Guidelines for controlling and making payments for regular expenditures through the State Treasury of Vietnam

Guidelines for controlling and making payments for regular expenditures through the State Treasury of Vietnam

On March 14, 2024, the Minister of Finance issued Circular 17/2024/TT-BTC providing guidelines for controlling and making payments for regular expenditures through the State Treasury from various sources.

There are two specific forms of controlling and making payments for regular expenditures from the State budget through the State Treasury:

- Payment in advance, control afterwards: This form applies to each payment under contracts with multiple installments, except for the final payment.

- Control in advance, payment afterwards: This form applies to all expenditures, whereby the State Treasury conducts control and makes payments according to the prescribed time in Decree 11/2020/ND-CP after receiving the complete and legitimate documentation as regulated.

Guidelines for controlling and making payments for regular expenditures through the State Treasury of Vietnam - image from internet

What aspects shall be controlled by the State Treasury of Vietnam?

According to Article 5 of Circular 17/2024/TT-BTC, the State Treasury is responsible for controlling the following aspects:

(1) In the case of direct transactions through the State Treasury, the stamp and signature on the money transfer documents must match the registered stamp and signature templates at the State Treasury. In the case of transactions through the State Treasury's online public service portal, the digital signatures on the money transfer documents must match the full name and position of the authorized members, as determined by the competent authority and registered with the State Treasury.

(2) The expenditure content must comply with the economic content codes specified in the current State Budget Index (excluding expenditure from deposit accounts).

(3) The temporary advance amount must comply with the regulations stated in Article 6 of Circular 17/2024/TT-BTC. The content of the temporary advance payment request must correspond to the content of the advance request. In cases where the unit cannot accurately determine the expenditure content, the temporary advance is made to another sub-item within the corresponding item of the advance request. The State Treasury will make the temporary advance payment within the sub-items in the same group of the corresponding item that has been advanced.

(4) For expenditures that require contracts to be submitted to the State Treasury (expenditures with contract value above 50 million VND), the State Treasury bases the payment request dossier from the budget-using unit, payment and advance terms specified in the contract, and the total contract value to make the advance and payment to the beneficiary.

(5) Control of the completed work value determination table according to Form 08a issued together with Appendix 2 of Decree 11/2020/ND-CP.

(6) Control of the payment/advance content list according to Form 07 issued together with Appendix 2 of Decree 11/2020/ND-CP.

(7) For expenditures with security requirements:

The budget-using unit is responsible for identifying the expenditure content that falls under the security requirements and controlling the payment content and payment dossier in accordance with the law. The payment and the following content are recorded on the estimated withdrawal/authorization document of the budget-using unit: "Expenditure with security requirements". The State Treasury verifies the legality and validity of the estimated withdrawal/authorization document to make the payment as requested by the unit.

(8) In the case of centralized procurement: The State Treasury controls and ensures that it is included in the list of authorized centralized procurement items (as regulated in Clause 2 Article 53 of the Law on Bidding in 2023), and ensures that the contract complies with the Framework Agreement (the Framework Agreement is posted by the centralized procurement unit as regulated in point a, Clause 3, Article 77 of Decree 151/2017/ND-CP).

What is the advance limit through the State Treasury of Vietnam?

According to Clause 3, Article 6 of Circular 17/2024/TT-BTC, the advance limit through the State Treasury is as follows:

- For expenditures with contract value above 50 million VND, the advance amount is determined according to the provisions in the signed contract between the budget-using unit and the supplier of goods or services.

The budget-using unit can be advanced funds once or multiple times for a contract, but the maximum amount should not exceed 50% of the contract value at the time of signing and should not exceed the authorized annual budget estimate for that expenditure, except in the following cases:

+ For imported goods or specialized equipment that the budget-using unit needs to directly import from abroad (or through an authorized import unit), a letter of credit (L/C) must be opened at a bank, and the supplier contract should require an advance amount that is higher but not exceeding the authorized annual budget estimate for that expenditure.

+ For other specific cases with specific instructions from the competent state authority, the advance can be made within the allocated budget, based on the contract between the budget-using unit and the supplier, and according to the decision of the authorized level.

- For expenditures without a contract and for expenditures with contract value not exceeding 50 million VND:

The advance amount is determined based on the budget-using unit's request and within the allocated budget.

The budget-using unit is responsible for the requested advance amount in accordance with the regulations.

Note: the Circular 17/2024/TT-BTC is effective from 01/05/2024.

Best regards!