Can Tho University proposes tax policy on tuition fees in public non-business units

Can Tho University proposes tax policy on tuition fees in public non-business units
(CT) - On the afternoon of June 24, Prof. Dr. Ha Thanh Toan, Rector of Can Tho University (CTU) said that a document had been sent to the Government Office to propose the Prime Minister on tax policies for students. fees in public non-business units.

A practical session of CTU students. Photo: B.NG

According to the document, CTU is a public non-business unit in the field of Education and Training, which is classified as a high-class student who self-finances part of the regular funding and complies with the provisions of Decree No. Decree 43/2006/ND-CP (according to Official Letter No. 1966/BGDĐT-KHTC dated May 16, 2018). The school is assigned the right to autonomy, self-responsibility for finance and is classified as a self-financed regular expense student for the period 2020-2022.

On January 18, 2021, the Tax Department of Can Tho City issued Decision 41/QD-CT on public announcement of tax inspection conclusions for the period 2017 to 2019. According to the conclusion, CTU must pay taxes. corporate income (CIT) additional 2% on revenue from tuition fees (formal and non-formal) for 3 years (2017, 2018, 2019), the total amount to be paid is over 24 billion VND and fines for violations. administrative violations over 4.9 billion VND.

CTU finds that the above conclusion of the Tax Department of Can Tho City is inconsistent with the following reasons: The Ministry of Finance issued Official Letter 7686/BTC-CST dated June 12, 2017 on tax policy for high school students in the tax period. in the fields of Health, Education and Training, whereby tax has not been collected for some types of tuition fees. The State Audit has audited the school's finalization reports and financial statements for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, through which the Auditor has not charged CIT on the revenue from tuition fees of all types in this category. training targets assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training. Every year, the Ministry of Education and Training checks the financial statements and finalization reports and does not require the payment of CIT on the revenues from tuition fees. CTU implements the tuition fee in accordance with the tuition fee schedule of Decree 86/2015/NDCP, which is the fee that has not been fully calculated, with the support of the State according to the provisions of Decision 186/QD-CP. Circular of the Prime Minister on February 10, 2017 on the promulgation of the List of public non-business services using the state budget (state budget) in the field of education and training. In the period 2017-2019, CTU has been partially funded by the state budget according to the Decisions of the Ministry of Education and Training. In addition, most provinces and cities have not yet collected CIT on tuition fees as prescribed in training activities according to assigned targets at public educational institutions.

CTU has asked the General Department of Taxation in writing about this issue and was answered in Official Letter 1983/TCT-CS dated June 8, 2021. The General Department of Taxation, based on the Notice No. 551/TB-VPCP dated November 28, 2017, concluded that "On taxation for public employees, they comply with the provisions of the tax law". However, the school recognized the problem. The above is not appropriate because the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in Document 551/TB-VPCP does not specify specific tax policies in the field of education and training. The current public sector is not uniform throughout the country, which will create more financial pressure on education and training.

* Regarding the above issue, the Tax Department of Can Tho City said: On June 8, 2021, the General Department of Taxation sent the document No. 1983/TCT-CS on tax policy for high school students in the field of education to CTU.

Pursuant to the provisions of legal documents on tax and implementing the opinions of the Government leaders, the quality units shall declare and pay CIT according to the provisions of the current CIT law. Regarding the completion of legal policies on corporate income tax, the Ministry of Finance will coordinate with ministries, branches, localities and units to have an overall assessment to submit to competent authorities for consideration and decision.