To curb the practice of evading tax on vehicles used for personal purposes, the Haryana Transport Department has decided to levy tax on the ex-showroom price of the vehicle. This price includes price of vehicle including the Central and State taxes or duties and other expenses.
Haryana Transport Commissioner Sumita Misra said it has come to notice that in certain cases, the purchase price of the vehicle in the invoice was being shown less than the actual in order to evade tax. This is a serious matter and the offenders were liable to strict legal action, she added.
She asked all the Secretaries of Regional Transport Authorities and Sub Divisional Officers (Civil)- cum-Registering Authorities, Motor Vehicle in the State to take into consideration, the purchase price inclusive of all expenses and taxes for the purpose of charging tax.
However, most of the dealers in Haryana are taking it as a burden on customers, which will directly affect the sales.
Gurnam Singh, AGM of Berkley Automobile ltd. Panchkula said at present customers pay the tax on invoice or the ex-showroom price of the vehicle, which is calculated by the net price of the vehicle+ Central and State Tax +VAT-discount. Some of the dealers not all, prepare the invoice according to the desire of the customers.
They prepare invoice of the vehicle by quoting more discount to the customer in the billing to evade the tax, however they charge the market price from the customer. “The customers of those vehicles which have the prices on the edge such as Rs 5.10 lakh, Rs 5.20 lakh will be affected a lot. As most of the customers who do not want to pay more tax on their vehicles will have to pay more due to tax on ex-showroom price”, added another automobile dealer.
He further added that in these circumstances, customer will have to pay more to get his vehicle registered at the state transport department.
However, Mishra added that as per the Motor Vehicles Taxation Act 1924, a lump sum one-time tax was levied on a vehicle used for personal purposes based on its value that is on the purchase price of the vehicle inclusive of all expenses and taxes.She further added that the ‘ex-showroom price’ of different models or variants of vehicles might be obtained from the local dealers. Apart from this, the price of such vehicles is also available on the website of all the vehicle manufacturers.