CIRCULAR NO 2932016TT BTC DATED NOVEMBER 15, 2016, ON THE RATE, COLLECTION, SUBMISSION, WAIVER, ADMINISTRATION AND USE OF THE ROAD USE FEE

The process occurs in the following manner: a Declaration and payment of the fee at inspection intervals a.1 For automobiles inspected at 1-year or shorter intervals: vehicle owners shal

MINISTRY OF

FINANCE

-SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness

CIRCULAR

ON THE RATE, COLLECTION, SUBMISSION, WAIVER, ADMINISTRATION AND USE OF

THE ROAD USE FEE

Pursuant to the Law of fees and charges dated November 11, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law of state budget dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law of road traffic dated November 13, 2008;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 on details and guidelines for the implementation of certain articles of the Law of fees and charges;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No 215/2013/ND-CP dated December 23, 2013 on the functions, missions, authority and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No 18/2012/ND-CP dated March 13, 2012, Decree No 56/2014/ND-CP dated May 30, 2014 and Decree No 28/2016/ND-CP dated April 20, 2016 on the road maintenance fund;

At the request of the Head of the Department of Tax policy,

Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular on the rate, collection, submission, waiver,

administration and use of the road use fee.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 Scope

1 This Circular defines the rate, collection, submission, waiver, administration and use of the road use fee (collected per vehicle)

2 This Circular does not govern motorcycles and specialized mopeds pursuant to Section 18 and Section 20, Article 3 of the Law of road traffic

Article 2 Vehicles incurring the fee

1 Vehicles that incur that road use fee are motor vehicles for road transport, which have been registered for operation (with the certificate of vehicle registration and number plate), including automobiles, tractor units and similar vehicles (hereinafter referred to as automobiles)

2 The automobiles defined in Section 1 of this Article shall not incur the road use fee when:

a) Being damaged by an accident or natural disaster.

b) Being seized or stripped of certificate of vehicle registration or number plate

c) Being rendered inoperative by a serious accident and requiring repair for at least 30 days

d) Being commercial transport vehicles of cooperatives and transport companies, which cease operating in at least 30 consecutive days

dd) Neither entering the traffic flow nor employing the roadways in the road transport system but operating within the land area under the management of relevant companies or cooperatives; for example, in a station, port, mine, agricultural or forestry zone; and automobiles used by driver training centers for examination

e) Being registered and inspected in Vietnam but operating abroad in 30 consecutive days or more g) Being stolen for a minimum period of 30 days

3 The fee shall be exempted in the circumstances defined in Section 2 of this Section if the

documents defined in Article 9 of this Circular are submitted accordingly The owners of such automobiles for which the road use fee has been paid shall be refunded the fee amount paid (for the inoperative automobiles damaged, seized or stripped of the certificate of vehicle registration or number plate) or receive a deduction to the fee amount payable in the following period (for

automobiles in operation) in accordance with the period of time in which the automobiles do not operate on the roads

4 Section 2 of this Article does not apply to the automobiles of national defense forces and police

5 The fee is not levied, at present, on the automobiles fitted with a foreign number plate (including those registered and given a temporary plate) which are imported temporarily for a defined period

of time before re-export under competent authorities’ permission as per the laws

Article 3 Fee waiver

The road use fee is waived for:

1 Ambulance

2 Fire engine

3 Funeral vehicles, including:

a) Vehicles specifically structured for funeral (hearse and refrigerated truck for carriage and storage

of corpses)

b) Vehicles used only for funeral services (passenger vehicle accompanying the hearse, flower-carrying vehicle, portrait-flower-carrying vehicle) and registered under a funeral service provider The funeral service provider shall given a written undertaking (which specifies the quantity and plate number of the vehicles) to use such vehicles for funeral activities to the Vietnam Register and the National road maintenance fund Such undertaking shall also be presented to the registry agency (upon the inspection of the vehicle)

4 Vehicles specialized for national defense, which are road motor vehicles carrying a number plate with red background and embossed white numerical and alphabetical characters and fitted with national defense equipment (a personnel carrier refers to a passenger automobile with at least 12 seats or a transport truck with seat-fitted covered body, fitted with a red-painted number plate)

