Circular No. 75-TC/NSNN guiding the preparation of the state budget plan for 1994

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Developing the State Budget Plan for 1994

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||| PART I

||| ASSESSMENT OF THE WORK IN DEVELOPING THE PLAN AND OVERVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE BUDGET IN 1993

||| IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE BUDGET IN 1993

1/ The State budget plan for 1993 was initiated in August 1992, submitted to the National Assembly for approval in December 1992, and officially assigned to Ministries, Sectors, and Localities in February 1993.

The process of developing the State budget plan for 1993 revealed major strengths and weaknesses that need to be learned from to develop the State budget plan for 1994 as follows:

a/ Strengths:

- Ministries, Sectors, and Localities closely adhered to the Party's and Government's guidelines on economic and social development, applying them specifically to their own circumstances to calculate and prepare detailed revenue and expenditure budgets according to current regulations; ensuring timely submission to the Government and the National Assembly.

- The State budget plan for 1993 was assigned earlier than in recent years, providing Ministries, Sectors, and Localities with more proactive management of the budget in accordance with their assigned tasks.

b/ Weaknesses:

- The preparation of the revenue and expenditure plans generally did not accurately reflect reality. Revenue results often exceeded the plan significantly; partly due to economic growth factors, changes in tax policies, and enhanced revenue collection management; partly due to some Ministries, Sectors, and Localities not being sufficiently proactive in planning, often underestimating potential revenues to easily exceed the plan and secure broader funding for units and localities.

- The expenditure budgets prepared by Ministries, Sectors, and Localities were usually too high, exceeding the State budget's balancing capacity.

As a result, some Localities set low revenue targets, exceeded them, and had substantial additional funds for increased expenditures, benefiting economically advantaged Provinces and Cities, while poorer Provinces with fewer revenues faced overly constrained spending, leading to unfair budget distribution.

Generally, Ministries, Sectors, and Localities have not fully understood the overall difficulties of the State budget to actively exploit all revenue sources and reduce expenditures, contributing to reducing the State budget deficit.

2/ After eight months of implementation, the assessment of the State budget's performance throughout 1993 shows some progress but also many challenges:

State budget revenues are likely to exceed the assigned plan; large revenue sources such as revenues from state-owned enterprises, revenues from the non-state commercial and service sectors, export taxes, import taxes, oil revenues... have significantly exceeded the plan.

Due to satisfactory revenue results, essential expenditure needs of sectors and localities have been met. However, some revenue items planned at the beginning of the year will not meet the plan, such as housing sales revenues, science and technology promotion revenues, land transfer revenues, and agricultural taxes in areas affected by natural disasters and poor harvests. Expenditures remain expansive and wasteful, with scattered allocation rather than focused investment; particularly for key construction projects, border defense, South China Sea, and Spratly Islands defense requirements, and other regular expenditures like national defense, security, employment programs, afforestation, anti-prostitution, and AIDS prevention programs, which require significant additional funding (approximately 3000-4000 billion dong), making the State budget extremely difficult and strained in 1993. Domestic tax and fee revenues only cover regular consumption, with little allocated for development investment and debt repayment: In 1991, 18.8% of domestic revenues were allocated for investment and debt repayment, in 1992, 12.1%, and in 1993, only about 3%. Most development investment and foreign debt repayment rely on domestic loans and foreign loans, primarily foreign loans.

Large budget deficits, mainly financed through external borrowing, face significant implementation difficulties. An assessment of the ability to borrow from foreign sources through ODA indicates only about 40% of the planned amount can be achieved. There is no remaining ODA source for 1993; the rest must seek commercial loans with high interest rates, requiring immediate repayment within one year or repayment in kind with crude oil, essentially "selling immature oil," causing significant difficulties for the State budget in 1994 and subsequent years.

PART II

GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING THE 1994 PLAN

To contribute to addressing the shortcomings in the planning work of 1993, and to provide a basis for calculating, preparing, and consolidating the 1994 State budget revenue and expenditure plan accurately reflecting reality, the Ministry of Finance provides guidance on the following contents:

I/ SOME KEY TASKS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PLAN AND THE STATE BUDGET FOR 1994

Overall, over three years of implementing the five-year socio-economic plan from 1991 to 1995, the notable achievement is maintaining stability in the economy and finance, controlling inflation, gradually overcoming crises, and achieving relatively good economic development.

