New Regulations on Customs Documentation for Customs Procedures

Supplementing Multiple Documents in the Customs Dossier for Exported Goods

In addition to the Export Goods Declaration; Export Permit for goods requiring an export permit; Notice of Exemption from Inspection or Notice of Inspection Results from specialized inspection agencies as stipulated by law, the draft customs dossier for exported goods adds the following documents:

- Commercial invoice for goods subject to export tax: 01 photocopy;- Document confirming that the organization or individual meets the export conditions as stipulated by investment law: 01 photocopy;- Document confirming that the goods meet the export conditions as stipulated by sectoral law: 01 photocopy.

New Regulations on Customs Declarant's Document Retention

The current regulation in Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC does not address the issue of the documents that customs declarants must retain. However, the draft circular amending Circular 38 specifically stipulates the customs dossier as follows:

- Export and import goods customs declaration;- Export and import permit for goods requiring permits;- Notice of Exemption from Inspection or Notice of Inspection Results from specialized inspection agencies as stipulated by law;- Sales contract or equivalent documentation;- Document confirming that the organization or individual meets the export conditions as stipulated by investment law: 01 photocopy;- Document confirming that the goods meet the export conditions as stipulated by sectoral law: 01 photocopy;- Commercial invoice in cases where the buyer must make payment to the seller;- Bill of lading or other transport documents of equivalent value;- Certificate of origin;- Packing list (if available);- Technical documentation, catalogues, material composition analysis, inspection certificates related to export and import goods (if available);- List of machinery and equipment, and tracking sheet for deductible items during classification of composite machinery or kits under Chapters 84, 85, and 90 of the Vietnam Export and Import Goods Nomenclature and in cases of classifying machinery and equipment in an unassembled or disassembled state;- Accounting books and documents as stipulated by accounting law;- Production processes; internal control procedures of enterprises (if available); production plans; import-export-stock balance sheet on the use of raw materials, machinery, equipment, exported goods, and documents related to actual norms for processing and manufacturing export products;- Documents and dossiers related to customs valuation as stipulated in Circular 39/2015/TT-BTC;- Dossiers related to tax exemption, tax reduction, tax refund, non-collection of export tax, import tax, value-added tax, special consumption tax, environmental protection tax.

The customs declarant is responsible for retaining the original documents of the submitted dossier and presenting them to customs authorities during post-clearance inspection and specialized inspection. If the original has been submitted to customs authorities, a copy must be retained, or if state management agencies and other related organizations perform administrative procedures related to exported and imported goods through the National Single Window, the customs declarant shall retain electronic records or convert them into paper documents as stipulated by law.

Cases Permitted for Supplementing the Export and Import Customs Dossier

According to the Draft, the cases permitted for supplementing the customs dossier include:

Except for information criteria on the customs declaration which are not allowed for supplementary declaration per point 3 of Appendix II issued with this Circular, the customs declarant can supplement the information criteria on the customs declaration in the following cases:

- Supplementing during clearance:- The customs declarant can supplement the customs dossier before the customs authority notifies the customs declaration channeling result;- The customs declarant or taxpayer detects errors in the customs declaration after the customs authority notifies the channeling result but before clearance, they must supplement and will be handled as per tax law and administrative violation handling regulations;- The customs declarant supplements as required by the customs authority during dossier inspection, physical inspection of goods, and will be handled as per tax law and administrative violation handling regulations;

- Supplementing post-clearance:

Except for cases where supplementary declaration content pertains to the export or import permit; specialized inspection on goods quality, health, culture, veterinary, plant quarantine, food safety, the customs declarant is permitted to supplement post-clearance in the following cases:

- The customs declarant or taxpayer identifies errors in the customs declaration within 60 days from the clearance date but before the customs authority decides on post-clearance inspection or audit;- Beyond the 60 days from the clearance date or after the customs authority decides on post-clearance inspection or audit, if errors are found in the customs declaration, the declarant and taxpayer must supplement and will be handled as per tax law and administrative violation handling regulations.

Abolishing Multiple Regulations in Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC

The draft proposes to abolish the following regulations:

- Inspection and determination of origin for exported and imported goods (Article 26);- Application of tax calculation bases for certain special cases (Article 40);- Tax payment deadlines (Article 42);- Tax payment for goods requiring analysis and inspection (Article 46);- Handling of scrap and residual products for domestic consumption (Article 71);- Dossier and procedures for tax exemption (Article 105);- Tax reduction application dossier (Article 112);- Procedures and authority for tax reduction (Article 113).

See detailed content in the Draft.

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