Is there a right to request a refund of incorrectly or overpaid fines in the electronic environment?
Do citizens have the right to request a refund of incorrectly or excessively paid fines in an electronic environment?
According to Clause 1, Article 30 of Circular 01/2023/TT-VPCP stipulating the refund of fees, charges, and fines as follows:
Refund of fees, charges, and fines
1. When citizens request a refund of incorrectly or excessively paid amounts, the competent authority shall receive and process the refund request dossier according to the regulations.
2. Implementing refund requests for payment transactions of fees, charges, and fines already accounted into the collection account of the agency at the State Treasury on the National Public Service Portal is as follows:
a) Officers authorized to "Create vouchers for the refund of state budget revenues" shall create vouchers in the management function for the payment transaction code on the National Public Service Portal. In case the competent authority sends refund vouchers to the State Treasury, it shall use the refund voucher form as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance;
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Thus, when paying fines, if paid incorrectly or excessively, citizens can request a refund of those overpaid or incorrect amounts in an electronic environment.
Do citizens have the right to request a refund of incorrectly or excessively paid fines in an electronic environment?
Guidance on procedures for the refund of incorrectly or excessively paid fees, charges, and fines in an electronic environment?
According to Clause 2, Article 30 of Circular 01/2023/TT-VPCP, the procedures for the refund of incorrectly or excessively paid fees, charges, and fines in an electronic environment are implemented as follows:
Step 1: Officers authorized to "Create vouchers for the refund of state budget revenues" shall create vouchers in the management function for the payment transaction code on the National Public Service Portal.
In case the competent authority sends refund vouchers to the State Treasury, it shall use the refund voucher form as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance;
Step 2: Officers authorized to "Approve vouchers for the refund of state budget revenues" shall approve vouchers in the management function;
Step 3: Transfer the refund order to the State Treasury.
Authorized officers shall create vouchers, approve, monitor the situation, and track the results of the State Treasury's processing on the management function of the National Public Service Portal.
How is the currency for fee, charge, and fine collection regulated?
According to Article 3 of Decree 120/2016/ND-CP, the declaration, collection, payment, and settlement of fees and charges are regulated as follows:
Declaration, collection, payment, and settlement of fees and charges
1. The payer shall declare and pay fees and charges monthly, quarterly, annually, or upon each arising occasion. Based on the nature and characteristics of each fee or charge, competent state agencies stipulated in Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on fees and charges shall specifically regulate the declaration and payment period suitable for each type of fee or charge.
2. The collecting organization shall declare and pay collected fees and charges as follows:
a) The fee collecting organization shall pay all the collected fees into the state budget. The fee collecting organization shall declare and pay fees monthly and settle charges annually according to the tax administration law.
b) Daily, weekly, or monthly, the fee collecting organization shall transfer collected fee amounts into the Fee Awaiting Budget Account opened at the State Treasury. Based on the amount collected and the proximity to the State Treasury, competent state agencies stipulated in Clause 2, Article 4 of the Law on fees and charges shall regulate the daily, weekly, or monthly transfer of collected fees to the Fee Awaiting Budget Account.
The fee collecting organization shall declare collected fees monthly and settle annually according to the tax administration law and pay fees into the state budget after deducting retained fees.
c) Road toll collection organizations and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad collecting fees and charges shall declare and pay according to guidelines from the Ministry of Finance.
3. The collecting organization shall prepare and issue fee and charge collection vouchers following the Ministry of Finance's guidelines.
4. Currency for fee and charge collection
a) Fees and charges collected in Vietnam shall be in Vietnamese Dong, except where the law allows collection in freely convertible foreign currencies. If collection in freely convertible foreign currencies is permitted, they can be collected in foreign currencies or exchanged to Vietnamese Dong based on the conversion rate as follows:
- If paying fees and charges at commercial banks or other credit institutions, the buying rate of the commercial bank or credit institution where the fees, charges payer holds an account at the time of payment shall be applied.
- If paying directly at the State Treasury, the exchange rate at the time of payment announced by the Ministry of Finance shall be applied.
- If paying directly in cash or other forms to the collecting organization, the exchange rate for conversion to Vietnamese Dong of the headquarters of Vietcombank shall be applied at the time of payment or the end of the business day before holidays and weekends.
b) Fees and charges collected abroad shall be in the local country’s currency or in freely convertible foreign currencies.
Thus, the currency for fee and charge collection is Vietnamese Dong.
However, in cases where the law permits the collection of fees and charges in freely convertible foreign currencies, those foreign currencies can be collected or exchanged to Vietnamese Dong based on conversion rates.
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