Ministry of Finance responds to fuel expenses for officials on business trips

On the Government Electronic Information Portal, Ms. Vo Thi Nhi in Tra Vinh reflected that, according to Point b, Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC stipulates: "For cadres, civil servants and public employees who are not eligible to be arranged a car when going on business trips, but if they go on business trips 10 km or more from the agency headquarters (for communes in difficult or especially difficult socio-economic areas according to the Prime Minister's Decisions) and 15 km or more (for the remaining communes) and use their own personal vehicle, they will be paid a self-sufficient vehicle allowance of 0.2 liters of gasoline/km calculated according to the administrative boundary distance and gasoline price at the time of the business trip and specified in the internal spending regulations of the unit".

Ms. Nhi asked, based on the above regulation, if the business trip is 15 km or more from the agency headquarters, the payment for self-funded transportation is only calculated for one trip which must be 15 km or more, or does the distance from the agency headquarters of 15 km or more include the outbound and return trips?

For example: Ms. Nhi works in District A and goes on a business trip to District B, the distance from District A to District B is 14 km. If we calculate the number of kilometers for the round trip, she travels 28 km. So is she entitled to a business trip allowance according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC?

Officials on business trips are paid for gas. Illustrative photo.

The Ministry of Finance responded to this issue as follows:

Point b, Clause 2, Article 5 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance stipulates payment of fixed expenses for car use when going on business trips, fixed expenses for self-funded means of transport for business trips as follows:

"For cadres, civil servants and public employees who are not eligible to be provided with a car when going on business trips, but if they go on business trips 10 km or more from the agency headquarters (for communes in areas with difficult or especially difficult socio-economic conditions according to the Prime Minister's Decisions) and 15 km or more (for the remaining communes) and use their own personal vehicles, they will be paid a self-sufficient vehicle allowance of 0.2 liters of gasoline/km calculated according to the administrative boundary distance and gasoline price at the time of the business trip and specified in the internal spending regulations of the unit".

Thus, based on the provisions of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance mentioned above; based on the internal spending regulations of the unit; for cadres, civil servants and public employees who are not eligible to be arranged a car when going on business trips, but if they go on a business trip from the agency headquarters (1 trip) from 10 km or more (for communes in difficult socio-economic areas, especially difficult according to the Decisions of the Prime Minister) and from 15 km or more (for the remaining communes) and use their own personal means, they will be paid the amount of self-sufficient means of transport according to Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC and are stipulated in the internal spending regulations of the unit.