Law on Fees and Charges (Consolidated Document No. 92/VBHN-VPQH): Rules on Collection, Management, and Use of Fees and Charges in Vietnam

Introduction

Consolidated Document No. 92/VBHN-VPQH merges the Law on Fees and Charges No. 97/2015/QH13 (effective January 1, 2017) with amendments from 19 laws passed through December 2025: the Law on Tourism, the Law on Competition, the Law on Environmental Protection, the Law on Prices, the Law on Electronic Transactions, the Law on Telecommunications, the Law on Archives, the Law on Roads, the Law on Urban and Rural Planning, the Law on Data, the Law on Employment, the State Budget Law, the Law on Atomic Energy, the Law on Railways, the Law on Cybersecurity, and laws related to security and order, civil aviation, and rehabilitation-bankruptcy.

Chapter I - General Provisions

• Article 1 (Scope): The law covers the list of fees and charges, who must pay them, the collecting agencies, the principles for setting collection rates and exemptions/reductions, and the authority and responsibility of state agencies and organizations in managing them.
• Article 2 (Subjects of application): State agencies (including Vietnamese representative offices abroad), public service units, and organizations/individuals involved in collecting, remitting, managing, and using fees and charges.
• Article 3 (Definitions): A 'fee' is an amount paid by an organization or individual to essentially cover the cost of, and as compensation for, a public service listed in the fee schedule attached to the law. A 'charge' is a pre-fixed amount, not intended to cover costs, payable when a state agency provides a public service or performs a state management function listed in the charge schedule.
• Article 4: The fee and charge schedule is issued together with the law. The National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, the Minister of Finance, and provincial People's Councils have authority to set collection rates, exemptions, reductions, and management rules for items in the schedule.
• Article 5: Where another law also governs a fee or charge, the collection, remittance, management, and use rules of this law still apply; where an international treaty Vietnam is party to provides otherwise, the treaty prevails.
• Articles 6-7: Payers are the organizations/individuals receiving the public service; collecting bodies include state agencies, public service units, and organizations assigned the task by a competent state agency.

Chapter II - Principles for Setting Collection, Exemption, and Reduction Levels

• Article 8: Fee levels must essentially cover costs, factor in the State's socio-economic development policy for each period, and ensure fairness, publicity, transparency, and equal rights and obligations.
• Article 9: Charge levels are fixed in advance and not intended to cover costs; registration charges (le phi truoc ba) are calculated as a percentage of asset value.
• Article 10: Exemption/reduction beneficiaries include children, poor households, the elderly, people with disabilities, people with meritorious service to the revolution, ethnic minorities in areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions, and certain other special cases. Specific rules are set by the National Assembly Standing Committee (court fees and charges), the Government, the Ministry of Finance, and provincial People's Councils, each within their own authority.

Chapter III - Declaration, Collection, Remittance, Management, and Use

• Article 11: Fees and charges are state budget revenue and are not subject to tax. Payers declare and pay monthly, quarterly, annually, or per transaction, in cash or through a credit institution or service organization. Collection inside Vietnam is in Vietnamese dong unless the law allows collection in foreign currency; collection abroad may be in local currency or freely convertible foreign currency.
• Article 12: Fees collected by state agencies must be remitted in full to the state budget (starting budget year 2026, the earlier allowance letting a state agency retain a lump-sum operating budget from fee revenue was removed under State Budget Law No. 89/2025/QH15). Fees collected by public service units or assigned organizations may be partly or wholly retained to cover service-delivery costs, with the remainder remitted to the budget; retained amounts must be settled annually, and unspent amounts carry over to the next year.
• Article 13: Charges must be remitted fully and promptly to the state budget; the cost of collecting charges is funded through the state budget under the collecting body's approved budget estimate.

Chapter IV - Rights and Responsibilities of Collecting Bodies and Payers

• Article 14: Collecting bodies must publicly post, at the collection point and on their website, the fee/charge name, rate, collection method, payer categories, and exemptions/reductions; issue payment receipts; maintain proper accounting and periodic settlement reports and financial disclosure; and account separately for each type of fee or charge.
• Article 15: Payers are entitled to receive a payment confirmation document and are responsible for paying the correct amount, in full, and on time.
• Article 16: It is strictly forbidden to unilaterally set or collect fees/charges outside the law, or to collect, remit, manage, or use fee/charge revenue in violation of regulations. Violations are subject to disciplinary action, administrative penalties, or criminal prosecution depending on severity.

Chapter V - Authority and Responsibility of State Agencies

The National Assembly Standing Committee decides on amendments, additions, or repeals of fees and charges between National Assembly sessions (reporting to the next session) and sets rules for court fees and charges. The Government exercises unified state management over fees and charges, proposes amendments to the Standing Committee, and sets rates for items within its own authority. The Ministry of Finance assists the Government in unified management, drafts or issues legal instruments, organizes and guides collection and use, inspects and handles violations, and resolves complaints and denunciations. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, ministries, and ministerial-level agencies direct, inspect, and report on implementation within their own sectors. Provincial People's Councils and People's Committees decide on and organize implementation of fees and charges within local authority.

Fee and Charge Schedule (Attached Appendix)

The attached schedule itemizes fees and charges across sectors, for example: import permit fees for cybersecurity products, radiation worker certificates, atomic energy application support service certificates, conformity/standard declaration registrations, weapons and explosive materials management permits, construction activity licenses, real estate brokerage practice certificates, credit institution establishment licenses, non-bank payment intermediary service licenses, outbound investment registration certificates, seaport and airport entry/exit charges, and transit charges for goods and vehicles, plus numerous other state management charges covering lawyers, notaries, insolvency administrators, veterinary services, fisheries, agriculture, and archives. Most rates in the schedule are set by the Ministry of Finance. Appendix 02 (list of products/services shifted from a fee to a state-priced service fee) was repealed effective July 1, 2024 under Law on Prices No. 16/2023/QH15.

Several items were recently added by 2025 laws: charges related to atomic energy activities (effective January 1, 2026 under Law on Atomic Energy No. 94/2025/QH15); replacing the term 'information security' with 'cybersecurity' in certain charge items (effective July 1, 2026 under Law on Cybersecurity No. 116/2025/QH15); and new charges for national vocational skill assessment certification and national vocational skill certificates under the Law on Employment No. 74/2025/QH15 (effective January 1, 2026).