:

Monthly, when collecting the first period's salary, units shall base on the registered salary plan with the bank where the unit conducts transactions to calculate 5% and issue a payment authorization to deposit the monthly social insurance fund contribution into the account of the state social insurance fund managed by the General Confederation of Labor Vietnam opened at the local bank (except for special cases, which will be separately guided by the General Confederation of Labor).

- Quarterly, units shall base on the settled salary funds with the bank where the unit has an account to calculate 5% of the amount to be contributed to the social insurance fund in the quarter, compare it with the monthly social insurance contributions made during the quarter; if the contribution is insufficient compared to the settled salary fund, additional contributions must be made to make up the difference, if the contribution exceeds the required amount, it can be offset against the next quarter's contribution plan. Based on the fully paid contributions to the social insurance fund, a report on the settlement of income and expenditure of the social insurance fund should be prepared and submitted to the higher-level trade union according to the prescribed regulations.

By December 31 each year, if there are outstanding salary and allowance payments for officials and workers that need to continue into the following January, these payments shall be counted towards the previous year's payroll to calculate the 5% contribution to the social insurance fund. The time for contributing to the social insurance fund of the previous year shall not exceed January 15 of the following year.

If units fail to contribute the required amount to the social insurance fund beyond the specified deadline, the social insurance fund management agency may request (in writing) the bank where the unit maintains its account to transfer the shortfall from the unit's account to the social insurance fund management agency's account.

- In case of underpayment, the unit must first make up the shortfall; if the unit fails to make up the shortfall within one month after the due date, the State Bank branch where the unit maintains its account may automatically deduct the shortfall from the unit's account and transfer it to the social insurance fund account. Units that delay payment must pay a penalty fee equal to 10% (ten percent) of the delayed payment each month, which must be paid together with the salary payment authorization; this penalty fee shall be paid from the unit's reward fund (for production and business units) or deducted from the administrative and public service budget within the approved estimate (for administrative and public service units). The social insurance fund management agency is responsible for processing and urging timely payment of the penalty fee into the social insurance fund.

- For the Federation of Trade Unions, Central Industry Trade Unions (managing the social insurance fund) if there is an excess balance in the social insurance fund account at the bank exceeding the prescribed limit, they must remit the excess to the General Confederation of Labor; if not remitted, the General Confederation of Labor has the right to request the bank to process the transfer of the excess to the social insurance fund account managed by the General Confederation of Labor opened at the State Bank branch in Hanoi.

If the Federation of Trade Unions, Central Industry Trade Unions, District, County, City Trade Unions (managing the social insurance fund) fail to pay or underpay according to the regulations, they must also pay a penalty into the social insurance fund managed by the General Confederation of Labor as stipulated for the aforementioned grassroots social insurance units. This penalty fee will be deducted from the annual bonus of the Federation of Trade Unions, Central Industry Trade Unions, District, County, City Trade Unions.

IV. BUILDING AND IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN FOR INCOME AND EXPENDITURE OF THE SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND

a. Building the Plan: Annually, along with establishing plans for production, labor, and salaries, state agencies, authorities, and mass organizations, enterprises, construction sites, forestry farms (referred to collectively as units) must prepare a budget plan for income and expenditure of the social insurance fund and submit it to the Federation of Trade Unions, Central Industry Trade Unions (managing the social insurance fund) for review and approval.

The budget must be constructed from bottom up based on the plan for labor time usage and salary of the unit with a positive and solid spirit. Indicators for days off due to illness, childcare leave, maternity leave shall only be established within the scope of the number of days off in the labor time usage plan to ensure the implementation of the unit's workday quota system. The budget must be agreed upon by the unit's leadership collective and involve a large number of workers and staff in its construction to voluntarily register for implementation. The annual budget must be divided into four quarters and submitted before November 15th of the previous year, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the budget and the unit's labor time usage and salary plan for ease of review.

Beyond this deadline, if the unit has not submitted a budget, the provincial and central trade union federations may temporarily suspend the allocation of social insurance funds to the unit. The enterprise or agency must bear responsibility for the workers and staff within the unit.

b) Implementation of the plan: effective implementation and management of the income and expenditure plan, the social insurance fund directly impacts the consolidation of labor discipline; positively contributes to the completion of state plans. Therefore, it is required that units organize the implementation of measures to care for and protect the health of workers and staff, arrange medical check-ups and treatments thoroughly, improve working conditions and living standards for workers and staff, pay attention to mobilization work for planning, nursery and kindergarten work, occupational safety and health work, assign social insurance plan quotas to each worker and staff member to strive to reduce sick leave, childcare leave, maternity leave, work-related injury leave, etc., increase production and work hours. It is necessary to strengthen mass activities related to social insurance and inspect the implementation measures to ensure good plan execution. Resolutely do not allow payment of expenses that violate the prescribed regulations. On the other hand, it is necessary to organize full accounting of the total salary components to deduct sufficient social insurance funds as prescribed.

V - MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF SOCIAL INSURANCE FUND USE:

1/ Allocation and settlement of social insurance funds:

After reviewing the budget for income and expenditure of the social insurance fund for grassroots units, the provincial and central trade union federations (managing the social insurance fund) will notify the budget indicators to the grassroots level and the bank where the unit conducts transactions, serving as the basis for allocating and settling the income and expenditure of the social insurance fund of the units.

