Circular No. 88/2002/TT-BTC on the regime for collecting, remitting, and managing the use of fees for issuing barcode numbers

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the collection, payment, and management of the use of fees for issuing barcode numbers

 Based on the Ordinance on Fees and Charges No. 38/2001/PL-UBTVQH dated August 28, 2001, of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, and Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002, of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Based on Decision No. 45/2002/QĐ-TTg dated March 27, 2002, of the Prime Minister regarding the content of state management and the state management agency for barcode numbers;

After consulting with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance shall regulate the system of collection, payment, and management of the use of fees for issuing barcode numbers as follows,

 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. Enterprises, organizations within Vietnam and foreign organizations when obtaining from the state management agency for barcode numbers or agencies authorized to issue permits for using barcode numbers, guidance on their use, and maintenance of barcode numbers, must pay the fee for issuing barcode numbers as stipulated in this Circular.

2. The level of fee for issuing barcode numbers is specified as follows:

Fee for issuing and guiding the use of barcode numbers: 1,000,000 VND/per time (one million VND/per time).

Fee for maintaining the use of barcode numbers: 500,000 VND/per year (five hundred thousand VND/per year).

1. Police agencies collecting fees (referred to collectively as collection agencies) shall be responsible for:

1. The fee for issuing barcode numbers is revenue belonging to the state budget.

2. The state management agency for barcode numbers or the agency authorized to collect the fee for issuing barcode numbers (hereinafter referred to as the fee collection agency) shall be responsible for:

a) Organizing the collection and payment of the fee for issuing barcode numbers in accordance with the provisions of this Circular. Announcing (or publicly posting) the level of the fee for issuing barcode numbers at the agency's office. When collecting money, a receipt must be issued to the payer (the type of receipt issued by the Ministry of Finance).

b) Maintaining accounting records to track the amount collected, paid, and used according to current accounting and statistical laws.

c) Registering, declaring, and paying the fee for issuing barcode numbers according to the guidance of the local Tax Authority where the fee collection agency is located.

d) Implementing payments, settlement of receipts for collecting fees, and settlement of collected funds with the directly managing Tax Authority according to the management regulations on receipts and stamps issued by the Ministry of Finance.

3. The revenue from the fee for issuing barcode numbers shall be managed and used as follows:

a) The fee collection agency for issuing barcode numbers may retain 90% (ninety percent) of the total actual fee collected before depositing it into the state budget.

b) Depositing the remaining 10% (ten percent) of the total actual fee collected into the state budget.

4. The fee collection agency for issuing barcode numbers may use the retained fee according to the percentage specified in point a, item 3 above to cover expenses related to the collection of fees for issuing barcode numbers as follows:

a) Paying salaries, wages, allowances, and contributions based on current regulations for direct fee collectors. In cases where the unit has been allocated a budget for salary payments for staff within its establishment, only wage payments for external laborers to perform fee collection tasks will be covered.

b) Direct costs for fee collection activities such as office supplies, office materials, telephone, electricity, water, travel expenses, official duties, information, communication; printing (buying) documents, declaration forms, permits, other stamps according to current standards and rates.

c) Expenses for domestic and international conferences, training, and promotional activities directly related to fee collection.

d) Regular and major repairs of assets, machinery, and equipment directly serving fee collection activities.

e) Purchasing materials, raw materials, equipment, tools, and other expenses directly serving fee collection activities according to the approved budget by the competent authority.

g) Paying fees to International Barcode Number Organizations as prescribed.

h) Allocating to reward and welfare funds for direct fee collectors. The average annual maximum contribution to the reward fund and welfare fund per person should not exceed three (three) months' salary if the revenue exceeds the previous year, and two (two) months' salary if the revenue is lower or equal to the previous year.

In cases where the state management agency for barcode numbers authorizes units within the network to undertake part of the management activities related to barcode numbers, the Ministry of Science and Technology shall guide the distribution and use of the retained fee (90% of the collected fee mentioned above) for units within the network to ensure compensation for related costs.

The fee collection agency is responsible for managing and using the retained fee for the purposes stated above, with legal documentation, and must settle accounts annually according to reality. After settling accounts according to regulations, any unspent retained fee from the previous year may be carried over to the next year for continued use according to the prescribed regulations.

