Higher fees for contract notarization and certification as of January 01, 2017

1. Higher fee for notarization of a contract worth VND 100 billion or more

Such content is defined in the Circular No. 257/2016/TT-BTC on the fees and charges for notarization and authentication.

The fee for notarization of a contract or transaction worth  VND 100 billion or more (except the contracts for rent of land use right, house rent, rent or re-rent of asset, and asset auctioning):

- The fee is increased from VND 5.2 million plus 0.03% of the valued amount exceeding VND 10 billion to VND 32.2 million plus 0.02% of the valued amount exceeding VND 100 billion;

- The maximum fee is increased from VND 10 million per case to VND 70 million per case.

The following documents lose force from the date of effect of the Circular No. 257/2016/TT-BTC: />
- Joint Circular No. 08/2012/TTLT-BTC-BTP dated January 19, 2012.

- Joint Circular No. 115/2015/TTLT-BTC-BTP dated August 11, 2015.

- Circular No. 54/2015/TT-BTC dated April 21, 2015.

2. Higher fee for authentication of a contract or transaction

Circular No. 226/2016/TT-BTC on the rate, collection, submission, management and use of the fees for authentication defines the following higher fee for authenticating a contract or transaction:

- Fee for authentication of contract or transaction: VND 50,000/contract or transaction (increased by VND 20,000).

- Fee for authentication of revision or cancellation of contract or transaction: VND 30,000/contract or transaction (increased by VND 10,000).

- Fee for correction of errors in an authenticated contract or transaction: VND 25,000/contract or transaction (increased by VND 15,000).

3. New regulation on the fee for document serving

Circular No. 223/2016/TT-BTC defines the following 02 fees for document serving:

- Fee for verification of eligibility for serving documents, which the applicant for appointment of document server incurs, is VND 800,000/application.

- Fee for verification of eligibility for establishment and operation of document serving offer, which the document server filing the office establishment application incurs, is VND 1,000,000/application.

Moreover, the Circular defines the following authority to collect such fees:

- Department of Judicial support (Ministry of Justice) shall collect the fees for verification of eligibility for serving documents.

- Department of Justice of the province or central-affiliated city where the eligibility for establishment and operation of the document serving office is verified shall collect the fee as per regulations.

4. Less charge for certification of law practice

Pursuant to the Circular No. 220/2016/TT-BTC on the rate, collection, submission, administration and use of the charges and fees for the practice of law, the charge for certification of law practice is reduced from VND 400,000 to VND 100,000 per certificate.

New fees for the practice of law are also added:

- Fee for verification of eligibility for practicing law is VND 800,000/time.

- Fee for verification of foreign lawyer’s or foreign law practicing organization’s eligibility for practicing law in Vietnam is VND 5,000,000/time.

- Fee for verification of foreign lawyer’s eligibility for extending the practice of law in Vietnam or for verification of foreign law practicing organization's eligibility for revising its operations in Vietnam is VND 3,000,000/time.

This Circular replaces the Circular No. 02/2012/TT-BTC and the Circular No. 118/2015/TT-BTC.