However, economic and financial development remains unstable, inefficient, and unbalanced. Therefore, the remaining tasks for 1994-1995 are very arduous, requiring both overcoming previous difficulties and striving for better growth rates, continuing to control and reduce inflation to a single-digit level by 1994-1995.

Thus, the allocation of the 1994 plan must achieve the following main objectives:

- Strive to increase the average growth rate of several key indicators of the national economy higher than in 1993: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing by 8-9%, total industrial production value increasing by 10-11%, total agricultural production value increasing by 3.5-4%, and export turnover increasing by about 20%.

- Continue to control and reduce inflation from below 15% in 1993 to around 8-10% in 1994; prevent price surges.

- Ensure capital for essential infrastructure construction projects to facilitate production development and attract foreign investment.

- Continue to effectively implement national target programs on job creation for society, the program to green barren hills and mountains, malaria prevention, goiter eradication, primary education普及，以及计划生育和家庭发展计划......

- Budget allocation must contribute to the implementation of the annual and five-year economic and social development plans. It is necessary to mobilize domestic potential to ensure accurate and sufficient revenue collection, increase revenue; at the same time, strive to effectively utilize borrowed funds and foreign aid to meet the capital needs for key projects, ensuring quality and effective development in education, culture, healthcare, social welfare... and rural development in accordance with the Resolution of the 4th and 5th Plenary Sessions of the Central Committee of the Party; reasonably allocate necessary funds for national defense, security, strengthen maritime defense in the South China Sea and Spratly Islands to safeguard national sovereignty and social order and safety.

- Continue to reform the budget expenditure structure between accumulation and consumption, arranging expenditures thriftily, efficiently, and in line with the state budget's capacity; regular consumption expenditures shall not exceed domestic tax and fee revenues, aiming to allocate about 10% of taxes and fees for investment in construction and debt repayment. The state budget deficit shall not exceed 5% of GDP; avoid using bond issuance to cover the budget deficit, mainly relying on domestic borrowing, and only borrow from abroad if necessary, but limit commercial loans and prioritize official development assistance (ODA).

II/ REQUIREMENTS FOR BUILDING THE STATE BUDGET PLAN FOR 1994

The construction of the State Budget Plan for 1994 must be based on fully exploiting domestic revenue sources to enhance the mobilization rate of GDP into the State Budget. Expenditure arrangements must be thrifty, efficient, and in line with the state's financial capacity; ensuring a stable budget balance and reducing the budget deficit compared to 1993, contributing to stabilizing the socio-economic situation and curbing inflation. Specifically:

- Ministries, sectors, Provincial People's Committees, and City People's Committees must focus on directing subordinate units to comprehensively evaluate business production results, socio-economic indicator achievements within their jurisdiction, budget revenue and expenditure results in 1993, systematize basic documents to provide detailed explanations of the 1993 budget revenue and expenditure and the 1994 plan with solid grounds.

- Revenue calculation must be based on a thorough understanding of business production and service activities, sales figures, ensuring full exploitation of existing revenue sources into the State Budget; accurately and completely calculate all revenue items according to established tax laws and other collection systems.

- State Budget expenditure arrangements must be in line with the State Budget's capacity, consistent with assigned tasks and requirements; prioritize the order of work and expenditure items to ensure reasonable and efficient spending.

III/ MAIN CONTENTS OF CALCULATING INCOME AND EXPENSES

STATE BUDGET FOR 1994

A/ REGARDING STATE BUDGET REVENUE CALCULATION:

Ministries, sectors, and localities should base their calculations on: 1993 business production results, 1994 plan estimates from grassroots units; thoroughly understand tax laws, tax ordinances, fee and other collection systems already issued to accurately calculate the 1994 revenue plan in line with reality and regulations. During the revenue calculation process, strictly follow current revenue regulations and pay attention to the following points:

1/ For the state-owned economy sector:

a/ When calculating turnover tax, note the following amendments and supplements:

+ Supplement real estate business as an object for turnover tax calculation.

