Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The Bangladesh government is set to ease import of new cars after tough customs rules aimed at preventing under-invoicing and tax evasion almost halted import of new vehicles to the country, officials said.
Under the import rules imposed since July this year, new car importers have been forced to submit manufacturers price certificates of their vehicles to the customs house instead of dealers’ price charts.
Customs officials said the government has slapped the new regulation as their investigation unearthed that some rogue car traders used fake dealer price certificates for under-invoicing and evading taxes.
But just seven weeks after the rules were enforced, import of new cars has almost stopped, drying up duties worth billions of taka and triggering strong resentment among genuine car traders.
Officials said the board was now considering amendments to the new car customs rules, making sure the traders can import the cars unhindered, while at the same time plugging the holes of tax evasion.
“The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is considering changing the new car import rules in an effort to facilitate their import,” a senior revenue board official was quoted by the Financial Express (FE), a local newspaper, as saying.
He also said the board would make sure that the new customs rules for new cars don’t affect the import of reconditioned vehicles, which account for 90 per cent of the country’s car business and is a big source of government revenue.
The NBR has planned to form a committee to examine the impact of new rules on the import of reconditioned cars.
Member of customs department Shah Alam Khan said the new rules are expected to be issued following the decision of the government.
“We will take decision as per the instruction of the government high-ups,” he told the FE on Saturday.
Reconditioned car importers recently met the NBR to oppose a recent move of the government to make obtaining certificate from JAAI, a private organization of Japan, mandatory for the traders.
They also strongly opposed the new restriction on importing reconditioned cars aged over three years.
BBN/SSR/SI-21Aug11-10:24 am (BST)