5 Security vehicles of police forces (Ministry of Public Security; provincial or district police departments, etc.), including:

a) Traffic cars of the traffic police, which have the following traits: a rotary strobe is fitted on the cars’ roof and the word “CẢNH SÁT GIAO THÔNG” (TRAFFIC POLICE) is exhibited on both sides of their body

b) Police cars of the 113 unit, which display the word: "CẢNH SÁT 113" (113 POLICE) on both sides of their body

c) Mobile police cars that show the word: "CẢNH SÁT CƠ ĐỘNG" (MOBILE POLICE) on both sides of their body

d) Vans with seat-fitted covered body, which transport police personnel on duty

dd) Prisoner transport vehicles, rescue vehicles

Article 4 Payer and collector

1 The owner, user or manager of a vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the vehicle possessor) which incurs the fee pursuant to Article 2 of this Circular shall be the payer of the road use fee

2 Fee collectors are:

a) The office of the National road maintenance fund (hereinafter referred to as the Fund's office) shall collect the fee on the automobiles of national defense and police forces

b) Registry agencies shall collect the fee on the automobiles registered under organizations and individuals in Vietnam (except the automobiles of police and national defense forces)

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS Article 5 Rate of fee

The rate of the road use fee is defined in the schedule in Appendix 01 to this Circular

Fee collectors shall round the fee amount payable with small change in the manner that an amount with a change of less than VND 500 is rounded down while a change of VND 500 to less than VND 1,000 is rounded to VND 1,000

Article 6 Calculation and payment

1 For the automobiles registered under organizations and individuals in Vietnam (except the vehicles of police and national defense forces as defined in Section 2 of this Article)

The road use fee shall be levied on an initially inspected vehicle from the date of issue of the

certificate of registration The road use fee shall be levied on a vehicle converted or transferred from an organization to an individual (or vice versa) from the date of conversion or the date of change to ownership as shown in the vehicle’s new registration card

The road use fee shall be levied per year, per month or at inspection intervals Registry agencies shall issue road use stamps that match the duration paid for The process occurs in the following manner:

a) Declaration and payment of the fee at inspection intervals

a.1) For automobiles inspected at 1-year or shorter intervals: vehicle owners shall pay the road use fee for the duration of the entire inspection interval and receive a road use stamp that matches the duration paid for

Example 1: Mr A’s car is at a 6-month interval (from January 01, 2016 to June 30, 2016) On January 01, 2016, Mr A has his car inspected and pays the road use fee to the registry agency The registry agency inspects the car, collects the road use fee and issues a 6-month road use stamp

a.2) For automobiles inspected at intervals of more than 01 year (18, 24 and 30 months): vehicle owners shall pay the road use fee per year (12 months) or for the duration of the entire inspection interval (18, 24 and 30 months)

If the fee is paid for the duration of the inspection interval (18, 24 and 30 months), the registry agency shall issue a road use stamp commensurate with the inspection interval

If the fee is paid per year (12 months), registry agencies shall issue a road use stamp that match the paid duration of 12 months At the end of the paid duration (12 months), the vehicle owner shall pay the fee to the registry agency and receive a stamp (for the duration of another 12 months or the remaining length of the inspection interval)

Example 2: Mr B’s car is inspected at a 30-month interval (from January 01, 2016 to June 30, 2018) On January 01, 2016, Mr B has his car inspected Mr B is given the option to pay the fee for 01 year (12 months) or for the entire inspection interval (30 months)

If Mr B pays the fee for the entire inspection interval, the validity of the road use stamp shall be 30 months

If Mr B pays the fee per year, the registry agency shall issue a road use stamp valid for 12 months

