Chương I Thông tư 28/2011/TT-BTC: Quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation

This Circular applies to the administration of various taxes according to the tax law; charges and fees belonging to the state budget according to the law on charges and fees; and other state budget revenues, the collection of which is managed by domestic tax agencies (below collectively referred to as taxes).

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Taxpayers, including:

a/ Organizations, households and individuals paying taxes, charges, fees or other state budget revenues according to law;

b/ Organizations tasked to collect charges and fees belonging to the state budget;

c/ Organizations providing tax procedure services;

d/ Organizations and individuals withholding tax, including:

d.1/ Organizations and individuals being Vietnamese parties to contracts with foreign organizations and individuals doing business or earn incomes in Vietnam that pay value-added tax by the direct method and pay enterprise income tax at a percentage of turnover;

d.2/ Organizations and individuals withholding tax when paying incomes to persons who have incomes liable to personal income tax;

2. Tax agencies, including the General Department of Taxation, provincial-level Tax Departments and district-level Tax Departments;

3. Tax officers;

4. Other state agencies, organizations and individuals related to the implementation of tax laws.

Article 3. Contents of tax administration guided in this Circular

1. Tax declaration, tax calculation;

2. Tax assessment;

3. Tax payment;

4. Authorized tax collection;

5. Responsibility to fulfill tax obligations;

6. Procedures for tax exemption or reduction; remission of tax and fine arrears;

7. Procedures for tax refund or clearing;

8. Tax examination and inspection;

9. Settlement of complaints, denunciations and legal actions related to the implementation of tax laws.

Article 4. Scope and contents of tax administration not covered by this Circular

1. Provisions on the administration of duties on exports and imports; administration of tax on exploitation and export of crude oil.

2. Tax administration contents regarding tax registration, enforcement of tax-related administrative decisions and handling of violations of tax laws.

3. E-transactions in the tax domain.

Article 5. Documents for transaction with tax agencies

1. Documents for transaction with tax agencies include documents provided in tax dossiers, official letters, applications, requests and other documents sent to tax agencies by taxpayers, organizations authorized to collect taxes and other organizations and individuals. Taxpayers shall submit 1 copy for each of documents and dossiers which must be submitted to tax agencies under regulations.

2. Documents for transaction with tax agencies must be compiled, signed and issued by competent persons; the format of, signatures and seals appended on, documents must comply with the law on paperwork.

3. Documents for transaction with tax agencies that are transmitted electronically must comply with the law on e-transactions.

4. The language used in tax dossiers is Vietnamese. Foreign-language documents must be translated into Vietnamese. Taxpayers shall sign and append their seals on translations and take responsibility before law for contents of translations. In case there are more than 20 A4-size pages of a foreign-language document, taxpayers shall make written explanation and request for permission to translate only contents and clauses concerning the determination of tax obligations.

For a dossier of notification of eligibility for tax exemption or reduction under a double taxation avoidance agreement, depending on the nature of each kind of contract and requirements of tax agencies (if any), taxpayers shall translate the following contents: the title of the contract and its clauses and terms, contract implementation duration or duration of actual presence in Vietnam of foreign contractors' experts (if any), responsibilities and commitments of each party; provisions on confidentiality and product ownership rights (if any), persons competent to sign the contract, contents related to the determination of tax obligations and similar contents (if any).

Taxpayers shall also enclose a copy of the contract, certified by themselves.

The consular legalization of papers and documents issued by competent foreign authorities is only required in specific cases guided in Articles 14, 18, 37 and 47 of this Circular.

5. When detecting that documents for transaction with tax agencies fail to satisfy aforesaid requirements, tax agencies shall request persons who have those documents to correct errors and send replacements.

6. The time a tax agency receives a replacement or a translation containing all contents related to the determination of tax obligations is considered the time of receipt of a document for transaction.

Article 6. Transaction with tax agencies

1. At-law representatives of taxpayers may directly sign documents and dossiers for transaction with tax agencies or authorize their deputies to sign documents and dossiers in their assigned sectors. The authorization must be made in writing and the authorization documents must be kept at enterprises.

2. Authorization in transaction with tax agencies

- At-law representatives of taxpayers may authorize their directly inferior officers to sign, on their behalf, documents or dossiers for transaction with tax agencies.

- Individual taxpayers may authorize other organizations or individuals (except for tax agents who shall comply with Clause 3 of this Article) to carry out transactions with tax agencies on their behalf. In this case, taxpayers are required to make an authorization document under the Civil Code.

- An authorization document must specify the duration and scope of authorization and shall be sent to tax agencies together with documents and dossiers for the first transaction in the authorization duration.

3. In case a taxpayer signs a tax procedure service contract with a tax service-providing organization (below referred to as the tax agent), the tax agent's at-law representative shall sign and append his/her seal on the space for the taxpayer's at-law representative in documents and dossiers for transaction with tax agencies. Tax returns must be inscribed with the full name and serial number of the practice certificate of the tax agent's employee. Tax agents shall only sign transaction documents and dossiers within the scope of tax-related procedures assigned to them under the signed tax service contract.

Within 5 days prior to the first performance of tax procedures stated in the contract, the taxpayer shall notify in writing tax agencies of the use of tax procedure services and enclose a copy of the contract on the provision of tax procedure services, certified by itself.

Rights and responsibilities of tax agents comply with the Ministry of Finance's guidance on the registration for and management of tax procedure service practice, and the organization of examination to obtain, grant and revocation of tax procedure service practice certificates.

In case tax agencies need to notify taxpayers of matters related to documents or dossiers compiled by tax agents under taxpayers' authorization, they shall notify such to tax agents for subsequent notification to taxpayers.

Article 7. Receipt of tax dossiers sent to tax agencies

1. If dossiers are submitted directly at tax agencies, tax officers shall receive and affix receipt marks and record the time of dossier receipt and the number of documents in dossiers and record them in incoming-mail books of tax agencies.

2. If dossiers are sent by post, tax officers shall affix marks showing the date of dossier receipt and record them in incoming-mail books of tax agencies.

3. If tax declaration dossiers are submitted electronically, tax agencies shall receive, check and accept tax declaration dossiers through the electronic data processing system.

4. When supplementation of dossiers is required, tax agencies shall notify such to taxpayers or tax agents (if any) right on the date of dossier receipt, in case dossiers are directly submitted to tax agencies, or within 3 working days after receiving dossiers, in case dossiers are sent 6y post or electronically.

Article 8. Method of counting time limits for completing tax-related administrative procedures

1. If a time limit is counted in days, those days are counted consecutively according to the calendar year, including weekends and holidays.

2. If a time limit is counted in working days, those days are working days of state administrative agencies, excluding weekends and holidays prescribed by law.

3. If a time limit is counted to a given day, the first day of expiration is the day following the given day.

4. If the last day of a time limit for completing administrative procedures falls on a weekend or holiday, it is the day following that holiday.

5. The date on which a tax dossier is regarded as having been submitted for counting a time limit for performing tax-related administrative jobs is the date a tax agency receives a valid dossier with all papers and documents as required.