Since January 1, toll rates for National Highway 51 have doubled compared to previous levels applied at T1 toll station in Dong Nai’s Long Thanh District.
New and higher fees
Since January 1, toll rates for National Highway 51 have doubled compared to previous levels applied at T1 toll station in Dong Nai’s Long Thanh District.
Specifically, cars with fewer than 12 seats, trucks under two tons and public transport vehicles have to pay the lowest fee of VND20,000 per trip, VND600,000 per month and VND1.6 million per quarter. Trucks over 18 tons and 40-feet container trucks are subject to the highest rate of VND160,000 a trip, VND4.8 million a month and VND13 million a quarter.
In addition, road use fee is being levied on cars and motorbikes this year. Do Xuan Phu, director of Minh Lien Transport Co., expressed his concern over this fee especially when transport contracts remained undecided.
Meanwhile, as Circular 190/2012/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance became effective on January 1, the one-time visa fee has been raised from US$25 to US$45. Fees for granting visas with validity of less than one month, less than six months and over six months are set at US$65, US$95 and US$135 respectively.
“The foreign tourist numbers will immediately drop,” said Vu The Binh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, regarding the visa fee hike and the information about the removal of the visa-free policy.
The plant protection fee will also go up soon. From February 7, organizations and individuals, domestic and foreign alike, will have to pay higher fees for plant protection activities, including plant protection and quarantine, plant protection drug management and food safety inspection under Circular 223/2012/TT-BTC.
The new circular released on December 24 replaces Circular 110/2003/TT-BTC dated November 17, 2003 of the finance ministry, adding new activities subject to plant protection fee, such as food safety inspection.
Production costs pushed up
In 2013, enterprises have to cover higher production costs given water price and minimum wage hikes.
On January 1, clean water prices in HCMC were raised 10% under the annual water price increase schedule previously approved by the municipal government, according to Saigon Water Supply Corporation.
Households with monthly water consumption per capita of below four cubic meters have to pay VND5,300 for each cubic meter. The unit price is VND10,200 and VND11,400 respectively for those with monthly consumption per capita of 4-6 cubic meters and over six cubic meters.
As for production facilities, clean water price is VND10,300 per cubic meter. Meanwhile, organizations have to pay VND9,600 for every cubic meter of water and household businesses are subject to VND16,900.
Such prices do not include 10% VAT. In addition, water users have to pay an additional 10% environmental protection charge based on the new water prices.
From the beginning of the year, new minimum wages, varying from VND1.65 million to VND2.35 million, are applied to laborers working for companies, co-operatives, farms, households and organizations across the country.
Specifically, region one, consisting of Hanoi and HCMC, has the highest minimum wage of VND2.35 million a month, up from VND2 million. Meanwhile, laborers in region two earn a minimum monthly salary of VND2.1 million, versus VND1.78 million previously.
The rates are VND1.8 million for region three and VND1.65 million for region four, which are raised from VND1.55 million and VND1.4 million respectively.
Lower import tariffs
As tariffs on many imported items will be brought down this year, local enterprises will face tougher competition.
Several types of cars and wine will enjoy import tax cuts in 2013 under Vietnam’s commitment to the World Trade Organization.
In particular, golf carts, station wagons and sport utility vehicles will be subject to import tariffs of about four percentage points lower than in 2012. Meanwhile, the import duty on some wines will be lowered from the current 48% to 45%.
Other items such as fish, cosmetics, microphones, speakers, cables and digital cameras will also receive tax reductions. They are among the 208 tariff lines that Vietnam commits to lower this year, with an average cut of 2.76%.
Moreover, a lot of consumer products from China will be imposed lower tax rates when imported into Vietnam this year under the country’s commitment in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement.
So far, the tariffs on most agricultural products, chemicals, steel and other metals have been slashed to zero. Some other consumer goods and fuels are still levied high tax rates of 15-20%.
In addition, imported products from ASEAN nations, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India will also enjoy lower tariffs, according to Vietnam’s commitments to Free Trade Agreements with these countries.
(Source: SGT)