At the end of 12 months on January 01, 2017, Mr B has to pay the road use fee for another 12 months (or for the remaining 18 months of the inspection interval) and receives the road use stamp commensurate with the duration paid for (12 months or 18 months) If paying the fee for a duration

of 12 months, Mr B shall, on January 01, 2018, pay the fee for the remaining 06 months (from January 01, 2018 to June 30, 2018) and receive a 6-month road use stamp On July 01, 2018, Mr B shall have his car inspected and pay the fee for the next interval

a.3) If an owner has his vehicle inspected earlier or later than the deadline prescribed, the registry agency shall inspect the vehicle and determine the road use fee for a successive duration that spans from the end of the duration previously paid for to the end of the subsequent inspection interval (if the subsequent inspection interval exceeds 12 months, the vehicle owner may pay for the duration

of up to 12 months or the entire inspection interval) If the duration to be paid for does not

constitute a full month, the fee amount payable shall be calculated by multiplying the result of the division of such deficient duration by 30 days with the fee rate for 01 month

Example 3 on early inspection: Mr C’s car is inspected at a 6-month interval from March 01, 2016

to August 31, 2016 Mr C had his car inspected on March 01, 2016 and paid the fee for 06 months The periodic deadline for Mr C’s car inspection is August 31, 2016; however, Mr C somehow has his car inspected on August 20, 2016 and pays the fee (10 days early)

The registry agency inspects the car and issues an inspection stamp for the subsequent 6-month interval from August 20, 2016 to February 19, 2017 As Mr C paid the fee for a duration extending

to August 31, 2016, the registry agency shall calculate and collect the road use fee for the duration from September 01, 2016 to February 19, 2017 (05 months 20 days) in the following manner:

The fee amount payable = 5 months x VND 130,000/month + (20/30) x VND 130,000/month = VND 736,670

Example 4 on late inspection: the hypothetical situation resembles that of example 3 but Mr C has his car inspected on September 15, 2016 (15 days late)

The registry agency inspects the car and issues an inspection stamp for a duration of 06 months from September 15, 2016 to March 14, 2017 As Mr C paid the fee for a duration extending only to August 31, 2016, the registry agency shall calculate and collect the fee for the duration from

September 01, 2016 to March 14, 2017 (06 months 15 days) in the following manner:

The fee amount payable = 6 months x VND 130,000/month + (15/30) x VND 130,000/month = VND 845,000

a.4) If a vehicle owner owes the road use fee for previous inspection intervals prescribed, the vehicle owner shall not only pay the fee for the following interval but also incur the unpaid fee for previous intervals If the inspection interval commences before January 01, 2013, the fee shall be charged from the date of January 01, 2013 Registry agencies shall claim the fee amount due for previous intervals, which equal to the 1-month fee rate multiplied with the duration of deferred payment

a.5) If a vehicle owner desires to pay the fee for a duration that exceeds the inspection interval, the registry agency shall collect the fee and issues a stamp commensurate with the duration paid for

a.6) The road use fee on a seized vehicle sold by a bank or auction organization shall be charged from the date of vehicle inspection for operation In the event that the fee on the vehicle seized and sold has been paid after the re-inspection for operation, its owner shall pay the fee for a duration that succeeds the paid duration of the previous interval

b) Fee payment per calendar year

Organizations and companies that desire to pay the fee per calendar year shall notify registry agencies in writing (for the first time or upon an increase or decrease in the quantity of vehicles) and pay the fee on their vehicles per calendar year

Vehicle owners, on annual basis and before the 1st of January of the following year, shall pay the following year’s fee to registry agencies Registry agencies, when collecting the fee, shall issue stamps for each vehicle for the duration paid for

Example 7: Company A notifies the registry agency Y in writing of the former’s declaration and payment of the fee on its 10 vehicles for the calendar year of 2017; thus, Company A shall, before January 01, 2017, declare and pay the fee for the year of 2017 to the registry agency Y and receive the stamps for the 10 vehicles (each)

c) Fee payment on monthly basis

Transport companies and cooperatives that incur the fee of VND 30,000,000/ month or higher shall

be allowed to pay the fee per month Companies and cooperatives shall thereof notify registry agencies in writing (for the first time or upon a change to the quantity of vehicles) and pay the fee

on their vehicles per month Companies and cooperatives shall, on monthly basis and before the 01st

of the successive month, pay the successive month's fee to the registry agencies (with which the monthly subscription is registered) Registry agencies, when collecting the fee, shall issue stamps commensurate with the duration paid for

