Are herbicides subject to environmental protection tax in Vietnam?

Are herbicides subject to environmental protection tax in Vietnam?

Under the provisions of Article 3 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010:

Taxable objects

1. Gasoline, oil, grease, including:

a) Gasoline, except ethanol;

b) aircraft fuel;

c) diesel oil;

d) Petroleum;

e) Fuel oil;

f) lubricants;

g) Grease.

2. Coal, including:

a) Lignite;

b) Anthracite Coal (anthracite);

c) Fat coal;

d) Other coal.

3. Hydrogen-chlorofluorocarbon liquid (HCFC).

4. Taxable-plastic bag.

5. Herbicide which is restricted from use.

6. Pesticide which is restricted from use.

7. Forest product preservative which is restricted from use.

8. Warehouse disinfectant which is restricted from use.

9. When it is necessary to supplement other taxable objects as per period, the National Assembly Standing Committee shall consider and regulate.

The Government shall specify this Article.

Thus, according to the above legal provisions, herbicides that are restricted from use are subject to environmental protection tax.

Note: When it is necessary to supplement other taxable objects as per period, the National Assembly Standing Committee shall consider and regulate.

Are herbicides subject to environmental protection tax in Vietnam? (Image from Internet)

Which entities are environmental protection taxpayers in Vietnam?

According to Article 5 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010, taxpayers include:

- Environmental protection taxpayer is organizations, households and individuals producing, importing goods under taxable subject provided for in Article 3 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010.

- Environmental protection taxpayer in some specific cases shall be provided for as follows:

+ in case of goods importing commission, the person who entrusted importing goods shall be taxpayer;

+ In cases where organizations, households and individuals act procurement hub of coal to develop small, retail but they can not produce the documents proving that goods have been paying environmental protection tax, the organizations, households individuals act as procurement hub shall be taxpayer.

What is the formula for calculating the environmental protection tax when importing herbicides in Vietnam?

Under Article 4 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC, the environmental protection tax payable when importing herbicides is determined by the following formula:

Environmental protection tax payable = Quantity of taxable goods x Absolute tax rate per unit of goods.

Referring to Article 6 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010 regarding the basis for calculating environmental protection tax:

Tax base

1. Tax base of environmental protection is the number of taxable goods and absolute rate.

2. The number of taxable goods shall be provided for as follows:

a) For goods produced in the country, the number of taxable goods is the quantity of goods produced and sold, exchanged, internally consumed, donated;

b) For imported goods, the number of taxable goods is the quantity of imported goods.

3. Absolute rate for tax calculation specified in Article 8 of this Law.

In addition, Article 5 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC (supplemented by Article 3 of Circular 159/2012/TT-BTC) stipulates the basis for calculating environmental protection tax as follows:

Tax base

The basis for calculating environmental protection tax is the quantity of taxable goods and the absolute tax rate.

1. The quantities of taxable goods are stipulated as follows:

1.1. For domestically produced goods, the quantity of taxable goods is the number of goods produced and sold, exchanged, used internally, donated, promoted, and advertised.

1.2. For imported goods, the quantity of taxable goods is the number of goods imported.

In cases where the quantity of taxable goods exported, sold, and imported is measured in units other than those specified for tax calculation in the environmental protection tax schedule issued by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, it must be converted to the measurement units specified in the environmental protection tax schedule for tax calculation.

1.3. For fuels containing fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease, and biofuels, the quantity of taxable goods in the period is the quantity of fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease in the mixed fuel imported or produced, sold, exchanged, donated, or used internally, converted to the measurement units specified for tax calculation of corresponding goods. The determination method is as follows:

Quantity of taxable fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease = Quantity of mixed fuel imported, produced, sold, used, exchanged, or donated x Percentage of fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease in the mixed fuel

Based on the technical standards for processing mixed fuels approved by competent authorities (including cases of changing the percentage of fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease in the mixed fuel), the taxpayer must calculate, declare, and pay environmental protection tax for the quantity of fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease; simultaneously, notify the tax authorities of the percentage of fossil-based gasoline, oil, and grease in the mixed fuel and submit it with the tax declaration of the month following the month in which the mixed fuel starts being sold (or the percentage changes).

1.4. For multi-layer plastic bags produced or processed from single-layer plastic films (HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE) and other types of plastic films (PP, PA, ...) or other materials such as aluminum, paper, etc., the environmental protection tax is determined based on the percentage of the weight of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE single-layer plastic film in the multi-layer plastic bag. Based on the quantity of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE single-layer plastic film used in producing or processing multi-layer plastic bags, the producer or importer of multi-layer plastic bags must declare and take responsibility for their declarations.

Example 8: Company A produces or imports 100 kg of multi-layer plastic bags, where the weight of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE single-layer plastic film in the multi-layer plastic bags is 70%, and the weight of other plastic films (PA, PP, etc.) is 30%.

Thus, the environmental protection tax payable by Company A for 100 kg of multi-layer plastic bags is: 100 kg x 70% x 40,000 VND/kg = 2,800,000 VND.

From this, the absolute tax rate per unit of goods for imported herbicides is stipulated in the tax schedule of Article 8 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010 as follows:

According to this regulation, the absolute tax rate applied to herbicide which is restricted from use ranges from 500 VND/unit to 2,000 VND/unit.

Hence, the environmental protection tax payable for importing herbicides is determined by the following formula:

Environmental protection tax payable = Quantity of taxable goods x From 500 VND/unit to 2,000 VND/unit.