Joint Circular No. 33/2002/TTLT-BTC-BTP guiding the regime for the collection, submission, management, and use of registration fees and information provision fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines on the collection, payment, management, and use of registration fees and information provision fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets

concerning secured transactions and financial lease assets

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Based on the Ordinance on Fees and Charges and guiding documents;

Pursuant to Decree No. 08/2000/NĐ-CP dated March 10, 2000 of the Government on secured transaction registration and Decree No. 16/2001/NĐ-CP dated May 2, 2001 of the Government on the organization and operation of financial leasing companies;

Pursuant to the Law on Value Added Tax and the Law on Corporate Income Tax;
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice jointly issue guidelines on the collection, payment, management, and use of registration fees and information provision fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets as follows:

A- REGISTRATION FEES FOR SECURED TRANSACTIONS AND FINANCIAL LEASE ASSETS

1. Organizations and individuals who obtain from state management agencieslicenses for international travel agency business and tour guide cards as providedfor in Clause 1, Article 6 and Article 10 of Decree No. 27/2001/NĐ-CP dated June5, 2001, on travel agency business and tour guiding must pay the fees prescribedin this Circular.

1. Organizations and individuals, both domestic and foreign, when registering secured transactions and financial lease assets with the Secured Transaction Registration Authority in accordance with Article 2 of Decree No. 08/2000/NĐ-CP dated March 10, 2000 of the Government on secured transaction registration and Article 19 of Decree No. 16/2001/NĐ-CP dated May 2, 2001 of the Government on the organization and operation of financial leasing companies, must pay the registration fee as stipulated herein. Exemptions apply in the following cases:

- Requests to correct errors in the certificate of secured transaction registration or financial lease asset registration due to the registrar's mistake;

- Requests to cancel secured transaction registration or financial lease asset registration.

2. The amount of registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets is specified in Appendix Table 1 and Table 2 attached hereto. In certain specific cases, the following applies:

a) For organizations and individuals registering secured transactions under Article 19 of the Civil Aviation Law dated April 1, 1992, the fee level shall be determined according to Decision No. 116/1999/QĐ-BTC dated September 21, 1999 of the Minister of Finance on the table of fee levels for state management over civil aviation.

b) The amount of registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets through electronic means will be regulated in another document.

3. Registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets shall be collected in Vietnamese Dong.

II. ORGANIZATION OF COLLECTION, PAYMENT, AND MANAGEMENT AND USE

1. The Secured Transaction Registration Authority specified in Article 8 of Decree No. 08/2000/NĐ-CP and Article 19 of Decree No. 16/2001/NĐ-CP above is responsible for organizing the collection of registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets.

2. The Secured Transaction Registration Authority is responsible for:

a) Publicly posting the fee levels for registration of secured transactions and financial lease assets at its headquarters.

b) When collecting money for registration fees, it must provide the payer with a receipt issued by the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Taxation). Receipts are obtained from the local Tax Bureau where the Secured Transaction Registration Authority is located and are managed and used in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance.

The Secured Transaction Registration Authority must open a temporary account to hold registration fee collections (including cash, checks, or transfers) at the State Treasury where the transaction takes place; for cash collections, a daily or maximum weekly report must be prepared and sent to the State Treasury.

c) Register, declare, and pay registration fees to the local Tax Authority where the headquarters is located.

d) Implement payments, settle receipts for registration fees, and settle annual revenue and expenditure reports for registration fees in accordance with the Law on Fees and Charges and related implementing regulations, ensuring that all income and expenditures for registration fees are fully reflected in the annual financial budget and settlement reports of the unit.

3. The Secured Transaction Registration Authority may temporarily retain 30% of the total actual registration fee revenue before remitting it to the state budget to cover expenses for registration fee collection activities for secured transactions and financial lease assets, including the following items:

a) Paying wages or salaries, allowances, and contributions based on wages or salaries according to current regulations to hired labor directly involved in collecting registration fees (including overtime hours worked by staff of the Secured Transaction Registration Authority outside regular working hours as prescribed).

b) Direct costs for registration fee collection such as office supplies, office materials, telephone, electricity, water, travel expenses, and administrative expenses according to current standards and norms.

c) Regular maintenance and major repair costs for equipment and machinery directly serving registration fee collection activities for secured transactions and financial lease assets.

d) Purchasing materials, raw materials, and other expenses directly related to registration fee collection activities for secured transactions and financial lease assets.

e) Setting up a reward fund for staff directly involved in collecting registration fees at the Secured Transaction Registration Authority. The average annual reward amount per person shall not exceed three months' salary. All registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets temporarily retained according to the provisions above must be used for their intended purpose, documented legally, and settled annually; if there is any surplus, it must be remitted to the state budget.