- The provincial and central trade union federations (managing the social insurance fund) organize the allocation of social insurance funds to grassroots social insurance units according to the approved budget for income and expenditure of the social insurance fund.

- In cases where the establishment and review of the social insurance fund plan at the beginning of the year have not been accepted by superiors, to avoid affecting the lives of workers and staff, the provincial and central trade union federations are permitted to provide temporary advances to units for social insurance allowances (illness, maternity, work-related injuries, etc.) according to the unit's plan, but must settle the advance by the end of the third month of the first quarter of the plan year. If the unit fails to settle the advance beyond this period, the provincial and central trade union federations will temporarily suspend allocations and inform the bank where the unit maintains its account to be aware and coordinate in resolving the issue.

- Units that exceed their quarterly and annual budget due to subjective reasons such as lax management, lack of concern for the lives and health of workers and staff, etc., will not receive supplementary funding from the social insurance fund, but enterprises must include these costs in the product cost (or circulation fee) according to the guidance of the competent authority (if the unit is a production business), or prepare additional budgets to request state budget supplementation (if the unit is an administrative or public service institution).

- Units that exceed their quarterly and annual budget due to objective reasons such as disease outbreaks, changes in social insurance policies, or inaccurate budgeting; while waiting for the provincial and central trade union federations to approve supplementary social insurance funds, the unit's head and chief accountant are allowed to provide temporary advances for social insurance allowances to workers and staff to ensure their normal living.

- Units that manage their social insurance budget well and achieve higher income and lower expenditures than the approved annual budget will be considered for rewards according to the regulations set by the General Confederation of Trade Unions.

- To ensure timely allocation of funds, banks are responsible for quickly recording when they receive allocation vouchers for social insurance funds as well as when they receive transfer vouchers for social insurance funds; branch banks are responsible for processing and recording within 24 hours (excluding holidays); if there is delay, the bank must also be penalized according to current payment rules.

- Units that budget for social insurance must strictly comply with social insurance policies and systems for workers and staff as issued, promptly and fully deduct and remit funds to the social insurance fund, and not retain funds locally or within the unit for arbitrary use. After allocation and settlement of social insurance funds, any surplus must be remitted to the superior social insurance fund management authority for timely redistribution to units in need (according to Directive No. 162-CT dated May 3, 1985 of the Council of Ministers on strengthening social insurance work for workers and staff).

- Monthly, from the 1st to the 5th day, the provincial and central trade union federations (managing the social insurance fund) must report the balance of the previous month's bank deposits to the General Confederation of Trade Unions (with confirmation from the local bank).

- Local and sectoral units that budget for social insurance can open accounts for social insurance fund deposits at banks. County, district, and town-level units that budget for social insurance can open accounts for social insurance fund deposits according to the分级管理社会保险基金的决定。

- Grassroots units that budget for social insurance shall not open separate accounts for social insurance fund deposits; all income and expenditure activities of the social insurance fund shall use the common account of the agency or enterprise.

All revenues and expenditures for disbursement and payment must be processed through banks and must comply fully with the bank's cash management procedures. The withdrawal of funds for monthly social insurance allowances for workers and officials shall be given priority.

2/ Accounting, settlement, and auditing of social insurance fund revenues and expenditures:

Strictly implement Articles 11, 12, 13, 23, 24, and 25 of the Social Insurance Fund Management Regulations stipulated by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (Resolution No. 6/NQ-TCĐ dated February 21, 1981 of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor Executive Committee).

VI. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION:

To effectively implement the provisions of this circular, agencies, enterprises, and economic organizations must organize comprehensive accounting of the total wage fund of workers and officials according to Section I of this Circular; fully complete registration procedures for the wage fund plan and the social insurance fund plan on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis with the banking institution where the unit has its transaction account; timely and fully deduct 5% from the total wage fund of workers and officials at the unit and deposit it into the social insurance fund managed by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

Prepare the annual budget for social insurance fund revenues and expenditures, quarterly revenue and expenditure plans, and quarterly and annual settlement reports to be submitted to the higher-level social insurance budget unit for review.

Timely and fully pay the social insurance fees and promptly provide social insurance allowances to workers and officials in accordance with regulations.

- Provincial, municipal, special zone Labor Unions and Central Industry Trade Unions (managing the social insurance fund), financial and banking authorities at all levels, within their respective functions, are responsible for strictly implementing the provisions of this circular, promptly disseminating and guiding subordinate units to strictly follow the deduction and payment procedures, budgeting, settlement, accounting, payment, and revenue and expenditure procedures for the social insurance fund as stipulated in this circular.

- The Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Ministry of Finance will conduct pilot implementations in some localities to reform the management mechanisms prescribed in this circular.

- Every six months and annually, labor union, financial, and banking authorities need to compile the situation and results of implementation, conduct reviews, identify causes, and take measures to leverage strengths and address weaknesses to effectively implement this circular.

During the implementation process, if any difficulties or obstacles arise, they should be reported promptly to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Ministry of Finance for discussion and resolution.

Place of Receipt:

- Office of the Government,

- Ministries, People's Committees, Government Agencies,

- Provincial, Municipal, Special Zone People's Committees directly under the Central Government,

- Provincial, Municipal, Special Zone Labor Unions, Central Industry Trade Unions (managing the social insurance fund),

- Provincial, City Financial Departments,

- Branches of the State Bank of Vietnam in provinces, cities, and special zones,

- File: Ministry of Finance, State Bank of Vietnam, and Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.