DECISION

DEFINING THE FUNCTIONS, TASKS, AUTHORITIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PROVINCIAL/MUNICIPAL TAX OFFICES UNDER THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP of November 5, 2002, defining the functions, tasks, authorities and organizational structures of ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP of July 1, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, authorities and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 76/2007/QD-TTg of May 28, 2007, defining the functions, tasks, authorities and organizational structure of the General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the General Director of Taxation and the director of the Personnel Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- Position and functions

Provincial Tax Offices and those belong to centrally run cities (hereinafter collectively referred to as Provincial Tax Offices) are attached to the General Department of Taxation, functioning to organize the management of taxes, charges, fees and other state budget revenues (hereinafter collectively referred to as taxes) in provinces and centrally run cities according to laws.

Article 2.- Tasks, authorities and responsibilities

A Provincial Tax Office shall perform the tasks, authorities and responsibilities provided for by the Law on Tax Administration, tax laws and relevant laws, and the following specific tasks, authorities and responsibilities:

1. To organize, direct and guide the unified implementation of tax-related legal documents and tax administration processes in the province or centrally run city;

2. To analyze, synthesize and assess the tax administration work; to advise the local Party Committee and local goverment on the estimation of state budget revenues and administration of taxes in the locality; to closely coordinate with concerned branches, agencies and units in performing assigned tasks;

3. To manage information on taxpayers; to establish a database on taxpayers;

4. To reform the tax system towards raising the operation quality, publicizing procedures, improving tax administration processes and supplying information to taxpayers in order to facilitate their implementation of tax policies and laws;

5. To propagate, guide and explain the State’s tax policies in the province or centrally run city;

6. To assist taxpayers in the locality in performing their tax liability in accordance with laws;

7. To organize the implementation of assigned annual tax-revenue estimates and tax administration measures; to directly administer taxes on taxpayers under its management according to law and regulations and operational processes and measures of the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation;

8. To guide, direct and inspect district-level Provincial Tax Offices in performing the tax administration task;

9. To directly inspect taxes, examine and supervise tax declaration, refund, exemption, reduction, payment and finalization, and observance of tax policies and laws by taxpayers, tax collection-managing organizations and individuals, and authorised tax-collecting organizations under the management of its director;

10. To inspect the performance of tasks and duties by tax authorities and officials under the management of its director;

11. To settle tax-related complaints and denunciations and those related to the performance of duties by tax authorities and officials under the management of its director in accordance with law; to handle tax-related administrative violations and make dossiers requesting competent agencies to prosecute organizations or individuals that seriously violate the tax laws;

12. To make tax statistics and accounting and manage tax receipts and forms; to prepare reports on tax collection results and other reports in service of the direction and administration work of superior agencies, the People’s Committee of the same level and relevant agencies; to review and assess its working situation and results;

13. To propose the General Director of Taxation problems requiring amendment or supplementation of legal documents on tax and the General Department of Taxation’s regulations on professional, operational and internal management matters; to promptly report to the General Director of Taxation arising problems and issues falling beyond its settling competence;

14. To decide, or ask competent authorities to decide, on the exemption, reduction or refund of taxes, the extension of the time limit for tax declaration or payment, the retroactive payment of tax amounts, the remission of tax arrears, or the non-collection of tax fines in accordance with law;

15. To request taxpayers, state agencies and relevant organizations and individuals to promptly supply information necessary for tax collection management; to request competent agencies to handle organizations or individuals that fail to coordinate with tax authorities in remitting taxes into the state budget;

16. To assess taxes and take measures to coerce the implementation of tax-related administrative decisions in accordance with laws; to announce on the mass media taxpayers that violate the tax law;

17. To compensate to taxpayers; to keep confidential taxpayers’ information; to certify according to law the performance of the tax liability by taxpayers under its management when so requested;

18. To conduct evaluation at the request of competent state agencies in order to determine tax amounts payable by taxpayers;

19. To receive and apply scientific advances, information technology and modern management methods to its activities;

20. To manage its organizational apparatus, payrolls, officials, employees and laborers; to train and retrain its officials and employees according to the State’s and the tax branch’s regulations;

21. To manage and archive tax dossiers, documents and forms and allocated funds and assets in accordance with laws;

22. To perform other assigned tasks.

Article 3.- Leadership of a Provincial Tax Office

1. A Provincial Tax Office has the director and deputy directors.

The director is wholly responsible before the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Taxation for all activities of the Provincial Tax Office.

Deputy directors are answerable to the director for their assigned tasks.

2. The appointment, relief from office or dismissal of leaders of a Provincial Tax Office complies with the provisions of law and the Finance Minister’s regulations on staff management decentralization.