+ Turnover tax for credit activities is the difference between interest income from loans and interest expense on deposits.

+ For pilot enterprises subject to value-added tax (VAT) under Decision No. 468 TC/TCT dated July 5, 1993 of the Ministry of Finance: cement, textiles, and sugar; in principle, the minimum VAT payable should equal the turnover tax payable under the current system.

b/ Special consumption tax must be calculated correctly according to the Tax Law, and specific cases where partial refunds or reductions are permitted by authorized agencies must be explained in detail.

c/ Regarding profit tax:

To accurately determine taxable profits, units must correctly calculate production and business costs according to current regulations; regarding wage expenses under Decree No. 26/CP dated May 23, 1993. Enterprises must ensure that their obligations to the state are not lower than the current level. For units with significant profits due to external factors, in addition to paying profit tax, they must also pay additional profit tax as stipulated by law.

d/ Based on current regulations on determining the original cost of fixed assets and depreciation rates, units are responsible for accurately calculating the basic depreciation amount on fixed assets financed by the State Budget to record the budget revenue plan. For housing depreciation, follow the guidance provided in Circular No. 09 TC/TT dated February 10, 1993 of the Ministry of Finance.

2/ Calculating the tax plan for the non-state industrial, commercial, and service sector requires a thorough understanding of the business production and service activities and revenue of each entity and industry. Through regular management results and surveys, identify specific households engaged in business, registered businesses, and those paying taxes to include more households in tax management and align revenue with actual business operations.

In calculating the revenue plan, particular attention should be paid to:

+ Businesses engaged in itinerant trade and mobile sales, which are difficult to manage and often result in revenue loss, thus requiring improved tax management measures to estimate the revenue potential for 1994 and combat revenue loss in this type of business.

+ For real estate businesses registered for property transactions, transfer, etc., calculate revenue at 8% of turnover.

- Resource tax: It is necessary to organize inspections and investigations to determine the number of households engaged in extraction activities and the scale and volume of extraction for calculating revenue for the year 1994 based on the tax valuation price at the end of the fourth quarter of 1993 for each type of resource; paying particular attention to those extracting aquatic products, minerals, land, sand, stone, gravel, and forest resources.

3/ Enterprises with foreign investment capital:

The tax department must closely coordinate with relevant departments to accurately grasp the number of units that have been granted permits within the province or city. Accurately grasp the units that have commenced production and business operations to specifically determine the tax revenue according to the Law. The plan for tax collection in 1994 for these units must be based on the Foreign Investment Law, the amended and supplemented Law dated December 23, 1992, and Decree No. 18/CP dated April 16, 1993, Circular No. 51 TC/TCT dated July 3, 1993. For land and water surface rental fees, calculations should be based on Circular No. 50 TC/TCĐN dated July 3, 1993. For joint venture oil enterprises between Vietnam and the Soviet Union, current collection regulations shall apply. Specifically, corporate income tax shall be calculated according to the guidelines set forth in Circulars No. 48 TC/TCT dated June 30, 1993, and Circular No. 51 TC/TCT dated July 3, 1993, issued by the Ministry of Finance.

4/ Agricultural land use tax: As this Law was newly approved by the National Assembly, Session III, Ninth Term, on July 10, 1993, the Ministry of Finance will provide detailed guidance later for sectors and localities to implement in accordance with the regulations.

- Regarding the rice price for tax purposes, it is determined by the People's Committee of the province or city but must not be lower than 10% of the market price in the locality during the tax collection period. Therefore, it is necessary to base the projected tax calculation price for 1994 on the actual current prices, taking into account the expected inflation rate for 1994 for agricultural products.

5/ Income tax:

Based on the number of individuals already under management for personal income tax collection and the tax collected in 1993, review the entities that need to be managed for tax collection such as: individuals working in organizations, foreign representative offices, real estate transactions including houses and land use rights, employees in enterprises... to build the tax collection plan for 1994.

For Vietnamese individuals working in international organizations, foreign agencies in Vietnam, and the Vietnam-Soviet joint venture oil enterprises, in addition to income tax, they must also pay additional income adjustment according to Circular No. 06 TC/TCT dated March 26, 1991, issued by the Ministry of Finance.