Example 8: Company B has 50 cars and incurs a monthly fee of VND 30 million; thus, Company B

is allowed to pay the fee on monthly basis In order to pay the fee for September 2016, Company B shall, before September 01, 2016, notify the registry agency X in writing and pay the fee on its 50 vehicles Upon paying the fee, the owner of such vehicles shall receive the fee stamps for

September 2016 Company B, on monthly basis and before the 01st of the following month, shall pay the fee on its vehicles

2 For the automobiles of national defense and police forces: the fee shall be paid on annual basis at the rate defined in the fee schedule in Appendix 01 to this Circular

Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security shall, on annual basis, make and send the estimate of the quantity and type of "national road fee” tickets in demand to the Fund’s office The Fund’s office shall print and issue “national road fee” tickets exclusive to national defense and police vehicles

Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security shall purchase the "national road fee" tickets from the Fund's office under the following procedure:

Upon the availability of tickets, an individual shall present the letter of introduction from the Ministry of National Defense or Ministry of Public Security, which specifies that person’s full name and position, the quantity and type of tickets in demand, and his identity card at the Fund’s office to purchase tickets

The Fund’s office shall provide "national road fee" tickets in the requested quantity and type The Fund’s office shall be responsible for collecting the road use fee on national defense and police vehicles according to the tickets provided

Article 7 Fee receipt

1 Fee collectors shall issue fee receipts to payers as per regulations when collecting the fee

2 When the fee on the vehicles of national defense and police forces is collected, the relevant fee collector shall issue a fee receipt and “national road fee" tickets"

a) “National road fee” tickets are valid for the Ministry of National Defense’s vehicles carrying a red-painted number plate but invalid for those carrying other number plates (including the Ministry

of National Defense’s vehicles not carrying a red-painted number plate) The content of a "national road fee” ticket valid for national defense vehicles specifies the place of issue (the Fund’s office); vehicle type (military car and military truck) and plate number The length and width of a ticket is

12 cm x 8 cm The background color of a ticket is red and the color of numerical and alphabetical characters is white

b) The content of a "national road fee” ticket valid for the Ministry of Public Security’s vehicles specifies the place of issue (the Fund’s office); either of two vehicle types (as defined in the fee schedule annexed to this Circular) and plate number The length and width of a ticket are 12 cm x 8

cm The background color of a ticket is yellow and the color of numerical and alphabetical

characters is black A vertical red line crosses over the ticket's left front at a position that is one-third of the distance from the left edge to the right

Article 8 Administration and use of the fee

1 The Fund's office can retain one point two percent (1.2%) of the actual fee amount collected to cover its expense for managing the collection of the road use fee as per regulations The Fund's office shall deposit the remaining amount into its budgetary contribution account at the State Treasury within no more than 03 working days from the date of fee collection

2 For registry agencies

a) Fee collectors can retain one point two percent (1.2%) of the amount of road use fee actually collected for:

- The expense of fee collection as per regulations;

- The three percent (3%) of the fee amount retained, which is transferred to the Vietnam Register for the nationwide registry agencies' system of management of the collection and payment of the road use fee (to cover the expense of development of software and database, subscription to internet leased line, specialized training, inspection and other relevant costs),

b) A portion of the fee amount collected shall be refunded to the entities that do not incur the fee pursuant to Section 2, Article 2 of this Circular

c) The remaining portion of the fee amount collected (less those defined in Point a and Point b of this Section) shall be transferred (possibly through commercial banks) to the Vietnam Register Vietnam Register shall submit this fee amount into the budgetary contribution account at the State Treasury within no more than 03 working days from the date of fee collection

3 Vietnam Register and the Fund’s office shall declare, submit and finalize the fee amount

collected on monthly and annual basis, respectively, according to Section 3, Article 19 and Section

