Handling of state finance and budget when reorganizing administrative units at all levels

The Ministry of Finance requests the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, based on the Project on reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a model of organizing two-level local governments at the local level, to guide provincial budget estimate units and lower-level local governments to develop plans for handing over financial resources and state budget to carry out the official handover as soon as the competent authority decides on the reorganization project.

Based on the reorganization project decided by competent authorities, after being reorganized, provinces and centrally run cities shall direct their affiliated units to hand over and receive the state financial resources and budget in their original state.

When handing over financial resources and state budget between agencies and units, a record of handover and acceptance between the parties must be made, including receivable and payable debts (if any), and conclusions and recommendations of inspection and auditing agencies that have not been implemented.

The 2025 state budget revenue and expenditure estimates of the provinces and cities after the rearrangement must ensure that they match the total level and revenue and expenditure areas decided and assigned by competent authorities before the rearrangement.

Regarding the settlement of state budget revenue and expenditure in 2024, based on the State Budget Law and guiding documents and the arrangement project, it is recommended that provinces and centrally run cities must complete the 2024 budget settlement work in accordance with regulations before the arrangement, ensuring the time for submission to the People's Council for approval of the budget settlement at each level.

For commune-level budget settlement, it must be completed before April 30, 2025; district-level before May 31, 2025; provincial-level before June 30, 2025.

Finalize the state budget revenue in the locality and finalize the local budget expenditure in 2024 of each province and centrally-run city before sending them to the Ministry of Finance before July 15, 2025 for synthesis and submission to competent authorities.

Regarding the local budget revenue and expenditure estimates for 2025 before restructuring the apparatus, the Ministry of Finance guides that, based on the restructuring plan, the provincial People's Committees guide the subordinate budget estimate units and lower-level local authorities to hand over and receive the state budget estimates for 2025.

The People's Committee at each level reviews the revenue and expenditure estimates of its budget, including the estimates assigned by competent authorities and the estimates expected to be implemented by the time of arrangement.

The synthesis of revenue and expenditure estimates and expected implementation up to the time of reorganization is synthesized from the bottom up. After the reorganization of the apparatus, the Department of Finance shall advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the People's Council of the same level to decide on the state budget revenue estimates in the area and local budget expenditures in 2025, including revenue sources and expenditure tasks between the provincial budget and the commune budget. In particular, the division of revenue sources between the provincial budget and the commune budget after the reorganization should be kept stable, ensuring the same revenue sources as the communes before the reorganization. Revenue sources and expenditure tasks of the district budget before the reorganization are transferred to the provincial budget for implementation; in case the commune after the reorganization is capable of performing the tasks of the district budget before the reorganization, based on the actual situation, the Provincial People's Council shall make appropriate decisions.

Regarding the regimes and policies, they will continue to be implemented as before the arrangement. The local regimes and policies issued under the provisions of the State Budget Law and related laws will continue to be stable in terms of subjects, expenditure levels and locations as before the organizational arrangement.

Based on the 2025 budget estimate after the arrangement decided and assigned by the competent authority, the administrative units formed after the arrangement shall allocate, manage and settle the budget according to regulations, including unfinished work that has been agreed to be handed over.

The Ministry of Finance proposes that after the local state budget revenue estimate and local budget expenditure estimate for 2025 are decided by the Provincial People's Council, after 5 working days, the Provincial People's Committee must send them to the Ministry of Finance for synthesis and reporting to competent authorities.

For financial resources and state budgets of agencies, public service units and state-owned enterprises managed by localities, local authorities at previous levels shall arrange and summarize the original status of financial resources and state budgets, including receivables and payables (if any) of agencies, public service units and state-owned enterprises under their management, and hand them over to local authorities at later levels for arrangement.