Joint Circular No. 856/LB/ÐC-TC guiding domestic organizations in preparing land lease registration files and paying land rent.

DIRECTIVE

REGARDING STRENGTHENING MANAGEMENT OF NATIONAL REVENUE COLLECTION IN THE LAST MONTHS OF 1996

In order to effectively implement Directive No. 790/TTg dated October 26, 1996 of the Prime Minister on strengthening management of revenue collection, resolving the outstanding arrears situation, and ensuring the completion of the annual revenue collection plan for 1996, the Minister of Finance requests:

1- For tax authorities: The Director General of the State Tax Administration shall instruct local tax bureaus to require tax officers to closely monitor taxpayers;

- Not allowing enterprises to arbitrarily adjust revenues or retain amounts due to the state budget.

- To specifically identify the amounts still owed from 1995 carried over to 1996, the amounts generated and paid into the State Budget in the first ten months of 1996, specifically determine the amount of arrears as of the end of October 1996, and forecast the amounts that must be paid in the last two months of the year; based on this, issue specific notices of the amounts to be paid by each business entity in November and December 1996, without allowing arrears (except for newly generated taxes not yet due according to the law) to carry over to 1997.

- Conducting thorough reviews of each area, each type of revenue, and each enterprise, focusing particularly on key businesses with large revenue volumes.

- For entities with significant arrears, clearly identify the reasons and take measures to immediately collect the arrears according to the following principles:

+ For the arrears from 1995 as per the final settlement and the taxes on turnover, special consumption tax, and usage fees generated in the first ten months of 1996, immediate orders must be issued to collect these into the State Budget. Regarding income tax, it should be calculated based on the projected generation in the last two months to reflect reality; notify and require units to timely pay into the State Budget.

+ State-owned enterprises suffering losses due to objective reasons and eligible for reduced usage fees may only temporarily delay payment of the corresponding usage fee arrears equal to the confirmed loss. Other arrears must be promptly collected into the State Budget.

+ Enterprises eligible for tax exemption or reduction on turnover tax or special consumption tax, which have submitted applications for exemption or reduction to the tax authority for review but have not received a decision, the tax authority must verify and specifically determine the exempted amount and temporarily allow retention up to the amount determined to be exempted according to the law.

+ Enterprises producing goods subject to special consumption tax with small production scale, low equipment and technology, unable to fully pay the special consumption tax as required by law, must specifically assess the business situation at the unit to determine the amount payable according to the law and actual payment capability; the temporary special consumption tax payment cannot be lower than the difference between total sales revenue and total cost. After determining the temporary payment according to the above principle, the tax authority must specifically determine the arrears of special consumption tax for delayed payment for each enterprise.

+ Taxes and other payments to the State Budget intended for investment in basic construction projects, if not approved by the Government or the Ministry of Finance, must be immediately collected into the State Budget. If approved by the Government or the Ministry of Finance to retain for investment under the record-receipt method, the Tax Department has the responsibility to coordinate with the Investment and Development Department and the State Capital and Asset Management Department at enterprises to guide units to quickly complete the record-receipt procedures.

+ For enterprises still owing taxes but have been dissolved or ceased operations awaiting dissolution, or have been operating at a loss for a long time and unable to pay taxes, a record of the arrears must be established and reported to the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Taxation) for consolidation and submission to the Prime Minister.

- Anti-evading teams organize rapid inspections combined with focused inspections of all enterprises within their jurisdiction, focusing on the following contents: Inspect accounting records and issuance of invoices and vouchers for enterprise business activities; thereby, determine the legitimacy of various costs in production costs and circulation fees, closely monitor product selling prices to accurately calculate and collect all generated taxes, strictly handle cases of tax evasion.

- Enterprises that have switched to land rental should calculate and urge enterprises to immediately pay land rent into the state budget.

- For the non-state sector:

+ Strengthen inspections of individual businesses, especially compliance with private accounting systems for larger individual businesses; individual businesses paying taxes based on declarations to prevent tax evasion on turnover.

+ Recommend the People's Committee to revoke business licenses for enterprises that have been granted licenses but are inactive, generate no revenue, operate at a loss, or are ineffective, in order to strengthen state management effectiveness and prevent revenue evasion. Continue to focus on directing and managing to prevent evasion of various taxes such as construction activity taxes, transportation business taxes, fishing taxes, slaughter taxes, and transit taxes.

- Review and re-establish all types of fees and charges currently collected by various departments and levels, in accordance with the spirit that all revenues must use financial documents issued by the Ministry of Finance and must be reflected through the State Budget, settle definitively the fees and charges temporarily retained according to joint circulars or decisions by the Ministry of Finance such as: Marine safety guarantee fees, bridge tolls, vehicle technical safety inspection and environmental protection fees, passenger service fees at airports, foreign aircraft air traffic control fees, air traffic control fees for domestic and international air transport units.

- Launch a sprint movement in the last two months of the year, assign specific revenue collection tasks to each subordinate unit, promptly reward individuals and units performing well, while strictly deal with negative phenomena in the industry to complete and exceed the State Budget revenue collection task for 1996 in the area.

2- For the State Treasury:

- Arrange personnel and means to expand additional direct tax collection points through the State Treasury, especially in the last months of the year.

- Fully and correctly account for all revenues into the state budget according to regulations.

3. With respect to the State Revenue and Asset Management Bureau at enterprises:

- Assist enterprises with measures to overcome difficulties in capital and financial mechanisms, resolve existing issues regarding taxes in reviewed settlements so that enterprises can fulfill their tax obligations properly and avoid tax arrears.

- Strictly manage the financial system and accounting at enterprises. Guide enterprises to strictly implement the Financial Management Regulations and Business Accounting for State-Owned Enterprises (issued together with Decree No. 59/CP dated October 3, 1996 of the Government) to enhance production and business efficiency and contribute to increasing the accumulation paid into the State Budget by enterprises. Organize the inspection of accounting work at enterprises according to the functions assigned by the Ministry to the State Capital and Asset Management Department at enterprises.

4. Provincial Departments of Finance and Prices:

- Closely coordinate with the tax sector to discuss with relevant departments at the local level to settle all outstanding taxes from 1995 and newly generated in 1996 to be collected into the State budget.

- Coordinate with the Land Administration Department and the Tax Department to quickly implement land leasing for organizations eligible for land leasing according to Joint Circular No. 856/LB/ĐC-TC dated July 12, 1996 of the Ministry of Finance and the General Land Administration on guiding domestic organizations to prepare land lease registration files and pay land lease fees.

- All revenues generated within the local area must be reflected in the State Budget, particularly the proceeds from the sale of state-owned housing, land use rights fees, charges, and other fees decided and collected by the People's Committees at all levels.

5. State Audit Office:

- The Financial Inspectorate needs to coordinate with the financial inspectors of the Departments of Finance, tax inspectors to conduct inspections on the compliance with tax laws by enterprises within their jurisdiction, handle outstanding tax debts, identify hidden taxes, increase revenue for the State Budget, and take measures to compel inspected entities to pay the discovered taxes to the State Budget.

The Ministry requests that the National Financial Inspectorate, the Department of Finance - Prices, and the Tax Service implement Directive No. 424/TTg dated August 23, 1993 of the Prime Minister regarding the coordination among law enforcement agencies to ensure close cooperation, achieve high inspection effectiveness, avoid overlapping and duplication, and not create difficulties for business operations.

With only two months left until the end of 1996, the Ministry requires the General Tax Department and the organizations mentioned in this Directive to perform their tasks according to their functions and related work to intensify tax collection in the remaining months of the year as specified in this Directive.