2, Article 26 of the Circular No 156/2013/TT-BTC dated November 06, 2013 by the Minister of Finance on guidelines for the implementation of certain articles of the Tax Administration Law; the Law on amendments to certain articles of the Tax Administration Law and the Government's Decree No 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013 The contribution of the remaining portion of the fee amount collected (pursuant to Section 1 and Point c, Section 2 of this Article) into the state budget shall be under Subheading 2301 for road transport fee of the Chapter for the Ministry of Transport as the spending on the maintenance of the road infrastructure system pursuant to the Law

of Road Traffic, the Government's Decree No 18/2012/ND-CP dated March 13, 2012 and other legislative documents concerning the Road Maintenance Fund

4 The fee amount retained for fee collection: if the collection of the fee is recorded in entries under the corporate financial accounting regime, the fee amount retained shall be the collector’s income

If the collector is an administrative agency or public service provider, the fee amount retained shall

be incorporated into its expenditure and be managed and used pursuant to the Law of state budget

Article 9 Refund or crediting of fee payments

1 The fee amount paid for a vehicle defined in Point a, b and c, Section 2 of Article 2, shall be refunded to the owner of the vehicle or credited against the fee amount payable in the next period

1.1 Before having an automobile defined in Point c, Section 2 of Article 2 repaired, its owner is required to present the accident scene record endorsed by the relevant police unit and return the inspection stamp and inspection certificate to the nearest registry agency to evince the refund of the fee amount after the vehicle is repaired and re-inspected to resume operation

1.2 The application for refund or credit against the amount of road use fee in the following period (hereinafter referred to as fee reimbursement) includes:

a) The form of application for fee reimbursement, as defined in Form No 02 annexed to this

Circular;

b) The copies of written evidences of the duration during which the vehicle defined in Point a and b, Section 2, Article 2 is unavailable (such as a competent authority’s decision on vehicle seizure or revocation of the registration card and number plate);

c) The copy of the fee receipt If the fee receipt is lost, the owner of the vehicle shall request the registry agency that collected the fee to provide a copy of the receipt;

d) Apart from the said documents, the owner of an automobile defined in Point c, Section 2 of Article 2 shall provide the record of retrieval of inspection stamp and inspection certificate, as defined in Appendix 03 to this Circular The duration commensurate with the fee amount refunded

or credited shall be counted from the date of the functional agency's retrieval of the stamp and certificate of inspection

1.3 The application for fee reimbursement is filed to the registry agency The applicant shall bring the originals of the copies, upon submitting the application, for the registry agency to examine and compare papers The registry agency shall affix the receipt stamp upon receiving an application, write the time of receipt and note the documents included in the application

If the application is insufficient, the registry agency shall notify the applicant in 03 working days upon the former’s receipt of the application for the latter’s supplements

1.4 In no more than 03 working days upon receiving an application for fee reimbursement, the head

of the registry agency shall consider the application and issue the decision on fee reimbursement, as defined in Appendix 04, or notify the applicant in writing via the form defined in Appendix 05 to this Circular

1.5 The fee amount refunded to or credited for the vehicle owner shall accord with that paid for the duration during which the vehicle is unavailable

1.6 The decision on fee reimbursement shall evidence the registry agency's declaration and

finalization of the fee amount refunded or credited against the fee amount payable in the following period in the accounting record

2 For commercial transport vehicles of cooperatives and transport companies (hereinafter referred

to as the company), which cease operating in 30 consecutive days or more

2.1 Upon the cessation of operation

a) The company applies in writing to the Department of Transport that manages and licenses the transport business or that is in charge of the location where the vehicle is used (if the vehicle is relocated to a different region) The application includes the form of application for cessation of operation, as defined in Appendix 06 to this Circular, and (the copy of) the license of automobile-based transport business

b) Department of Transport shall be responsible for examining the application (by checking the conditions that the vehicle for which the cessation of operation is applied is a commercial transport and is owned by the company and that the requested duration of operation cessation of the vehicle is

30 consecutive days or more)

