Every tonne of mineral leaving a mine carries two output-based levies at once: resource tax and the environmental protection fee. Company accountants often merge the two into one — and miscalculate them together — although they have different legal bases, computation methods and administering logic. Separating them cleanly is the minimum condition for costing extraction correctly and avoiding back-assessment at year-end finalisation.
Resource tax: output times taxable price times rate
Resource tax under the Resource Tax Law 45/2009/QH12 charges actual extracted output multiplied by the taxable price multiplied by the tax rate. For minerals, the taxable price is the price periodically issued by the provincial People’s Committee within the Ministry of Finance frame, or the actual selling price in statutory cases; rates sit in the framework schedule decided by the National Assembly Standing Committee for each resource group. Taxable output is run-of-mine output, not concentrate after beneficiation — a detail forcing mines with processing stages to convert volumes when declaring, and a classic error point in resource-tax finalisation.
The environmental fee: a parallel levy on the same output
On that same run-of-mine output, the company also pays the environmental protection fee under Decree 164/2016/ND-CP: crude oil at VND 100,000 per tonne, gas at VND 50 per cubic metre, and other minerals at the rate the provincial People’s Council decides within the decree’s frame. Unlike value-based resource tax, the fee is a fixed money amount per unit of output, so it moves with volume, not with selling price. Both levies are declared to the tax authority of the extraction locality, and an output mismatch between the two filings is the first signal tax officers use to select a mine for inspection.
Incentives: what actually exists
The incentive frame for extraction is narrow and must be read in the actual texts: resource tax has statutory exemption and reduction cases, such as resources extracted in special circumstances or projects within prescribed encouragement categories; the environmental fee has only the closed non-payable list in its decree. There is no automatic location-based relief for these two levies like corporate income tax incentives. Financial models should carry both levies at full rates and only book an incentive in a scenario once the competent authority has confirmed it in writing for the project’s specific case.
Finalisation and back-assessment risk
At year end, companies finalise resource tax on the year’s actual output; differences between monthly provisional output and finalised output, and between declared output and actual weighed tonnage across the mine weighbridge, are the three common back-assessment sources. The systemic weakness at many mines is output data living in three unreconciled places: the mining team’s extraction log, transport weighbridge slips and tax filings. A quarterly internal reconciliation of the three sources costs far less than an assessed-tax record with late-payment charges across several retroactively audited years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage is resource tax on mining?
Rates sit in the framework schedule the National Assembly Standing Committee decides for each mineral group, and the payable tax equals run-of-mine output times the provincial taxable price times the corresponding rate. Because both price and rate differ by mineral, there is no single percentage for all mines — look up your mineral group.
How is the mining environmental protection fee computed?
The fee equals run-of-mine output times the per-unit rate: crude oil VND 100,000 per tonne and natural gas VND 50 per cubic metre under Decree 164/2016/ND-CP; other minerals follow the rate the provincial People’s Council decides within the decree’s frame. It is declared monthly to the extraction-locality tax authority.
Are there resource-tax incentives for mining?
Incentives are very limited and only in statutory cases under the Resource Tax Law and its guidance; there is no automatic location-based relief as with corporate income tax. Only record an incentive in your projections once the competent authority has confirmed it for your specific case.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council