|
THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
-----
|
SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
Independence - Freedom – Happiness
-------
|
|
No.
08/2003/TT-BTC
|
Hanoi,
January 15, 2003
|
CIRCULAR
GUIDING
THE REIMBURSEMENT OF VALUE ADDED TAX (VAT) FOR DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS, CONSULATES
AND REPRESENTATIVE AGENCIES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN VIETNAM
Pursuant to May 10, 1997 Value Added Tax Law No. 02/1997/QH9;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 76/2002/ND-CP of September 13, 2002
amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 79/2000/ND-CP of
December 29, 2000 detailing the implementation of the Value Added Tax Law;
Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 73/CP of July 30, 1994 detailing the
implementation of the Ordinance on privileges and immunities for diplomatic
missions, foreign consulates and representative agencies of international
organizations in Vietnam;
The Ministry of Finance hereby guides the implementation of VAT immunities for
diplomatic missions, foreign consulates and representative agencies of
international organizations in Vietnam as follows:
I. SUBJECTS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION
Subjects entitled to diplomatic
privileges and immunities, when purchasing VAT-liable goods and services in
Vietnam stated at Point 2 below for use, shall be refunded the already paid VAT
amounts inscribed in the value-added invoices.
1. Subjects entitled to
diplomatic immunities:
- Diplomatic missions, foreign
consulates and representative agencies of international organizations belonging
to the United Nations system, which are based Vietnam, (hereinafter called
representative missions for short) and the heads of these representative
missions.
- Diplomats, consuls and officials of
international organizations and administrative as well as technical staff of
representative missions.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
2. Goods and services eligible
for VAT reimbursement:
2.1. For representative missions
and the heads of representative missions:
- The services of leasing houses
for use as head-offices of the representative missions or as residences of
their heads.
- Daily-life electricity and
water for the head-offices of the representative missions and residences of
their heads.
- Information and communications
services: telephone (including mobile phones), facsimile, internet… as well as
the services of installing and connecting these communication equipment.
- Petrol or diesel oil for
representative missions’ cars bearing diplomatic (NG) or foreign (NN) number
plates: not exceeding 1,200 liters/car/quarter.
- Goods and services used for
the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings being the head-offices of
the representative missions or residences of their heads.
- Office equipment and
facilities and other equipment and facilities for the head-offices of the
representative missions and residences of their heads.
- Goods purchased within
quantity limits prescribed in Joint Circular No. 04/TTLB of February 12, 1996
and Joint Circular No. 04BS/TTLB of October 20, 1996 of the Ministry of Trade,
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the General Department
of Customs.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
- Goods purchased within
quantity limits prescribed in Joint Circular No. 04/TTLB of February 12, 1996
and Joint Circular No. 04BS/TTLB of October 20, 1996 of the Ministry of Trade,
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the General
Department of Customs.
- Petrol or diesel oil used for
cars bearing diplomatic (NG) number plates: not exceeding 900
liters/car/quarter.
3. Cases where properties being
dwelling houses, cars and motorbikes are permitted to be transferred between
representative missions and/or their staff members being subjects entitled to
diplomatic privileges and immunities, shall not be liable to VAT.
Cases of transfer to other
subjects shall be liable to VAT according to the Value Added Tax Law and the
current guiding documents.
II. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION:
1. Vietnamese as well as foreign
organizations and individuals that are licensed to conduct business in Vietnam,
supply goods and/or services to subjects entitled to diplomatic privileges and
immunities (hereinafter referred to as the suppliers) shall have to make
value-added invoices and calculate VAT on the sold goods and/or services
according to the provisions of the Value Added Tax Law and the current guiding
documents.
2. The VAT amounts shall be
reimbursed on a quarterly basis (quarters of the calendar year). In cases where
the head-offices are relocated to other provinces or centrally-run cities or
the involved persons finish their terms of office and go home, the tax
reimbursement settlement shall be determined up to the time when such changes
occur.
In cases where subjects entitled
to diplomatic privileges and immunities have signed contracts with goods-
and/or service-supplying units according to sans-VAT prices, such contracts
must be adjusted according to VAT-included prices. If the suppliers fail to
timely adjust or cannot adjust the contracts, they must send to the local tax
offices written documents thereon, enclosed with the contracts and certificates
of entitlement to VAT-immunity, granted by the Protocol Department (the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs), so as to be certified for the continued
calculation of tax under the provisions in the Finance Ministry’s Circular No.
122/2000/TT-BTC of December 29, 2000. The deadline for application of the
provisions in Circular No. 122/2000/TT-BTC is March 31, 2003.
