HCM City Customs has instructed firms on extending deadline for additional declarations and submitting an original certificate of origin (C/O).

Professional activities at HCM City Customs. Photo: T.H

In response to Document No. 17/2021/VNFLOUR dated June 16, 2021 of VNFLOUR Co., Ltd (Green Agricultural Products Import-Export Trading Co., Ltd.) about requesting support to extend the deadline for additional declarations and submission of the original C/O under CPTPP that serving for import tax refund procedures, HCM City Customs Department said at the request of businesses, the fepartment issued specific guidance documents for the company.

Regarding firms' problems, Clause 2, Article 7a of Circular 38/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance on determining the origin of export and import goods is amended and supplemented in Circular No. Circular 62/2019/TT-BTC dated September 5, 2019 stipulates: For documents certifying the origin of goods to apply special preferential tax rates under the CPTPP agreement, the case that has not been declared for applying special preferential tax rates at the time of carrying out import customs procedures, the customs declarant is responsible for:

Declaring clearly the origin of goods and declare for the late submission of proof of origin on the import customs declaration when implementing customs procedures.

Make an additional declaration and submit one original of the certificate of origin within 12 months from the registration of the customs declaration.

For customs declarations registered from January 14, 2019 to before the effective date of Circular 62/2019/TT-BTC (October 21, 2019), it will apply to regulations on origin and tax under CPTPP agreement, Decree No. 57/2019/ND-CP of the Government dated June 26, 2019, promulgates the Preferential Export Tariff and the Special Preferential Import Tariff to implement the CPTPP agreement in 2019-2022 and Article 7a of Circular 38/2018/TT-BTC dated April 20, 2018 amending and supplementing in Circular 62/2019/TT-BTC dated September 5, 2019, except for the condition the reference number and date of issue or late declaration of proof of origin must be declared on the import customs declaration.

A customs declarant who has overpaid tax should send a request document to the customs authority where the declaration is registered for handling.

Following the direction of the General Department of Vietnam Customs at the online meeting on March 4relating to the submission of certificates of origin under CPTPP exceeding the prescribed time limit of firms, HCM City Customs Department directed the Customs Branches to inspect, review and synthesise information related to 14 declarations of firms.

At the same time, based on the additional explanation provided by the firm to HCM City Customs Department on March 8, 2021, it showed that the employee in charge of the firm's dossiers died on March 19, 2020, so the submission for supplementing firm's profile was delayed.

HCM City Customs Department found that all 14 certificates of origin related to company's shipments were issued before the registration of customs declaration and before the time when the firm submitted additional documents to the Customs authority from 14 to 24 months.

In addition, reasons explained by the company for not submitting additional certificates of origin on time are all subjective and related to corporate governance.

HCM City Customs Department has received and processed dossiers related to C/O of firms in accordance with regulations. However, the consideration and settlement of the case at the request of the firm is beyond the competence of HCM City Customs Department. HCM City Customs Department has reported to the General Department of Vietnam Customs (Customs Control and Supervision Department) to settle for the company.