Article 4.- Organizational structure of a Provincial Tax Office is composed of:

1. Functional divisions under the Provincial Tax Office are tasked to advise and assist the director:

a/ The Provincial Tax Office of Hanoi City or Ho Chi Minh City consists of the following divisions:

1. The Division for Propaganda and Taxpayer Service

2. The Tax Declaration and Accounting Division.

3. The Division for Tax Debt Management and Enforcement

4. The Tax Audit Division.

5. The Tax Examination Division.

6. The Personal Income Tax Administration Division.

7. The General Affairs-Operations-Estimation Division.

8. The Legal Division.

9. The Internal Examination Division.

10. The Personnel Division.

11. The Administrative Affairs-Storage Division.

12. The Accounting-Logistic-Invoice Division.

13. The Informatics Division.

The structure and number of Tax Examination Divisions and Tax Audit  Divisions are specified as follows:

- For the Provincial Tax Office of Ho Chi Minh City:

+ Not more than 05 Tax Examination Divisions;

+ Not more than 04 Tax Audit Divisions, including 01 division in charge of large-sized multi-branch and multi-sector enterprises which conduct business activities in many provinces or centrally run cities; 02 divisions in charge of taxpayers managed by district-level Provincial Tax Offices, and 01 division in charge of other enterprises managed by the Provincial Tax Office.

- For the Provincial Tax Office of Hanoi city:

+ Not more than 04 Tax Examination Divisions;

+ Not more than 03 Tax Audit Divisions, including 01 division in charge of large-sized multi-branch and multi-sector enterprises which conduct business activities in many provinces or centrally run cities; 01 division in charge of taxpayers managed by district-level Provincial Tax Offices, and 01 division in charge of other enterprises managed by the Provincial Tax Office.

b/ For Provincial Tax Offices of other provinces and centrally run cities, each is composed of the following divisions:

1. The Division for Public Information and Taxpayer Assistance.

2. The Tax Declaration and Accounting Division.

3. The Division for Tax Debt Management and Enforcement.

4. The Tax Examination Division.

5. The Tax Audit Division.

6. The Personal Income Tax Administration Division.

7. The General Affairs-Operations-Estimation Division.

8. The Internal Audit Division.

9. The Personnel Division.

10. The Administrative Affairs-Administration-Finance-Tax Forms Division.

11. The Informatics Division.

The structure and number of Tax Examination Divisions and Tax Audit Divisions are specified as follows:

- For Provincial Tax Offices of big provinces or centrally run cities (which have annual revenues of over VND 3 trillion, excluding revenues from crude oil and land, or which administer taxes of at least 2,000 enterprises), each is composed of:

+ Not more than 03 Tax Examination Divisions;

+ Not more than 02 Tax Audit Divisions, including 01 division in charge of large-sized multi-branch and multi-sector enterprises which conduct business activities in many provinces or centrally run cities; and 01 division in charge of taxpayers managed by district-level Provincial Tax Offices and other enterprises managed by the Provincial Tax Office.

- For Provincial Tax Offices of medium provinces or centrally run cities (which have annual revenues of between VND 1 and under 3 trillion, excluding revenues from crude oil and land, or which administer taxes of less than 2,000 enterprises), each is composed of:

+ Not more than 02 Tax Examination Divisions;

+ 01 Tax Audit Division.

Particularly for Provincial Tax Offices of mountainous, midland or delta provinces of small scale (which have annual revenues of under VND 1 trillion, excluding those from land and crude oil), depending on local tax-administration tasks, they may set up divisions less than the prescribed numbers but those divisions must fully perform major management functions such as public information-assistance, processing of declarations, management of debt collection, inspection, and examination.

The General Director of Taxation shall define the functions and tasks of divisions under a Provincial Tax Office and, based on the local situation, decide on the specific structure and number of divisions of each Provincial Tax Office; and on the merger or dissolution of divisions under a Provincial Tax Office to ensure the fulfillment of the assigned tax administration task.

2. Provincial Tax Offices of urban or rural districts, towns and cities under Provincial Tax Offices.

The General Director of Taxation shall define the functions, tasks, authorities, responsibilities and organizational structure of District Tax Offices under Provincial Tax Offices.

Article 5.- Provincial Tax Offices have the legal person status, their head offices and own seals, and may open accounts at the State Treasury.

Operating funds of Provincial Tax Offices are allocated from funding sources of the General Department of Taxation. Directors of Provincial Tax Offices shall make expenditure estimates and submit them to the General Director of Taxation for inclusion into general estimates of the General Department of Taxation

Article 6.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in “CONG BAO” and replaces the Finance Minister’s Decision No. 189/2003/QD-BTC of November 14, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, authorities and organizational structure of Provincial Tax Offices under the General Department of Taxation.

Article 7.- The General Director of Taxation, directors of provincial/municipal Provincial Tax Offices, the director of the Personnel Department, the director of the Accounting and Logistic Department, and the director of the Office of the Ministry of Finance shall implement this Decision.