- If the conditions are not met, the company shall receive a notification, as defined in Appendix 07

to this Circular, to supplement the application The process shall take 02 working days from the date that the application is taken in;

- If the conditions are met, the Department of Transport shall sign to endorse the application for operation cessation and make the record of temporary custody of the vehicle identification board (if any), as defined in Appendix 08 to this Circular The process shall take 03 working days from the date the application is taken in

c) The company shall submit an application to the motor vehicle registry agency, which includes the original form of application for operation cessation (with the relevant Department of Transport’ endorsement); the record of temporary custody of the vehicle identification board (if applicable); and the road use fee receipt (copy)

d) The registry agency shall take in and examine the application

- If the application is not valid, the company shall receive a notification, as defined in Appendix 09

to this Circular, to supplement the application The process shall take 02 working days The absence

of such notification means that the company’s application is valid

- If the conditions are met, a record of retrieval of the road use fee stamp, as defined in Appendix 13

to this Circular, shall be made The process takes 02 working days

dd) The date that the Department of Transport endorses the form of application for operation

cessation shall be the starting point of the duration of operation cessation to valid the exemption from the fee

a) In the event that the company has not paid the road use fee on the vehicle under the application for operation cessation up to the start of its inactivity (pursuant to Point dd above), the unpaid amount of road use fee has to be paid in full to the relevant registry agency up to the start of the vehicle’s inactivity

2.2 The company shall carry out the following procedure when resuming the operation of the vehicles rendered inactive:

a) The company shall submit an application for reissuance of road use fee stamp to the registry agency (that received the application of operation cessation) The application includes the form of application for reissuance of road use fee stamp, as defined in Appendix 14 to this Circular, and the (original) record of retrieval of the road use fee stamp;

b) The registry agency shall examine the application

- If the application is not valid or the actual duration during which the vehicle ceases operating (from the start of cessation pursuant to Point 2.1 above to the date of application for resumption of operation) does not constitute at least 30 continuous days, the registry agency shall notify the ineligibility for exemption from the fee in writing via the form defined in Appendix 9 to this

Circular

- If the duration of the vehicle's temporary inactivity reaches at least 30 days, the registry agency shall calculate the fee amount credited and the additional amount payable (if any) by multiplying the result of the division of the monthly fee rate by 30 days with the amount of inactive days in the following manner:

+ In the event that the vehicle does not incur the fee upon the cessation of its operation, the fee shall

be charged upon the registration of resumed operation to the start of the following inspection interval, as per regulations

+ In the event that the fee has been paid, the fee amount commensurate with the duration of

temporary inactivity shall be credited against the fee amount payable in the following period The registry agency shall make the written decision to credit the road use fee, as defined in Appendix

04, and issue the fee stamp commensurate with the fee amount deducted

Example 9: On January 01, 2016, Company X paid the fee on an automobile for 18 months (to June

30, 2017) Company X’s application for the cessation of the vehicle's operation after 1 month in use was approved by the supervisory agency After 11 months of inactivity, the vehicle was registered for resumed operation on January 01, 2017 The registry agency issued a fee stamp valid for a period from 01, 2017 to May 31, 2018 inclusive (which includes 11 months from June 30, 2017)

Example 10: In the same hypothetical situation, Company X applied for the 20-month cessation of the vehicle's operation (from February 01, 2016 to September 30, 2017) On October 01, 2017, it applied for resuming the vehicle’s operation The registry agency then issued a stamp valid from October 01, 2017 to February 28, 2019 (17 months)

If the fee amount credited is less than the fee amount payable in the following period, the company shall pay an additional fee amount for the period of time that derives from the difference between the periodic duration that requires payment and the duration credited The registry agency shall issue a receipt for the additional payment

Example 11: Company Y owns an automobile on which the fee was paid for 12 months The vehicle, after 05 months in use, ceased operation At the end of the 12-month period, Company Y resumed the vehicle's operation and the registry agency decided to credit the fee against that of the following period For the following 12-month period, Company Y receives a 7-month credit from the paid fee amount (commensurate with the period of inactivity) and pays an additional amount for