Is the installation of stationery in free trade zones in Vietnam required customs declaration?

Is the installation of stationery in free trade zones in Vietnam required customs declaration?

Based on Article 74 of Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC amended by Clause 50, Article 1 of Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, it is stipulated as follows:

General Regulations for Export and Import Goods of EPEs

1. Imported goods serving the production of export products of EPEs must complete customs procedures as prescribed and be used for the correct production purposes, except in the following cases where EPEs and their partners can choose whether or not to carry out customs procedures:

a) Goods that are bought, sold, leased, or borrowed between EPEs. If the goods are raw materials, supplies, machinery, and equipment under processing contracts between EPEs, Clause 3, Article 76 of this Circular shall apply;

b) Goods such as construction materials, stationery, foodstuffs, consumer goods purchased domestically to construct buildings, facilitate office operations, or serve the daily activities of employees and workers at EPEs;

c) Goods circulated within an EPE, circulated between EPEs within the same export processing zone;

d) Goods of EPEs within a group or a system of companies in Vietnam operating under dependent accounting;

e) Goods brought into or out of the EPE for warranty, repair, or performing certain production operations such as inspection, classification, packaging, repackaging.

In cases where customs procedures are not carried out, EPEs shall prepare and store documents and detailed records to monitor goods entering and leaving the EPE in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on goods purchase, accounting, and auditing policies, specifying the purpose and source of goods.

2. Imported goods of EPEs from abroad that have paid all taxes and fulfilled all import goods management policies as prescribed, similar to goods imported not benefiting from policies applied to EPEs, are not subject to customs procedures when exchanged or traded with domestic enterprises.

Goods purchased from the domestic market by EPEs have paid all taxes as prescribed, similar to enterprises not benefiting from policies applied to EPEs, so this trading activity is not subject to customs procedures. However, in the case of purchasing goods with export tax rates from the domestic market, customs procedures must be completed unless these goods are used as raw materials and consumable supplies in the production process of EPEs (e.g., coal used in furnace heating in EPE production).

Therefore, according to the regulations, if falling into the aforementioned cases, customs declaration is not required, such as: If the goods are construction materials, stationery, foodstuffs, consumer goods purchased domestically to construct buildings, facilitate office operations, or serve the daily activities of employees and workers at EPEs. If not in the specified cases, customs procedures must be followed (meaning attention should be paid to the purpose and subject).

Is the installation of stationery in free trade zones in Vietnam required customs declaration? (Photo from Internet)

Vietnam: Is it possible to submit additional customs documents after the customs authority announces the classification result?

Based on Clause 9, Article 1 of Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, it is stipulated as follows:

Amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC dated March 25, 2015, of the Minister of Finance on customs procedures; customs inspection and supervision; export tax, import tax, and tax administration for exported and imported goods:

...

9. Article 20 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 20. Additional declaration of customs documents for export and import goods

Additional declaration of customs documents for export and import goods is the amendment of customs declaration information and submission of related documents for amending customs declaration information.

1. Cases of additional declaration

Except for the information indicators on the customs declaration that are not allowed to be additionally declared as prescribed in Section 3, Appendix II issued with this Circular, the customs declarant can additionally declare information indicators on the customs declaration in the following cases:

a) Additional declaration during clearance:

a.1) The customs declarant, the taxpayer can additionally declare the customs documents before the customs authority announces the classification result of the customs declaration to the customs declarant;

a.2) The customs declarant, the taxpayer who discovers errors in customs declaration after the customs authority announces the classification result but before clearance can additionally declare the customs documents and be handled according to the law;

a.3) The customs declarant, the taxpayer who performs additional declaration of customs documents at the request of the customs authority when the customs authority discovers errors, discrepancies between the actual goods, customs documents, and declared information during document inspection, physical inspection of goods, will be handled according to the law.

b) Additional declaration after goods have been cleared:

Except for additional declaration content related to export and import licenses, specialized inspection on goods quality, health, culture, animal quarantine, animal products, plant quarantine, and food safety, the customs declarant can perform additional declaration after clearance in the following cases:

b.1) The customs declarant, the taxpayer who identifies errors in customs declaration can additionally declare customs documents within 60 days from the date of clearance but before the customs authority decides to post-clearance inspection or audit;

b.2) After the 60-day period from the date of clearance and before the customs authority decides to post-clearance inspection or audit, if the customs declarant, the taxpayer discovers errors in customs declaration, they can perform additional declaration and will be handled according to the law.

Thus, according to the above regulations, if the customs declarant, the taxpayer discovers errors in customs declaration after the customs authority announces the classification result but before clearance, they can additionally declare the customs documents. However, this case will be handled according to the law.

What are cases of cancellation of customs declarations in Vietnam?

According to Clause 11, Article 1 of Circular 39/2018/TT-BTC, cases of canceling customs declarations include:

- Customs declarations are invalid for customs procedures in the following cases:

+ After 15 days from the date of registration of the import customs declaration without goods arriving at the import port;

+ After 15 days from the date of registration of the export customs declaration, goods exempt from document inspection and physical inspection have not yet been brought into the customs supervision area at the export port;

+ After 15 days from the date of registration of the export customs declaration, the customs declarant has not submitted the customs documents or completed customs procedures, but the goods have not been brought into the customs supervision area at the export port for goods required to have document inspection;

+ After 15 days from the date of registration of the export customs declaration, the customs declarant has not submitted the documents and presented the goods for physical inspection by the customs authority for goods required to have physical inspection;

+ The registered customs declaration for goods subject to licensing by the specialized management authority but the license is not available at the time of declaring.

- Customs declarations registered but not cleared due to the electronic customs data processing system malfunction, and the paper customs declaration replacing it has been cleared or the goods have been released or brought in for preservation;

- Registered customs declarations but goods do not meet the regulations on specialized management and inspection; after handling violations with additional penalties of re-export or destruction;

- Canceling customs declarations at the request of the customs declarant:

+ Export customs declarations have completed customs procedures, goods have been brought into the customs supervision area, but the customs declarant requests to bring them back domestically for repair or recycling;

+ On-site export customs declarations have been cleared or the goods have been released, but the exporter or importer cancels the export-import transaction;

+ Apart from the cases stipulated in points a.2, a.3, a.4, d.1, and d.2 of this clause, export customs declarations have been cleared or the goods have been released, but the goods have not actually been exported;

+ Customs declarations have incorrect information indicators as stipulated in Section 3, Appendix II attached to this Circular, except for the case of cleared or released import customs declarations, and goods have passed the customs supervision area; or cleared or released export customs declarations, and goods have actually been exported.