6/ House and land tax:

Based on the Land and House Tax Ordinance, guiding documents, and the house and land tax ledger from 1993, calculate the revenue plan for 1994. Specifically, regarding the previous tax rates calculated according to the Agricultural Land Use Tax Ordinance, which has been replaced by the Agricultural Land Use Tax Law in 1994, follow the guidance provided by the Agricultural Land Use Tax Law.

7/ For fee and charge revenues such as traffic fees, sale prices of houses; rent, school fees, hospital fees; land transfer fees, land use right transfer fees, and other revenues, it is necessary to analyze and evaluate the implementation situation in 1993 thoroughly and fully project the plan for 1994. Clearly explain the total amount of fees and charges to be collected and the amount retained by the unit or sector according to current regulations.

- For social and community fee revenues, calculate the revenue to be remitted according to Circular No. 46 TC/TCT dated June 24, 1993: According to the principle that all social and community fee revenues at the commune and ward level must be managed through the state budget.

8/ When calculating revenue, it is necessary to fully consider and record separately each revenue item of units directly managed by Party bodies.

Units producing and operating goods subject to additional contributions to the price stabilization fund according to the Prime Minister's Decision must calculate according to the guidelines in Joint Circular No. 03/TT-LB dated May 28, 1993, issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Control Board, and list them separately as a single item.

Provinces and cities that exceed their revenue plans must report comprehensively and in detail about each type of excess revenue and the anticipated reward.

All revenues in foreign currency must be recorded according to the current system and converted to Vietnamese dong at the exchange rate of 10,500 VND/USD (the agreed-upon planning exchange rate). On the basis of promoting production and business development, strengthening management to prevent revenue loss, the total state budget revenue in 1994 must ensure a reasonable average growth rate of 30% compared to the estimated actual performance in 1993, while major provinces and cities must achieve a growth rate exceeding 35% compared to the estimated actual performance in 1993.

9/ Regarding aid and debt: Units, sectors, and localities receiving aid from international organizations and foreign countries or using preferential loans from aid sources (if any) must fully analyze the aid and loan amounts received and utilized in 1993, report on the receipt of aid and loans, repayment status, and submission to the state budget. Project the amount of foreign currency and quantity of goods to be received in 1994, allocated according to specific projects and programs (construction projects, education development programs, health, culture, population...), and incorporate them into the state budget. For approved projects and programs, if sectors and localities do not include them in their plans, the Ministry of Finance will not allocate domestic funds for the project upon acceptance or repayment of debt (if the project is financed by the state).

10/ Regarding the source of state budget deficit compensation from foreign borrowing, the Ministry of Finance will cooperate with the State Planning Commission to specifically identify each agreement and each source of borrowing from countries and international organizations; only include in the state budget balance those borrowings that can be withdrawn in 1994 to ensure a solid and proactive budget management.

B/ CALCULATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE EXPENDITURE PLAN:

1/ Construction Investment Capital

The state budget construction investment plan for 1994 will only invest in infrastructure projects that do not require repayment to the budget such as transportation, irrigation, electricity, medical, cultural, educational, social welfare, government agency projects... and some key national economic projects requiring investment capital to change the economic structure.

The financial agency together with the State Planning Committee and the investment management agency shall arrange the investment portfolio correctly for the target groups and purposes, ensuring that all necessary investment procedures for construction works (including feasibility studies, budgets...) have been approved by the competent authority according to Decree No. 385/HĐBT dated November 7, 1990, and prioritize them accordingly; only allocate into the state budget those projects with guaranteed funding sources.

The capital investment plan for 1994 must detail each project and be based on clearly determining: the volume of work completed in 1993 carried over, the volume of construction work completed in 1994, and the volume of construction work in 1994 to be settled in 1995. Note: Only include in the 1994 capital allocation plan projects and volumes of work completed within the approved plan that meet the conditions for settlement. For projects funded by foreign aid or loans, clearly specify the foreign capital for each project and each donor country, and clearly specify the domestic capital that must be guaranteed. Projects requiring foreign currency to import equipment must also be detailed specifically to plan the allocation of funds.

