Circular No. 87/2009/TT-BTC guiding the determination of needs, sources, and methods of expenditure to implement the adjustment of the minimum wage level for cadres, civil servants, public officials, armed forces, and subsidies for retired village cadres in 2009.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for determining needs, sources, and methods of expenditure to implement adjustments to the general minimum wage level for officials, civil servants, public employees, armed forces personnel, and adjustments to allowances for retired village cadres in 2009

adjustment of the general minimum wage level for officials, civil servants, public employees, and armed forces personnel,

and adjustment of allowances for retired village cadres

cán bộ xã đã nghỉ việc năm 2009

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Pursuant to Decree No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP dated April 6, 2009 of the Government adjusting the general minimum wage level (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP);

Pursuant to Decree No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP dated April 6, 2009 of the Government adjusting pensions, social insurance allowances, and monthly allowances for retired village cadres (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP);

Pursuant to the Decree No. 118/2008/NĐ-CP dated November 27, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

The Ministry of Finance provides guidelines on determining needs, sources, and methods of expenditure to implement the adjustment of the general minimum wage level for officials, civil servants, public employees, and armed forces personnel in 2009 as stipulated in Decree No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and the adjustment of allowances for retired village cadres as stipulated in Decree No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP as follows:

Article 1. General Provisions

1. This Circular specifies the procedures for determining needs, sources, and methods of expenditure to implement the adjustment of the general minimum wage level according to Decree No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP for state agencies, public service units; agencies and units under the armed forces; Party agencies, political-social organizations, and occupational-political social organizations, social organizations, occupational-social organizations, non-governmental organizations, projects, and international organizations' agencies located in Vietnam with officials, civil servants, and public employees assigned by the State to work within the state budget and receiving salaries from the state budget according to the salary table prescribed by the State; allowances for part-time village cadres and part-time urban district cadres as stipulated in Clause 3, Clause 4, Article 2 of Decree No. 121/2003/NĐ-CP dated October 21, 2003 of the Government on the system and policies for village, town, and township cadres (hereinafter referred to as part-time village cadres) and the adjustment of allowances for retired village cadres according to Decision No. 130-CP dated June 20, 1975 of the Council of Ministers and Decision No. 111-HĐBT dated October 13, 1981 of the Council of Ministers (hereinafter referred to as retired village cadres) as stipulated in Decree No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP; allowances for veterinary staff at the village level according to Circular No. 1569/TTg-NN dated October 19, 2007 of the Prime Minister.

2. Based on the provisions of Decree No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and other central-level agencies (hereinafter referred to as ministries and central-level agencies) and provincial-level cities directly under the central government have the responsibility to organize, guide, and aggregate the financial needs and sources to implement the adjustment of the general minimum wage level, the adjustment of allowances for retired village cadres, and the adjustment of allowances for part-time village cadres of agencies, units, and subordinate levels to submit to the Ministry of Finance in accordance with specific provisions of this Circular.

3. Ministries and central-level agencies, People's Committees at all levels, budgetary units at all levels, and budget users have the responsibility to determine and allocate resources to implement the adjustment of the general minimum wage level and any budget support (if applicable) to pay new salaries to officials, civil servants, and public employees of their units and allowances for retired village cadres in accordance with current regulations and the provisions of this Circular.

4. Implementation, accounting, and settlement of funds for the adjustment of the general minimum wage level and allowances for retired village cadres shall be carried out in accordance with current regulations and specific provisions of this Circular.

Article 2. Determining the financial requirements for implementing the adjustment of the national minimum wage level as prescribed in Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and the adjustment of allowances for village cadres who have retired as prescribed in Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP. (hereinafter referred to as the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP):

1. The total number of officials, civil servants, public employees and the number of retired village cadres to determine the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP shall be the actual number present at the reporting time (the number present on May 1, 2009) and shall not exceed the total number of positions allocated (or approved) by the competent authority in 2009. Specifically, the number of non-professional village cadres to determine the level of support from the central budget shall be based on the positions defined in Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 2 of Decree No. 121/2003/ND-CP, with each position being supported by the central budget not exceeding one cadre.

For additional positions added in 2009 compared to the number of positions at the reporting time (if any), if within the total number of positions allocated (or approved) by the competent authority, the additional financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP for these positions shall be compiled and reported by the relevant ministries, central agencies, and provinces/cities directly under the central government to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution, or included in the financial requirements for implementing the salary adjustment for the following year.

For positions exceeding the total number of positions allocated (or approved) by the competent authority, the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP for these positions shall be self-funded by the agencies and units from their own sources of funds as stipulated by law; they shall not be included in the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP of the ministries, central agencies, and provinces/cities directly under the central government.

