Vietnam: Offenses and penalties for administrative customs offenses (latest)

According to Article 7 of the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, fines for offenses against regulations on time limit for completing customs procedures and submitting tax dossier are specified as follows:

1. A fine ranging from VND 500,000 VND to VND 1,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to perform any of the following tasks on schedule:

- Complete, submit, produce the customs dossier or provide information about the customs dossier on schedule, except for the offenses specified in Clauses 3, 4, 5 and 6 of this Article and Point b Clause 3 Article 11 of this Decree;

- Make an additional declaration when there are changes to the container number, port of loading, checkpoint of export or vehicle carrying goods for export;

- Re-export the transport vehicle that crosses the border checkpoint to deliver goods.

- Declare additional information about the customs value behind schedule in the cases where the official prices of the exports or imports are not available or goods for which the payment or goods for which payments and added amounts to the customs value are unknown when the customs declaration is registered.

2. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 VND to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to perform any of the following tasks on schedule:

- Provide the audit report or financial statement of enterprises eligible for priority;

- Send notification of penalties for offenses against tax administration or accounting offenses of enterprises eligible for priority;

- Submit a report on quantity of goods imported serving factory construction and goods stored externally of an export processing enterprise;

- Submit a report on quantity of transshipped goods entering, leaving, and stored in the port;

- Submit a statistical report on customs clearance of international postal packages transited through Vietnam.

3. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

- Submitting a customs declaration before goods for export are gathered at the location notified to the customs authority;

- Failure to punctually submit the statement or report on use of tax-free goods as prescribed;

- Submitting the application for imposition of the 0% duty rate on imported parts according to tax incentive program for the purpose of automobile manufacturing and assembly or the tax incentive program for automobile supporting industry behind schedule;

- Failure to punctually handle excess raw materials and supplies, waste, scrap, machinery or equipment that are rented or borrowed and processed products when the processing contract expires;

- Failure to send a notification of additional information on schedule when there is a change of the processor or the manufacturer of goods for export; storage location of raw materials, supplies, machinery and equipment, products for export;

- Notifying the processing contract and appendices thereof behind schedule;

- Failure to re-export or re-import goods on schedule or within the time limit registered with the customs authority, except for the offense specified in Point a Clause 4 of this Article;

- Failure to punctually notify the consumption rates applied to the products manufactured.

4. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

- Failure to punctually re-export the goods temporarily imported for re-export;

- Storing goods transshipped or in transit within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam behind schedule;

- Declaring and completing procedures after home use or repurposing goods which are tax-free, eligible for tax exemption, considered to be eligible for tax exemption, tax refund or tax cancellation or concessional tax within tariff quota before an inspection decision is made.

5. Penalties for failure to re-export or re-import temporarily imported or temporarily exported vehicles on schedule (except for the case specified in Clause 1 of this Article or the case where vehicles crosses the border checkpoint to deliver goods) are as follows:

- A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed if the vehicle is re-exported or re-imported less than 30 days behind schedule;

- A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the vehicle is re-exported or re-imported 30 days or more behind schedule.

=> New provision provided by Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government.

6. Penalties for failure to re-export vehicles for the transport of fewer than 24 people (the seats are determined according to vehicle’s certificate of registration or by physical inspection) on schedule, except for the case specified in Point c Clause 1 of this Article are as follows:

- A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the vehicle is re-exported less than 30 days behind schedule;

- A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed if the vehicle is re-exported 30 days or more behind schedule.

Thus, there is not much changes in regulation on offenses against regulations on time limit for completing customs procedures and submitting tax dossier of Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government compared to regulation of Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP amended by Decree No. 45/2016/NĐ-CP. Notably, Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government has supplemented penalties for failure to re-export or re-import temporarily imported or temporarily exported vehicles on schedule in general cases instead of  just for the transport of fewer than 24 people as currently prescribed.

Thuy Tram

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE