Shortly after being asked to repay an enormous addition to the state budget, the state-run oil and gas group PetroVietnam (PVN) has lodged a document directly to the Minister of Finance to ask for a number of requests.

The company has called on the finance ministry to exempt certain monetary incentives its employees are granted when working overseas from the personal income tax, PVN said in the document. Specifically, PVN officials working in oil and gas projects in other countries are granted an allowance, and have the company pay their housing rentals, school tuition for their children, and even the charges for overweight luggage at airports. “As the above incentives cost a huge amount of money, PVN demands that the recipients do not have to pay income tax for them,” the document reads. Interestingly enough, while the demand for tax exemption is pending approval, PVN has another proposal: to be allowed to pay the tax on the behalf of the recipients, and the payment will be counted as a reasonable expense, which will be excluded when it comes to the calculation of PVN’s corporate income tax.Support its borrowers

PVN has advanced the expenses for certain provinces to complete site clearance tasks for the company’s construction in the areas, without guidance from the government, according to a conclusion from the State Inspectorate. PVN confirmed this in its document, while specifying that it has granted a combined VND2.9 trillion ($138 million) to Soc Trang, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa, and Hau Giang as of June 30. Thanh Hoa is the largest recipient, with VND1.5 trillion, and PVN has also advanced VND96 billion for the Ministry of Transport, it said. The company then demanded that the finance ministry support and allocate capital for the said localities and the transport ministry to repay PVN. PVN has been requested to repay the state budget an additional VND11 trillion, or US$523.8 million, worth of the profit Vietnam gains from the joint-venture VietsoPetro between the country and Russia, the Government Office said in a recent statement. It has also been asked to clear a special consumption tax payment and an administrative fine worth a combined VND1 trillion by the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Agency over its batches of condensate product, a gaseous component. On August 31, the city’s tax agency also fined PVN and collected the arrears for personal income tax on the scholarships company employees received when studying abroad. Meanwhile, the tax agency in Ba Ria –Vung Tau has asked PVN to repay arrears of value-added tax worth VND23 billion from its subsidiary, PVDrilling. But PVN cited a number of regulations in response and demanded that it does not have to pay the arrears.