4. The total actual registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets collected (including cash, checks, or transfers), after deducting the temporarily retained amount at the rate of 30% as stipulated in Point 3 of this Section, the remaining 70% must be remitted to the state budget (corresponding chapter, type, and item in the current State Budget Classification, Item 046) within the time frame and procedures specified in the Law on Fees and Charges and related implementing regulations.

5. Establish and comply with the budget for revenue and expenditure of registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets:

a) Annually, based on the level of registration fee income for secured transaction registration, financial lease assets, the content of guidance expenses stipulated in this Circular, and the current financial expenditure regime, the secured transaction registration agency shall prepare a detailed budget for revenue and expenditure of registration fees according to the current state budget classification, submit it to the superior supervisory agency for review and consolidation, and send it to the competent financial authority at the same level for approval.

b) Based on the annual revenue and expenditure budget that has been approved by the competent authority, the secured transaction registration agency and financial lease asset agency shall prepare a quarterly revenue and expenditure budget, detailed according to the current state budget classification, and submit it to the supervisory agency, the State Treasury where the transactions take place, and the financial authority at the same level as the basis for controlling revenue and expenditure.

6. Settlement of revenue and expenditure of registration fees for secured transaction registration, financial lease assets.

a) The secured transaction registration agency is responsible for opening accounting books to record, account for, and settle the amount of revenue and expenditure of registration fees according to the current administrative and public institution accounting system; implement the settlement of revenue receipts, the amount of registration fees already paid into the state budget with the directly managing tax authority, and submit the annual settlement report of revenue and payment of registration fees for secured transactions, financial lease assets to the tax authority before the end of February of the following year, and must pay any outstanding registration fees into the state budget within ten days from the date of submission of the report.

b) The superior supervisory agency of the secured transaction registration agency is responsible for checking and confirming the settlement of revenue and expenditure of registration fees for secured transaction registration, financial lease assets of subordinate agencies, consolidating the annual settlement report, sending it to the financial authority for verification, issuing an approval notice for the annual settlement together with the annual settlement of the supervisory agency according to the current State Budget Law.

B- FEES FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION ON SECURED TRANSACTIONS AND FINANCIAL LEASE ASSETS

I. SCOPE OF APPLICATION AND LEVEL OF COLLECTION

1. Organizations and individuals who request and are provided information on secured transactions and financial lease assets by the secured transaction registration agency must pay service fees for providing information to the Secured Transaction Registration Agency.

2. The level of collection of service fees for providing information on secured transactions and financial lease assets issued along with this Circular includes value-added tax.

II. MANAGEMENT AND USE OF SERVICE FEE REVENUE

The secured transaction registration agency generating service fee revenue for providing information is responsible for:

1. Collecting service fees for providing information according to the levels set forth in this Circular. When providing information services, the agency must comply with the invoice and receipt regulations under the law. In cases where the value of providing information services on secured transactions and financial lease assets is below the specified threshold and does not require an invoice, if the requesting party requests an invoice, then an invoice must be issued; if no invoice is issued, a list must be prepared according to the regulations as the basis for calculating taxes.

2. Opening accounting books to track and account for costs and revenues from service provision information on secured transactions and financial lease assets according to the accounting and statistical laws.

3. After covering necessary and reasonable costs (including labor hire costs, if any, directly serving the service activity with valid invoices and receipts), the remaining service fee revenue collected by the secured transaction registration agency must be fully paid as value-added tax and corporate income tax according to the law, and managed and used in accordance with Decree No. 10/2002/NĐ-CP dated January 16, 2002 of the Government on financial systems applicable to revenue-generating public institutions.

C- IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular takes effect fifteen days from the date of signature. Previous provisions on registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets and service fees for providing information on secured transactions and financial lease assets contrary to this Circular are no longer in force.

For secured transactions and financial lease assets concluded before the effective date of this Circular but still within their validity period, if registered with the secured transaction registration agency within three months from the effective date of this Circular, they will not have to pay registration fees for secured transactions and financial lease assets.

2. Provincial Departments of Finance and Prices, Tax Bureaus of centrally-administered cities, secured transaction registration agencies, and fee payers are responsible for strictly implementing the provisions of this Circular.

During implementation, if there are any difficulties, agencies, organizations, and individuals are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice for research and supplementary guidance.