For contracts on provision of
services of renting offices, dwelling houses or transport means, signed before
October 1, 2002, under which the representative missions have advanced rental
for a renting period, and the suppliers have issued invoices according to
sans-VAT prices before the effective date of this Circular, it is unnecessary
to adjust such contracts and payment invoices until the end of the paid renting
period.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
a) The procedures of
registration for the granting of tax codes:
Representative missions being
subjects eligible for VAT reimbursement shall make tax code-registration
declarations according to set form, enclosed with the certification of the
representative missions’ entitlement to VAT reimbursement by the Protocol
Department (the Ministry for Foreign Affairs). The representative missions
shall send the tax code-registration declarations to the Tax Departments of the
provinces or centrally-run cities where they are headquartered.
The Tax Departments shall have to
grant tax codes and send the certifications thereof to the representative
missions within 15 days as from the date of receiving the tax code-registration
declarations, which are fully and accurately made as prescribed.
Other subjects belonging to the
representative missions such as the representative missions’ heads, diplomats
and consuls…, who are subjects eligible for VAT reimbursement as prescribed in
Section I of this Circular, shall be included in a list made upon registration
for the granting of tax codes of the representative missions. In case of
necessity and in order to facilitate the management and supervision of VAT
reimbursement, the representative missions may request the tax offices to
consider the granting of sub-tax codes for these subjects.
b) Dossiers for VAT
reimbursement:
The representative missions
shall compile dossiers of application for VAT reimbursement for each quarter
and send them to the Protocol Department (the Ministry for Foreign Affairs).
Such a dossier shall include:
- A diplomatic note requesting
VAT reimbursement for the representative missions.
- The declaration on VAT
reimbursement, made according to set form, with the certification by the
Protocol Department (the Ministry for Foreign Affairs).
- The originals (enclosed with
two copies stamped by the representative missions) of value-added invoices. The
tax offices shall return the originals to the representative missions after
making the VAT reimbursement.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
Within the first 10 days of the
first month of a quarter, the representative missions shall compile dossiers of
application for tax reimbursement for the preceding quarter and send them to
the Protocol Department – the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for certification of
VAT-reimbursement dossiers (For example, the deadline for sending dossiers of
VAT reimbursement for the first quarter of 2003 is April 11, 2003).
The representative missions,
when compiling the dossiers of application for tax reimbursement, shall have to
declare data truthfully, accurately and strictly according to the set forms,
and bear responsibility for the declared data.
4. Competence and
responsibilities of the agencies settling tax reimbursement dossiers:
a) The Protocol Department - The
Ministry for Foreign Affairs:
Within 15 working days after
receiving complete dossiers, the Protocol Department shall have to examine the
dossiers and make certifications of the subjects, lists and quantities of goods
and services eligible for VAT reimbursement. After certifying the
VAT-reimbursement dossiers according to set forms, the Protocol Department
shall transfer the dossiers to the provincial/municipal Tax Departments for
settlement.
For cases where subjects are not
entitled to VAT reimbursement or the dossiers are incomplete, the Protocol
Department shall return the tax-reimbursement dossiers to the representative
missions.
b) The provincial/municipal Tax
Departments:
The provincial/municipal Tax
Departments shall have to examine the dossiers and settle the tax reimbursement
for subjects requesting the tax reimbursement within 30 days after receiving
complete dossiers. Where in the course of examining the dossiers for tax
reimbursement, the Tax Departments have to verify invoices, therefore have to
prolong such time limit beyond 30 days, they shall have to notify in writing
the representative missions of the extension of the time limit for
tax-reimbursement settlement, but such time limit must not exceed 60 days.
After examining the
tax-reimbursement dossiers, the Tax Departments shall determine the
reimbursable VAT amounts and issue tax-reimbursement decisions according to set
form.
...
...
...
Please sign up or sign in to your Pro Membership to see English documents.
The State Treasuries of the
provinces and centrally-run cities shall reimburse VAT to the representative
missions within 3 working days after receiving the tax-reimbursement decisions
of the tax offices.
The VAT-reimbursement money
shall be taken from the VAT reimbursement fund.
III. IMPLEMENTATION EFFECT:
This Circular shall take effect
after its signing and apply to the settlement of VAT reimbursement for subjects
entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities, for goods and/or service
purchase invoices from October 1, 2002.
- The provisions in this
Circular shall apply to subjects entitled to diplomatic privileges and
immunities on the principle of equality and reciprocity. In cases where the
international treaties which Vietnam has signed or acceded to contain
provisions on VAT different from the provisions of this Circular, the
provisions of these international treaties shall apply.
All previous regulations of the
Finance Ministry on the implementation of VAT immunity for subjects entitled to
diplomatic privileges and immunities contrary to the provisions of this
Circular are no longer effective.
FOR THE MINISTER OF FINANCE
VICE MINISTER
Truong Chi Trung