Guidelines for Salary Payment via Account for Vietnamese Official and Public Employee from April 01, 2019

Clause 2, Article 1 of Circular 136/2018/TT-BTC amending and supplementing Clause 1, Article 6 of Circular 13/2017/TT-BTC clearly states the personal payment items, including: salary; wages; travel allowances; salary supplements; student scholarships; bonuses; collective welfare; payments for incumbent commune, village, and hamlet officials; payments for implementing policies for persons with meritorious service to the revolution; social work payments; pension and social allowance payments; lunch payments for preschool children and students; and other personal payments.

Illustrative image (source: internet)

However, in cases where personal payments to individuals under the state budget who are required to be paid by bank transfer according to the regulations in Directive 20/2007/CT-TTg dated August 24, 2007, by the Prime Minister of Vietnam concerning the payment of salaries via bank accounts to recipients under the state budget, the relevant units and the State Treasury shall implement the payments through bank accounts as follows:

First, regarding applicable subjects:

- Officials and public employees of state administrative agencies, public service providers, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations who are paid from the state budget; contracted officials who are paid from the state budget (excluding pieceworkers, tasks-specific labor contracts).

- Officers, professional soldiers, defense workers and public employees, and contracted labor under the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security who have registered salary payment contracts through their commercial banks (units categorized under Confidential, Top Secret, and Secret as per national secret regulations shall implement the salary payment in a suitable form).

- Other individuals paid from the state budget.

Second, the contents of the payments via bank accounts include: Salaries, wages, and salary supplements; additional income payments; phone allowances for standard job titles; payments to individuals implementing contracting budget policies and other individual payments.

The transaction unit shall select and cooperate with the commercial bank to organize and contract for account opening, using the payment account of the unit and guide the beneficiaries to open payment accounts at the bank to receive payments.

Contracts shall clearly state the responsibilities of the commercial bank to ensure the confidentiality of account information and transaction information of the unit as per current laws; transfer funds to the beneficiaries' payment accounts as per the payment list confirmed by the State Treasury or uploaded on the State Treasury’s Electronic Data Exchange Portal (for security and defense units, the commercial bank will transfer funds to the beneficiaries' payment accounts as per the payment list prepared and sent by the unit); the unit's payment account opened at the commercial bank is solely for transferring individual payment amounts into each beneficiary's payment account and cannot be used for other purposes; the transaction unit authorizes the commercial bank to proactively debit the unit's payment account to transfer funds to each beneficiary's payment account as per the unit’s payment list.

Third, organization of individual payments via accounts:

- When the need for payment arises, the transaction unit shall prepare and submit a complete dossier and documents to the State Treasury (where the payment list for beneficiaries is made in 02 copies) for budget control and cash payment control as per policy regulations.

- Based on the unit’s dossier and documents, the State Treasury shall control and if eligible, proceed with transferring funds to the unit's payment account at the commercial bank; concurrently, confirm on one copy of the beneficiary payment list (for a list with two or more sheets, they must be sealed by the State Treasury) and send it back to the transaction unit, which will forward it to the commercial bank where the unit opened the payment account.

For security and defense units, the transaction unit shall be responsible for the information on the payment request documents and send the beneficiary payment list to the commercial bank where the unit opened the payment account, ensuring that funds are transferred to the unit’s payment account at the commercial bank solely for individual payments to the unit’s beneficiaries and not for other expenses.

- Based on the unit’s confirmed beneficiary payment list and the amount in the unit's payment account, the commercial bank shall transfer funds from the unit's payment account to each beneficiary’s payment account.

For transaction units (excluding security and defense units) participating in public services on the State Treasury’s Electronic Public Service Portal, the transaction unit shall prepare a complete dossier and documents, sign digitally, and send to the State Treasury via the Electronic Public Service Portal; wherein the beneficiary payment list is prepared either directly on the Electronic Public Service Portal or by uploading electronic file (file) as per the structure announced by the State Treasury during the initial participation, updated monthly if there are changes.

The State Treasury shall control salary payments as per policy regulations, and if eligible, transfer funds to the unit's commercial bank payment account. Once the State Treasury transfers the funds, the commercial bank shall access the State Treasury’s Electronic Data Exchange Portal to retrieve the unit’s beneficiary payment list and proceed with transferring funds from the unit's payment account to each beneficiary’s payment account.

Additionally, the State Treasury cooperates with the State Bank of Vietnam and commercial banks to survey and assess the actual service provision of banking systems in each area, and report to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and decision on areas where mandatory individual payment via accounts should be implemented, in accordance with actual conditions.

For the organization of individual payments via accounts for security and defense units, the State Treasury units cooperate with transaction units in the security and defense sector based on requests from relevant units in each area.

More details can be found in Circular 136/2018/TT-BTC which takes effect from April 1, 2019.

Thu Ba

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