The specific total number of positions allocated (or approved) by the competent authority for the ministries, central agencies, and provinces/cities directly under the central government shall be determined similarly to that specified in Item 1.1.1, Item 1.1.2, Point 1.1, Clause 1, Section II of Circular No. 02/2005/TT-BTC dated January 6, 2005, issued by the Ministry of Finance on guiding the determination of needs, sources, and methods of expenditure for implementing salary reform for officials, civil servants, public employees, and armed forces (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 02/2005/TT-BTC).

2. The financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP mentioned in this Circular shall be determined based on the basic salary according to rank, grade, and position; the allowance according to the prescribed system (excluding night shift pay, overtime pay, and allowances in absolute amounts) and contributions according to the system (social insurance, health insurance, trade union fees) and the additional amount of the national minimum wage increase prescribed in Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP compared to Decree No. 166/2007/ND-CP, based on the number of positions specified in Clause 1 of Article 2 above.

For the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP of the provinces/cities directly under the central government, it includes the additional funding for allowances of retired village cadres and non-professional village cadres; additional activity fees for representatives of all levels of People's Councils; additional salary funding for kindergarten teachers outside the staffing quota in villages, towns, and wards; additional salary funding for village health workers within the staffing quota due to the adjustment of the national minimum wage; and funding to cover the salaries of veterinary staff at the village level at one-third of the current national minimum wage.

The financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP for non-professional village cadres shall be determined based on the additional allowance increase from Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP (VND 217,000/month, equivalent to one-third of the national minimum wage of VND 650,000/month) compared to the allowance prescribed in Decree No. 166/2007/ND-CP (VND 180,000/month) based on the number of cadres specified in Clause 1 of Article 2 of this Circular.

The financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP for retired village cadres shall be determined based on the additional allowance increase between Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP and the allowance prescribed in Decree No. 101/2008/ND-CP.

3. Additional wages due to the adjustment of the national minimum wage for laborers not under the state's quota allocation and wages included in the unit price of products as stipulated by units operating in public services such as transportation, land administration, geology, etc.; additional wages for laborers in agencies and units that have implemented cost contracting (such as Tax Departments, Customs, State Treasury, Vietnam Television, State Bank of Vietnam, etc.) and in decisions allowing cost contracting by the competent authority during the contracting period where the unit arranges its own staff within the contracted limit to ensure new policies and regulations; additional wages for staff and laborers in the trade union system at all levels: Shall be implemented similarly to the provisions in Point 1.2, Clause 1, Section II of Circular No. 02/2005/TT-BTC (not included in the financial requirements for implementing the adjustment of the national minimum wage of the ministries, central agencies, and provinces/cities directly under the central government).

Article 3. Determining the sources to ensure the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP (hereinafter referred to as the financial source for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP):

1. Ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally governed cities shall use the remaining funds from the salary reform fund established under Circular No. 08/2009/TT-BTC dated January 16, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance, after ensuring the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 101/2008/ND-CP and Decision No. 169/2008/QD-TTg in 2009 (if applicable), to ensure the financial requirements for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP in 2009.

2. In cases where the source specified in Clause 1 of Article 3 above is less than the financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP in 2009 as stipulated in Article 2 of this Circular, the State budget will supplement the shortfall for ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally governed cities to ensure sufficient funding for implementation.

3. In cases where the sources specified in Clause 1 of Article 3 above exceed the financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP in 2009 as stipulated in Article 2 of this Circular, ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally governed cities shall self-fund the financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP and Decree No. 34/2009/ND-CP in 2009 as stipulated in Article 2 of this Circular; the remainder shall be allocated for implementing the new salary system when further regulations are issued by the State; this remaining amount shall not be used for other purposes.

In cases where ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally governed cities have surplus funds after ensuring the financial requirements for salary reform according to the schedule, they must report to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution according to the prescribed regulations. For localities facing difficulties in securing funds due to inability to harmonize increased revenue between different levels of the budget, detailed reports should be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for review and handling.

In cases where localities face difficulties, with low self-balancing ratios from local revenues, small increases in revenue in 2008 compared to the Prime Minister's approved budget, the Ministry of Finance will examine specifically to determine the additional revenue to be included in the source for implementing salary reform in 2009; simultaneously, it will compile and report to the Prime Minister on the results of implementation.

4. The financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP for personnel and staff of the various levels of the trade union system shall be paid from the 2% trade union fund; it shall not be included in the financial requirement for implementing the increased salary and allowances of ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally governed cities.

5. The financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP for personnel and staff of the Vietnam Social Security System shall be guaranteed from social insurance revenue and interest income as prescribed.