For production and business units, service providers requiring investment in new machinery and equipment, the investor must self-fund from various sources: additional investment capital for construction, bank loans, joint venture capital, share issuance capital, foreign loans guaranteed by the Government or banks; at the same time, production and business units are responsible for arranging sources to repay debts on schedule.

2/ Regarding working capital: Only consider allocating additional working capital to units that have completed the restructuring of production and business operations and have received a Decision to re-establish enterprises according to Decree No. 388/HĐBT dated November 20, 1991. When calculating and recording the plan, select units that meet the criteria for capital allocation, prioritizing the allocation of working capital to newly established enterprises, enterprises generating significant revenue for the state budget, or producing important products for the national economy but not yet allocated sufficient working capital according to the approved standards.

Ministries, sectors, and localities must instruct enterprises under their management to clearly explain their production plans and results of state budget contributions to financial agencies, tax authorities... to determine working capital quotas for each enterprise right from the planning stage. Along with building the 1994 plan, evaluate the production efficiency regarding state budget contributions in 1993 due to restructuring and the state budget's allocation of working capital.

3/ National reserve expenses

Ministries and sectors entrusted by the Government to reserve essential materials and goods must conduct inventory checks and manage the existing quantities; report fully on the amounts used, replacements made, additional supplements, recovered funds for the state budget, and supplementary funds provided in 1993, based on which they should calculate the 1994 plan:

- For national reserves: Any changes or additions to materials, goods, and capital... must follow the Prime Minister's decision.

- For certain materials and goods reserved by ministries, sectors, and localities decided by the Prime Minister but not yet adequately allocated, continue to include them in the 1994 plan (after providing detailed explanations for 1993 as mentioned above). Based on the availability of state budget capital, the Ministry of Finance will submit a plan for reserves to the Prime Minister for approval. If ministries, sectors, and localities need to change items or increase quantities, they must seek the Government's decision; only after receiving the Prime Minister's decision can these be recorded in the 1994 plan.

4/ Subsidies for policy goods.

- Subsidies for transportation costs of certain policy goods: fertilizers, pesticides, iodized salt, fuel oil, writing paper, medicines... transported to mountainous areas and phosphorus transported southward shall be implemented according to current regulations; the State Treasury will subsidize transportation costs up to the second-level distribution point; provincial treasuries are responsible for subsidizing transportation costs from the second-level distribution point to the district or inter-village location.

- Subsidies for seed preservation, livestock, and poultry breeding are calculated according to Circular No. 03/TTLB issued jointly by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry on July 8, 1991.

- Subsidies for certain newspapers, magazines, publishing houses... are implemented according to Circular No. 11/TTLB issued jointly by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture and Information on February 20, 1993.

When calculating subsidy plans, clearly determine the quantity, production cost, transportation costs..., and the subsidy level for each specific item. Require sectors and units responsible to strive to minimize unnecessary costs to contribute to reducing the amount subsidized from the state budget compared to 1993.

For the electricity sector and railway sector, efforts should be made to reduce material consumption; specifically, the electricity sector should aim to reduce power losses, lower product costs, decrease unpaid electricity revenues, save expenses to reduce losses for the state budget. If there are still losses in 1994, subsidies will only be included in the plan upon the Prime Minister's decision.

5/ Administrative and public service expenses

The proposed administrative and public service expenditure plan for 1994 must be based on analyzing the implementation situation in 1993, eliminating expenditures that do not comply with policies and regulations, and one-off expenses unique to 1993. Given the limited resources of the state budget, it is necessary to allocate approximately 10% of total tax and fee revenues for construction investment in 1994. Therefore, administrative and public service expenditures in 1994 will be extremely tight, only ensuring minimum normal operations for administrative and public service units through the most economical means, based on rational restructuring of organizational structures and minimizing the purchase of expensive assets such as cars and non-urgent items, as well as expenses for sectoral summaries and anniversary celebrations. In planning administrative and public service expenditures for 1994, attention should be paid to:

- The preparation of the administrative and public service expenditure plan must clearly record: expenditures in foreign currency and expenditures in Vietnamese dong. For foreign currency-related expenditures, calculate at the exchange rate of 10,500 VND/USD.

