Guidelines on declaration and calculation of environmental protection tax for entrusted imported goods in Vietnam

How to declare and calculate environmental protection taxfor entrusted imported goods in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 67/2011/ND-CP:

Tax Declaration, Calculation, and Submission

Tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed as regulated in Article 10 of the Law on Environmental Protection Tax and the laws on tax administration.

1. For domestically produced goods sold, exchanged, internally consumed, or gifted, tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed monthly. For imported goods and entrusted imported goods, tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed per each occurrence.

2. For environmental protection tax on gasoline, oil, and lubricant: Primary gasoline trading companies declare and submit environmental protection tax to the state budget based on the quantity of gasoline exported and sold (including internal consumption, product exchange, outsourcing returns, and sales to other entities; excluding sales to other primary gasoline trading companies) at the location where VAT is declared and paid.

The Ministry of Finance regulates the primary companies' declaration and submission of environmental protection tax on gasoline and oil.

3. For environmental protection tax on coal, it is regulated that domestically consumed coal must declare and submit environmental protection tax; exported coal is not subject to environmental protection tax. The Ministry of Finance collaborates with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to provide detailed guidance on this provision.

4. Environmental protection tax is only paid once for domestically produced or imported goods. In the case of exported goods that have already paid environmental protection tax but need to be re-imported into Vietnam, environmental protection tax is not required upon re-importation.

Therefore, for entrusted imported goods, tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed per each occurrence.

Guidelines on declaration and calculation of environmental protection tax for entrusted imported goods in Vietnam​ (Image from the Internet)

How many times is environmental protection tax paid for entrusted imported goods in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 10 of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010 regarding tax declaration and submission:

- Tax declaration, calculation, and submission for domestically produced goods sold, exchanged, internally consumed, or gifted are performed monthly in accordance with the laws on tax administration.

- Tax declaration, calculation, and submission for imported goods are performed simultaneously with customs declaration and import tax submission.

- Environmental protection tax is paid only once for domestically produced or imported goods

Thus, it can be concluded that entrusted imported goods will only pay environmental protection tax once.

What are regulations on the timing of environmental protection tax calculation in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 6 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC regarding the timing of environmental protection tax calculation:

- For domestically produced goods sold, exchanged, gifted, promoted, and advertised, the timing of tax calculation is the point of transfer of ownership or usage rights.

- For domestically produced goods consumed internally, the timing of tax calculation is when the goods are put into use.

- For imported goods, the timing of tax calculation is the customs declaration registration, except for imported gasoline and oil for sale, as regulated in clause 4 Article 6 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC.

- For domestically produced or imported gasoline and oil for sale, the timing of tax calculation is when primary companies sell them.

Additionally, tax declaration and submission are performed according to the regulations of the Environmental Protection Tax Law 2010, the Tax Administration Law 2019, and the guiding documents, as follows:

- The environmental protection tax declaration dossier is the declaration form No. 01/TBVMT.

Download issued together with Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC and related documents.

For exported, imported, transited, or temporarily imported goods for re-export, the customs dossier is used as the environmental protection tax declaration dossier.

Organizations and individuals involved in the production and trade of taxable goods are responsible for declaring environmental protection tax. If incorrect or deceitful declarations are detected, sanctions will be applied according to tax administration laws.

- Where to submit the tax declaration dossier:

+ For domestically produced goods (excluding domestically consumed coal of the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group and gasoline and oil business), environmental protection tax declaration dossiers are submitted to the directly managing tax authority.

If the taxpayer has taxable goods production facilities in other provinces or cities under central jurisdiction apart from the main office, the tax declaration dossier is submitted to the relevant local tax authority.

+ For imported goods (excluding imported gasoline and oil for sale), the tax declaration dossier is submitted to the customs authority where customs procedures are performed.

- Environmental protection tax declaration:

+ For domestically produced goods sold, exchanged, internally consumed, gifted, promoted, or advertised, tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed monthly in accordance with the Tax Administration Law 2019 and guiding documents.

If no environmental protection tax arises in a month, the taxpayer still declares and submits the form to the tax authority for monitoring.

+ For imported goods and entrusted imported goods subject to environmental protection tax, tax declaration, calculation, and submission are performed per each occurrence (excluding imported gasoline and oil for sale).

Environmental protection tax declaration, calculation, and submission for imported goods are performed simultaneously with customs declaration and import tax submission, unless otherwise regulated for gasoline and oil in clause 2 Article 7 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC.

The deadline for environmental protection tax submission in this case coincides with the deadline for import tax submission as regulated in the Tax Administration Law 2019 and guiding documents.

* Specific case declarations are regulated in clause 2 Article 7 of Circular 152/2011/TT-BTC (amended by Circular 159/2012/TT-BTC).