Millions lost in tax revenue over imported cars
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A Department of Special Investigation (DSI) investigation of car imports found that in January alone, 166 new cars had been wrongly registered as having been bought more than 18 months ago in order to lower their value before being smuggled into the count
It also found that 300 Mercedes Benz vehicles had been brought into the country for the “grey market”, in which cars are imported by unauthorised distributors/persons and are sold at cheaper than market prices.
Other than declaring luxurious cars as being worth a lot less than they really are, smugglers have also resorted to providing false information on imported autoparts in order to pay low custom duties.
The government has been losing out on millions of baht worth of tax revenue every year, especially since luxury cars are usually taxed 187 to 328 per cent, DSI chief Tarit Pengdith said.
Thailand has about 30 companies selling cars in the “grey market”, and officials need to inspect suspect income tax payments and check if the value of imported goods is being declared falsely, he said.
The Nation