6. The financial requirement for implementing Decree No. 33/2009/ND-CP for staff in units that have implemented cost allocation, where the competent authority's decision allowing cost allocation has stipulated that during the allocation period, the unit must arrange within the allocated amount to ensure newly issued policies (such as tax authorities, customs, state treasury, Vietnam Television, etc.), these units must self-fund the increased salary costs within the total allocated budget.

Article 4. Reporting on the demand and funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP:

Ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities have the responsibility to organize, guide, review, and compile reports on the demand and funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP in 2009 and submit them to the Ministry of Finance no later than May 31, 2009 (including ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities that have sufficient funding sources to implement).

(Ministries and central agencies shall submit reports on demand and funding sources using Form No. 1 and Form No. 3 attached; provinces and centrally-administered cities shall submit reports on demand and funding sources using Forms 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 4a, 4b, and 4c attached).

Article 5. Methods of expenditure for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP:

1. For budgetary units with funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP exceeding the demand for funding to implement these decrees, they may proactively use these sources to pay salaries, allowances, and additional subsidies to officials, civil servants, and employees of their units according to prescribed regulations.

2. For ministries, central agencies, provinces, centrally-administered cities, and budgetary units with funding demands for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP exceeding the funding sources available to implement these decrees as stipulated in this Circular:

- Based on the reports from ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities, the Ministry of Finance will review and notify additional funding to ensure that ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities have sufficient funding to implement Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP.

- On this basis, ministries and central agencies will notify additional funding to subordinate budgetary units; local financial authorities at all levels will report to the People's Committees at the same level to notify additional funding to budgetary units at their own level and lower-level budgets to implement salaries and additional subsidies for officials, civil servants, and employees according to prescribed regulations (after using the funds to implement salaries, allowances, and additional subsidies as prescribed but still lacking funding).

- Based on the aforementioned notification, local financial authorities at all levels will implement the withdrawal of the budget to implement and record it in the supplementary targeted budget for 2009.

- Level I budgetary units are responsible for allocating the aforementioned notification to subordinate budgetary units (after using the funds to implement salaries, allowances, and additional subsidies as prescribed but still lacking funding). Budgetary units will withdraw money from the State Treasury within the scope of the additional funding together with proactively using retained revenue according to regulations, saving 10% of regular expenditures to pay salaries, allowances, and additional subsidies for officials, civil servants, and employees of their units according to prescribed regulations.

3. For ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities with funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP exceeding the demand for funding to implement these decrees:

- Ministries, central agencies, and provinces and centrally-administered cities will direct and guide subordinate budgetary units with funding sources exceeding the demand for funding to implement Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP to proactively use these sources to pay additional salaries to officials, civil servants, and employees, additional subsidies for retired village cadres, and additional allowances for non-professional village cadres and veterinary cadres at the village level according to prescribed regulations.

- Provinces and centrally-administered cities will proactively use increased local government revenue, saving 10% of regular expenditures (the portion retained centrally) to supplement funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP for budgetary units at the same level and lower-level budgets that lack funding to implement these decrees according to the similar process specified in Clause 2 of Article 5 above.

4. While awaiting authorized bodies to supplement funding (for units lacking funding), budgetary units and village budgets may proactively use the 2009 budget allocation and retained revenue according to regulations to promptly pay additional salaries to officials, civil servants, and employees, armed forces personnel, additional subsidies for retired village cadres, and additional allowances for non-professional village cadres and veterinary cadres at the village level according to prescribed regulations. The amount used will be reimbursed from the supplementary funding provided by the authorized body to implement salaries and additional subsidies.

5. Accounting and settlement: The accounting and settlement of funding for implementing additional salaries, subsidies for retired village cadres, allowances for non-professional village cadres, and allowances for veterinary cadres at the village level shall be carried out according to the provisions of the State Budget Law and current legal documents.

Article 6. Implementation Organization

1. Based on the provisions of this Circular, ministries, central agencies, and People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities are responsible for organizing and guiding agencies, units, and subordinate levels to determine the demand and funding sources for implementing Decrees No. 33/2009/NĐ-CP and No. 34/2009/NĐ-CP in 2009.

Based on the specific situation of their agencies and localities and the provisions of this Circular, heads of ministries, central agencies, and People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities shall specify the time and reporting forms for units and subordinate budgets consistent with the regulations on compiling and reporting to the Ministry of Finance in this Circular.

2. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of issuance. The regulations stipulated in this Circular shall be implemented from May 1, 2009. During implementation, if there are difficulties, units are requested to report to the Ministry of Finance for prompt resolution./.