- When drafting plans, it is necessary to clearly calculate and separate major expenditure items: Expenditure on salaries and allowances (the salary fund and allowances are calculated according to the salary system implemented from April 1, 1993). For regular expenditures with quotas, they are calculated based on the average expenditure level per region (including purchases and repairs). Expenditures without quotas are determined based on the estimated implementation of 1993 (excluding unexpected expenditures such as purchasing cars, major repairs, disaster relief, sudden famine relief, and other unexpected tasks...) to forecast the 1994 budget plan accurately.

- Implement Directive No. 132/TTg dated March 27, 1993 of the Prime Minister, no expenditures shall be calculated for items self-defined by sectors and localities outside the general state regulations.

- For public service units that charge fees and levies, strictly implement Decision No. 276/CT dated July 28, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Prime Minister), Circular No. 48 TC/TCT dated September 28, 1992 regarding unified management of various types of fees, and specific circulars guiding certain types of levies to ensure full calculation and payment into the State Budget. At the same time, units and localities must fully declare the amount of fees and levies retained for use at their units according to current regulations.

- For some types of public service activities with income, such as artistic groups, sports teams, agricultural stations, irrigation facilities... operate under the current mechanism where the State Budget only supports the shortfall between income and expenses or the amount that the unit must pay into the budget when income exceeds requirements. When preparing plans, detailed explanations of expenditure requirements, revenue potential, and the difference between income and expenses must be provided.

a/ For economic public service activities: The 1994 plan must be aligned with the two-year plan objectives of 1994-1995; prioritizing efforts to serve agricultural development and rural development as per Resolution of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Central Committee.

- Expenditure on rural promotion work shall be carried out according to Circular No. 02 TT/LB dated August 2, 1993 of the Joint Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Forestry, Fisheries, Finance, and Government Personnel Bureau.

- Public service transportation expenditure: Based on statistics and classification of roads, bridges, culverts, and determining the extent of repair and maintenance required, and the expenditure regime prescribed for each type, the minimum requirement necessary for planning shall be calculated.

- Public forestry expenditure: Localities need to specifically calculate non-project public forestry expenditure under Program 327 (including expenditure on forest pest control, fire prevention, construction of firebreaks, forestry research stations...), including expenditure for people's forest rangers, specifying salary and allowance expenditure.

- Expenditure on mapping administrative boundaries according to Directive No. 364/CT dated November 6, 1992: Localities must prepare plans for expenditure on building and completing the current status map of their administrative boundaries and submit them to the Government Personnel Bureau for consolidation. The central budget will allocate funds through delegated authority to localities.

b/ Education and training expenditure: The allocation of education and training expenditure plans must be conducted concurrently with the rational arrangement of school networks and classrooms.

Based on the number of students and population by region, average expenditure levels shall be used to prepare the budget for training and education. Calculations must clearly analyze scholarship expenditure, teacher salary expenditure, and expenditure for boarding schools for ethnic minorities. For the provision of children's books and newspapers for students, this shall be treated as a separate item, funded by the central budget and recorded in the education budget according to Circular No. 05 TT/LB dated June 30, 1993 of the Joint Ministry of Finance - Ministry of Education and Training.

Expenditure for extended training programs shall be borne by students, with the State Budget not guaranteeing funding.

Production and business units that organize training classes or send staff for training at schools must cover the training and development costs themselves, with the State Budget not guaranteeing funding.

c/ Health expenditure: Based on the reorganization of the healthcare network by the Ministry of Health, sectors, and localities; promoting and expanding health insurance coverage; increasing hospital fee collection to ensure funding for expenditure needs.

Regarding medical treatment: Ministries, sectors, and localities shall base their expenditure needs on the number of hospital beds, population by region, and average expenditure levels. Simultaneously, they must fully calculate health insurance revenue according to current regulations, separating mandatory health insurance revenue (divided into production and business areas, social welfare areas) to ensure funding for medical treatment needs.

For preventive health expenditure: Based on specific tasks, population, and expenditure levels by region, the expenditure needs shall be calculated.

Ministries, sectors, and localities must report comprehensively the number of hospital beds and convalescent beds.

