Laws of Vietnam

Business establishments established under the State Enterprise Law and the Enterprise Law, that have already made business registration, called business establishments for short (including enterprises established under the Law on Private Enterprises and the Law on Companies), have already made tax registration, have cigarette business licenses, have directly exported foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam shall be entitled to SCT refund.

The SCT amount to be refunded to the cigarette-exporting establishments is determined being the SCT amount already collected in the stage of production of cigarettes which have been purchased by the exporting establishments directly from Vietnam-based foreign cigarette branches or establishments being distributors that have contracts on purchasing cigarettes directly from Vietnam-based foreign cigarette branches.

The cigarette-exporting establishments must register with the local tax bodies the types of export cigarettes (appellations of cigarette labels), the names of establishments that sell cigarettes to them for export with full dossiers and vouchers certifying the export cigarettes as prescribed at Point 3 below.

2. Determination of the to be-refunded SCT amount:

The to be-refunded SCT amount shall be calculated according to the volume of actually in exported cigarettes each quarter.

The to be- The volume of The level of SCT
refunded = actually- exported x already paid in the
SCT amount cigarettes production stage

The SCT level already paid in the production stage shall be determined by the Finance Ministry (the General Tax Department) according to the amount declared for payment in the production stage.

3. SCT refund-requesting dossiers:

The establishments which export foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam and are entitled to the SCT refund shall send to the Tax Departments of the provinces or centrally-run cities where they are headquartered the written request for the SCT refund, enclosed with the following complete dossiers:

- List of receipts of cigarette purchase;

- List of receipts of sale of export cigarettes;

- List of export, import and unsold cigarettes;

- Cigarette business licenses;

- Import/export goods declarations with the customs offices’ certification on the volume of foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam which have been already exported under the General Customs Department’s regulations;

- Goods sale contracts (in writing) signed between the exporting establishments and foreign traders; contracts on the purchase of foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam, signed between the exporting establishments and Vietnam-based foreign cigarette branches or distributors that have contracts on purchasing cigarettes directly from Vietnam-based foreign cigarette branches in compliance with the provisions of Articles 49, 50 and 81 of the Commercial Law;

- Vouchers of payment via commercial banks in forms of letter of credit, authorized collection or money transfer in accordance with the State Bank’s current regulations and agreement in the export contracts. In cases where the State Bank permits the collection of cash in freely-convertible foreign currencies, the State Bank’s permit, the foreign party(ies)’ certification on the already-received goods volume and the already-paid money amount, and the vouchers certifying that money has been already paid into the establishments’ accounts at commercial banks are required.

Particularly for cases where cigarettes had been exported to countries bordering on Vietnam in form of goods sale/purchase across the land borders before the date of issuance of this Circular, if the payment was made in cash (Vietnam dong or currencies of the countries having common borders and border-gate economic zones with Vietnam) in accordance with the State Bank’s regulations, the foreign party(ies)’ written certification of the already-received goods volume are required, the already-paid money amount is also considered valid payment voucher.

The tax refund dossiers sent by establishments to the Tax Departments must be the originals; particularly for cigarette business licenses, import/export goods declarations, commercial contracts and payment vouchers, if they are copies, they must be stamped by the establishments and certified as the true copies of originals. The establishments must be held responsible before law for the data and vouchers relating to the tax refund dossiers.

The tax refund dossiers shall be made quarterly. Particularly for cases where cigarettes had been exported between January 1, 2001 and September 30, 2001, the exporting establishments shall make dossiers requesting the lump-sum tax refund for the already exported cigarettes and send them to their direct-managing tax bodies before November 15, 2001.

4. SCT refund order and competence:

The Tax Departments shall, when receiving the establishments’ SCT refund requesting-dossiers, examine:

- The tax refund requesters to see if they are eligible for the SCT refund or not;

- The dossiers to see if they have been made properly or not: if not, the units shall be requested to supplement them;

- The volume of purchased cigarettes, the volume of actually-exported cigarettes, and receipts and vouchers relating to export cigarettes.

Within 15 working days after receiving the establishments’ tax refund-requesting dossiers, the Tax Departments shall examine the dossiers and make written detailed certification of the volume of each type of foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam and actually exported by such establishments, make requests on tax refund to the Finance Ministry, and them together with the establishments’ tax refund dossiers to the Finance Ministry (the General Tax Department); in cases where the establishments fail to fully meet the conditions for the SCT refund, the Tax Departments must notify such in writing to the establishments.

Within 10 working days after receiving the tax refund-requesting dossiers sent by the Tax Departments, the General Tax Department shall have to examine and determine the to be-refunded SCT amount and submit such to the Finance Ministry for decision on the SCT refund to the establishments.

The SCT amount refunded to the establishments which export foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam for export must be accounted into the establishments’ income for determining the income liable to enterprise income tax.

5. Statue of limitations for implementation:

The refund of SCT under this Circular’s guidance applies to foreign-labeled or -copyright cigarettes manufactured in Vietnam for export as from January 1, 2001.

For the Finance Minister
Vice Minister
VU VAN NINH