A reader sent a question to the Ministry of Finance as follows: "I am working at a state-owned enterprise, I was assigned to work in another province (with the assignment of a competent person). After going on a business trip, I pay the labor fee.
However, for the taxi cost items from the airport to the hotel due to no appointment, I will not be paid, (occurrent documents are as follows: I pay the transfer fee to the taxi driver with documents and receipts printed from the taxi company's cash register).
So with such documents, am I eligible for payment?
With this content, the Ministry of Finance responds as follows:
Point a, Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance stipulates:
Article 5. Payment for travel expenses
1. Payment by actual invoice:
a) People on business trips who are paid for travel expenses include:
- Cost of travel and return from home or work to the airport, train station, bus station; air tickets, train tickets, public transport vehicles to the workplace and in the opposite direction.
- Travel costs in the locality where you are going to work: From the accommodation to the workplace, from the airport, train station, bus station to the accommodation (way and back).
- Routes and fees for travel by road, waterway, or sea for oneself and one's vehicles.
- Receive documents, equipment, tools, and props (if any) directly serving the business trip that the person on the business trip has paid for.
- luggage of a person traveling by air in case the ticket price does not include carrying baggage.
In case the agency or unit that sends the person to work and the agency or unit to work have arranged a means of transportation, the person to work will not be paid for these expenses.
Clause 3, Article 10 of Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance (amended and supplemented in Clause 1, Article 2 of Circular No. 12/2025/TT-BTC) stipulates the documents for payment of public fees:
3. Invoice; legal ticket purchase documents according to the provisions of law when traveling on business trip by means of transport or receipt from the vehicle owner.
Based on the above provisions, the condition for actual invoice payment for travel expenses at the locality where the destination is located (including taxi fares for travel from the airport to the hotel) is to have invoices according to the provisions of law.
The Ministry of Finance requests that the unit base on the forms of invoices stipulated in Circular No. 39/2014/TT-BTC dated March 31, 2024 guiding the implementation of Decree 51/2010/ND-CP and 04/2014/ND-CP regulating invoices for the sale of goods and service provision (amended and supplemented with a number of articles in Circular No. 119/2014/TT-BTC dated August 25, 2014) to determine payment cases to ensure correct subjects and legal regulations.