For expenditure on convalescent homes: While awaiting reorganization, the State Budget's comprehensive support should be reduced; ministries, sectors, and localities must report comprehensively the number of convalescent beds, with the State Budget only ensuring funding for 50% of existing beds, the remaining portion to be self-funded by the units and sectors through their welfare funds.

d/ Cultural and artistic, information expenditure: To invest and support cultural and artistic activities, units and sectors must review their tasks and activity programs to ensure practicality and effectiveness while relying on income to offset costs. The State will only subsidize the difference between the unit's or sector's planned expenditure and actual income or support political service-oriented cultural and artistic forms according to government orders and regulations.

e/ Sports expenditure:

The Sports Department and localities shall draft plans according to the guidance in Circular No. 66/TTLB dated August 3, 1993. Specifically, expenditure for preparing for the National Sports Congress in 1995, such as investment in construction, purchase and repair of equipment and venues, coaching and training of coaches, athletes, referees... shall be done with thrift, efficiency, and overall planning according to Announcement No. 170/TB dated June 3, 1993 of the Government Office, detailing expenditure in 1993, required expenditure in 1994 and 1995. This expenditure shall be compiled as a separate requirement outside the regular expenditure needs of the Sports Department.

g/ Regarding social security: The Department of War Invalids and Social Affairs and localities need to check and grasp the number of beneficiaries of state preferential policies to accurately calculate budget expenditure plans for each type of beneficiary: retirement, disability, war invalids, families of martyrs, those who have contributed to the revolution, households in persistent poverty, and other social groups...

Promote the principle of "state and people working together" with various diverse and rich forms such as establishing funds for "repaying kindness," "charity funds," etc., to care for the living standards of families of martyrs and particularly difficult social groups, thereby reducing the burden on the state budget.

h/ Research and scientific study expenses:

Based on approved scientific topics and programs, calculate the requirements for budget expenditures on research and scientific studies, including clearly stating the funding for the salaries of the research staff. In addition, ministries and sectors should fully utilize revenue from applying scientific and technological progress to production and business, recovering products from research activities, and their own science funds to support these activities. Research projects linked to production and business should be implemented under contract with relevant units to secure funding.

i/ Administrative management expenses:

Calculate based on the average expenditure per region, clearly stating expenses for the state administrative apparatus, People's Councils at all levels, the Party, mass organizations...; detail expenses for procurement, conferences, seminars, hospitality... In the budget balance for the Party, clearly state the amount of tax refunds from enterprises managed by the Party.

6/ For target programs:

- Central budget portion: The managing agency of the program/project must clearly define the scope and beneficiaries of each program/project's budget; pay attention to calculating recoverable capital (if any) to reasonably arrange the 1994 plan; coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Planning Commission to calculate and allocate the budget plan for the main managing agency, related ministries and sectors, and each locality to submit for approval by the Government and the National Assembly after formal approval.

- For localities that allocate budgets for national programs (the part undertaken by localities), they must clearly report the amount spent in 1993 and the requested budget for 1994 for each program (including detailed expenses for administration and operations...). Specifically, for special expenses in mountainous areas (outside regular expenses), in localities with many needs for ethnic minority groups, Cham, Khmer, detailed calculations of specific expense requirements for each item (transportation, water conservancy, culture, society, health...) are necessary.

For the greening barren hills and mountains and employment resolution program: Ministries, sectors, and localities base on current regulations to build programs/projects for submission to the competent authority for approval. The Steering Committee for Program 327 and related ministries; the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, the State Treasury must consolidate overall expenses for the program, prepare income and expenditure forecasts, clearly distinguishing sources of funds: supplementary state budget within the plan year, recovered funds from previous years, aid funds.

7/ Other expenses

Base on the specific situation of each unit, ministry, and locality to calculate expenses, ensuring compliance with current regulations, detailing each expense item and providing specific explanations.

For defense and security expenses, mainly central budget expenses, localities can only allocate the following: expenses for self-defense militia according to the annual plan approved by higher military authorities, expenses for recruitment work, annual registration of military service, propaganda and education for young people joining the army, expenses for the Military Service Council.

Additionally, localities must report comprehensively the expenses supported by the local budget for defense and security beyond the stipulated requirements for local tasks in 1993.

