Vietnam: Fines for amending and supplementing the settlement report beyond the prescribed time limit

In fact, there are many cases when, after making a final settlement report, enterprises themselves discover errors in determining the actual norms for processing, production and export. So in this case, can the enterprise amend or supplement the report content?

According to Clause 39 Article 1 of the Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC amending Article 60 of the Circular No. 38/2015/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam:

The trader may revise the statement upon discovery of errors therein and re-submit it to the customs authority within 60 days from the date of submission of the statement and before the customs authority issues a decision on inspection of the statement, post-clearance inspection or site inspection. If errors are found after the aforementioned deadline or after the customs authority has issued a decision on inspection of the statement, post-clearance inspection or site inspection, the trader will face penalties in accordance with regulations of law on tax and actions against administrative violations.

According to this provision, enterprises have the right to amend and supplement the final settlement report within 60 days from the date of submission of the report or before the customs authority examines the report. Outside this time limit or after the customs authorities check the report, enterprises shall amend and supplement the final settlement report with the customs authority, concurrently, they will be handled in accordance with the tax law and the law on handling of administrative violations.

However, from the effective date of Circular No. 39/2018/TT-BTC (June 05, 2018), there is no document stipulating the level of sanction when enterprises arbitrarily amend and supplement the final settlement report outside the time limit. Until October 19, 2020, when the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government was issued, there was a fine for this behavior. Specifically, according to Point b Clause 1 Article 11 of the Decree No. 128/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government:

Article 11. Offenses against regulations on customs inspection

1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following offenses:

a) Making erasures or alterations on the documents included in the customs dossier submitted, produced or sent to the customs authority according to the registered customs declaration other than the cases specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article, Articles 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 hereof;

b) Preparing the statement inconsistently with the accounting books, accounting documents or customs declaration and the taxpayer realizes the mistake and adjusts the statement behind schedule other than the case specified in Point e Clause 1 or Point c Clause 2 Article 9 hereof.

In comparison with provisions of Article 10 of Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government which is still in force, with the same regulations on penalties for violations against regulations on customs inspection, according to Article 10 of Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP: A warning shall be given or a fine of 500,000 VND to 2,000,000 VND shall be imposed for falsifying the registered customs dossier, provided this falsification does not makes a change to the amount of tax payable or affect the goods policies. Decree No. 127/2013/NĐ-CP does not stipulate the act of self-discovering, modifying and supplementing the final settlement report beyond the prescribed time limit.

Thus, from December 10, 2020, if enterprises detect, amend or supplement the finalization report beyond the prescribed time limit, they will be fined up to VND 2,000,000.

Phuong Thanh

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE