Cut off the use of official cars to transport department heads and division heads to meetings.

Directors, heads of departments, and other officials under various General Departments of the Ministry of Finance will not be allowed to use official vehicles for business trips or meetings; they must provide their own transportation.

The Minister of Finance has just issued a decision regulating the system of fixed allowances for the use of official vehicles when traveling on business for General Departments, Departments (and equivalent units) at the local level.

This decision on fixed allowances for official vehicles is applied at the General Department of Taxation, the General Department of Customs, the General Department of State Reserves, the State Treasury, and the State Securities Commission, stipulating a fixed allowance for the use of official vehicles when traveling on business (including attending meetings) within Hanoi city.

Accordingly, officials holding the positions of Deputy Director General and equivalent, Director (or Head of Department), Deputy Director (or Head of Department) and equivalent will be required to provide their own transportation for official travel, including attending meetings.

Additionally, at the Department level (and equivalent units) headquartered in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the system of allocating official vehicles applies to business trips (including meetings) within Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Official vehicles at the General Department of Customs. Photo: L. Bang

Specifically, the Directors, Deputy Directors, and equivalents of the Tax Department, State Treasury, Customs Department, and State Reserve Department located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are subject to this vehicle allowance scheme.

For departments (and equivalent units) headquartered in other provinces and cities (excluding Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City), the lump-sum allowance is applied when traveling on business within the cities and towns of the centrally-governed provinces and cities where the departments (and equivalent units) are located.

Accordingly, the subjects of the contract-based system are the Directors, Deputy Directors and equivalents of the Tax Department, State Treasury, Customs Department, and State Reserve Department in provinces and centrally-administered cities (excluding Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City).

The travel allowance is determined by multiplying the fixed rate (13,000 VND/km) by the actual distance traveled on business trips each month for each job title.

This decision by the Minister of Finance has been in effect since May 15, 2017.

According to the 2016 report on state assets, as of the end of 2016, the Ministry of Finance owned the most official vehicles with 2,295 cars. Of these, the General Department of Taxation alone owned 940; the State Treasury 770, the General Department of Customs 462, and the remainder belonged to other units under the Ministry. The number of official vehicles owned by the Ministry of Finance is many times greater than that of other ministries and agencies.

A representative from the Ministry of Finance stated that the reason the Ministry has the largest number of official vehicles is because it is a large ministry with a much larger number of civil servants, officials, and employees than other ministries and agencies, second only to the military and police. The Ministry of Finance employs approximately 80,000 people. The General Department of Taxation alone has nearly 40,000 people, performing tasks at various levels.

In addition, some sectors, such as tax and treasury, require the use of official vehicles for transporting money.

Last October, the Ministry of Finance pioneered the provision of fixed allowances for official vehicles for Deputy Ministers and leadership positions with a position allowance coefficient of 1.25 (Director General and equivalent) within the Ministry. The fixed allowance for daily transportation from home to work is determined by multiplying the taxi fare by the number of working days in the month for these leaders, effective from October 1st.

The lowest fixed allowance is 3.96 million VND/month, and the highest is 9.9 million VND/month.

According to Vietnamnet.vn