Provinces and cities need to specifically determine each type of revenue and refund to communes according to current regulations (including all types of fees and charges collected at the commune level reflected in the local budget).

8/ Until the Government decides on transferring the county budget to the budgetary unit when preparing the 1994 budget plan, note: For provinces that have transferred counties to budgetary units, the county budget forecast will be consolidated into the provincial budget, but for provinces that have not yet transferred counties to budgetary units, they still consolidate revenues and expenditures in the provincial budget, but prepare a separate summary table for county budget revenues and expenditures.

Commune budget plans are prepared simultaneously with the state budget plan. Commune authorities are responsible for building revenue and expenditure plans based on established systems and standards. Specifically, living expenses must be calculated according to Decree No. 46/CP dated June 23, 1993, and the guidance provided in Joint Circular No. 13 TT/LB dated July 29, 1993, of the Ministry of Finance and the Government's Organizational Cadre Board. On this basis, determine the portion of the provincial budget that must support the commune budgets.

For provinces with Type II components directly affiliated, it is necessary to calculate the budget separately and consolidate it into the provincial budget.

The Central Financial Management Board and localities with production and business establishments under Party management need to provide detailed reports on tax refunds received in 1993 and projected for 1994. Ministries and localities with production and business establishments or import special goods permitted by authorized bodies to refund taxes also need to report specifically on the taxes refunded in 1993 and projected for 1994.

Besides the calculations of budget revenue and expenditure targets mentioned above, ministries, sectors, and localities need to pay attention to consolidating investment plans for construction and development, including state budget capital, credit capital, self-supplemented capital, self-raised capital of enterprises, joint venture and cooperative capital both domestically and internationally, direct foreign investment, and investment by economic sectors on the territory... to be able to consolidate total social investment in construction and development.

C/ ON THE GRADING OF STATE BUDGET

Based on the calculation basis of the aforementioned revenues and expenditures, the sectors and localities need to specifically determine the amount of state budget revenue on their respective territories, the amount of state budget expenditure that must be guaranteed; based on the additional amendments to the management system for local budgets by the Government, the Ministry of Finance will provide detailed guidance subsequently.

IV/ IMPLEMENTATION

1/ Progress in building and consolidating plans:

a/ From now until the end of September 1993, the Heads of Ministries, Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees, and Municipal People's Committees shall base themselves on the points mentioned above to provide additional guidance and direct subordinate units to assess the implementation of the 1993 plan and prepare the 1994 state budget plan in accordance with the specific characteristics of each sector and locality. The Ministries and localities shall compile materials evaluating the implementation of budget revenues and expenditures in 1993, draft the budget estimate for 1994, and submit specific recommendations to the Ministry of Finance no later than September 30, 1993.

b/ The Ministries, sectors, provinces, and centrally governed cities have the responsibility to report their expenditure plans to the Ministry of Finance and relevant Ministries and specialized agencies regarding their respective fields of activity; so that these Ministries and specialized agencies can consolidate the entire budget of their respective sectors. For example: expenditures on health care, education and training, culture and information, sports... The Ministries, sectors, and localities must report their expenditure plans on these areas to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Culture and Information, and the General Department of Sports...

c/ The Ministry of Finance will organize meetings with the Ministries and localities around the end of September and throughout October 1993 (the specific meeting schedule will be announced later).

d/ In November 1993: The Ministry of Finance will consolidate and finalize the state budget estimate and provide detailed explanations about the revenue and expenditure estimates of each Ministry and locality. These will then be submitted to the Government and the National Assembly.

2/ Regarding the forms for building and reporting plans:

The Ministries and localities shall base themselves on the general guidelines and the system of forms and reports stipulated in this Circular; requiring the Ministries and localities to ensure that their plans cover all necessary reporting contents. Detailed explanations of each revenue and expenditure item, including those with special characteristics, should accompany the forms.

3/ The General Department of Taxation has the responsibility to provide detailed guidance on this Circular for implementation within the tax system.

During the process of building the 1994 state budget plan, if there are new policies and systems, the Ministry of Finance will provide supplementary guidance. When implementing and encountering difficulties, the Ministries and localities need to reflect these issues to the Ministry of Finance for timely resolution./.