5. Procedures for declaring and depositing the fee for issuing barcode numbers into the state budget are as follows:

At least ten days before the start of fee collection, the fee collection agency must register with the local Tax Office regarding the type of fee, collection location, collection documents, and organization of collection.

The fee collection agency must open a "temporary holding account for collected fees" at the State Treasury where the collection takes place to monitor and manage the collected fees. On a weekly basis, the fee collection agency must deposit the collected fees into the temporary holding account and must settle this income separately according to current administrative unit accounting regulations.

Monthly, before the fifth day of the following month, the fee collection agency must declare and submit a declaration form to the directly managing Tax Authority regarding the collected fee for issuing barcode numbers; the retained fee; and the fee to be deposited into the state budget from the previous month.

Based on the declaration, the fee collection agency shall deposit the fee to be paid into the state budget. The deadline for depositing the fee into the state budget from the previous month is no later than the fifteenth day of the following month (deposited according to the chapters, types, sections, categories, and amounts corresponding to the current state budget classification) at the State Treasury where the fee collection agency is located. The fee for issuing barcode numbers deposited into the state budget shall be fully allocated to the central government budget.

Upon receipt of the fee declaration submitted by the fee collection agency, the Tax Authority shall examine the declaration, reconcile it with the number of issued receipts, and determine the amount of fees collected, retained, and due for payment to the State budget during the period, and notify the fee collection agency of the amount due to the State budget.

The fee collection agency shall reconcile the amount of fees due according to the notification from the Tax Authority with the actual amount of fees paid to the State budget during the period. If the payment is insufficient, the agency must pay the remaining amount to the State budget; if there is an overpayment, it may be deducted from the amount due for the subsequent period.

6. Preparing and implementing the budget for revenue and expenditure of fees:

a) Annually, based on the level of fee collection for barcode numbering, the content of the expenditure guidelines stipulated in this Circular, and the current financial expenditure regulations, the barcode numbering fee collection agency shall prepare a detailed budget for revenue and expenditure of fees according to the current state budget classification, submit it to the supervising authority for review, and send the consolidated version to the competent financial authority for approval.

b) Based on the approved annual budget for revenue and expenditure, the barcode numbering fee collection agency shall prepare quarterly budgets for revenue and expenditure in detail according to the current state budget classification, and submit them to the supervising authority, the National Treasury branch where transactions take place, the financial authority, and the tax authority at the same level as a basis for monitoring revenue and expenditure.

7. Finalizing the budget for revenue and expenditure of fees:

a) The barcode numbering fee collection agency is responsible for opening accounting books to record, account for, and finalize the amount of revenue and expenditure of fees according to Decision No. 999/TC/QĐ/CĐKT dated November 2, 1996, issued by the Minister of Finance on the issuance of the administrative and public service accounting system; finalizing the revenue receipts, the amount of fees collected, and paid to the State budget; submitting the annual revenue and expenditure report for barcode numbering fees to the Tax Authority before the end of February of the following year, and paying any outstanding fees to the State budget within ten days from the date of submission.

b) The Tax Authority shall finalize the revenue according to the receipt, total revenue, amount retained, and amount due to the State budget. The financial authority and the Tax Authority shall finalize the expenditure from the retained fee revenue according to Point 4, Section II of this Circular.

c) The superior supervising authority is responsible for inspecting and confirming the finalization of the revenue and expenditure of barcode numbering fees by the subordinate fee collection agency, consolidating the annual finalization report, sending it to the financial authority for verification, issuing a notice approving the finalization together with the annual finalization of the supervising authority according to the current State Budget Law.

III. IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular shall take effect fifteen days from the date of signature. All regulatory documents concerning the collection of barcode numbering fees that conflict with this Circular are hereby abolished.

2. State management agencies assigned the tasks of issuing, maintaining, guiding the use of barcode numbers, and agencies authorized to collect, pay, and utilize barcode numbering fees in accordance with this Circular.

3. During implementation, if any difficulties arise, they should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for research and supplementary guidance./.