Proposed 8 levels of road usage fees for automobiles.

The Ministry of Finance has just submitted Document No. 22 to the Prime Minister, outlining a draft Government Decree stipulating the rates, collection methods, payment, exemption, management, and use of road usage fees.

It is expected that the fees applied to automobiles (excluding vehicles of the National Defense and Police forces) will be divided into 8 groups, according to the vehicle's load capacity and seating capacity, ranging from 130,000 VND/month to 1,430,000 VND/month.

For vehicles of the National Defense and Public Security forces, there are two groups: passenger cars at a rate of 1,000,000 VND/year and trucks and buses at 1,500,000 VND/year (road usage fees for vehicles of the National Defense and Public Security forces are covered by the State budget).

The proposed fees for cars are divided into eight groups, based on vehicle weight and seating capacity, ranging from 130,000 VND/month to 1,430,000 VND/month. Photo: Dinh Hieu

Regarding the calculation and collection of fees, the Ministry of Finance proposes that the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security will pay the fees for all vehicles under their management once a year. Other vehicles will pay fees according to the vehicle inspection cycle; annually; or monthly for businesses with fees of 30 million VND or more.

The state agency managing road traffic is allowed to retain 1.2% of the collected fees to cover the costs of fee collection. Vehicle inspection centers collect fees and submit them to the Vietnam Register (within 5 days of collection) for consolidation and payment into the state budget.

Vehicle inspection centers are allowed to retain 1.32% of the collected fees to cover the costs of fee collection. If the inspection center belongs to a business enterprise, the retained fees are considered revenue of the center; the center declares and pays taxes according to regulations.

This draft decree also proposes five cases of exemption from fees, including: ambulances, fire trucks, funeral vehicles, and specialized vehicles serving the National Defense and Police forces.

According to the Ministry of Finance, since the implementation of the road usage fee policy in 2016, the annual road usage fee collected has been approximately 9,000 billion VND, which is remitted to the state budget and entirely allocated to road maintenance. In addition to the annual fee collection, the state budget allocates an additional 3,000 billion VND for the maintenance and upkeep of the state-managed road system. However, this amount only covers about 40% of the necessary expenditure for road maintenance.