Customs officers say importers evaded tax by hiding the true value of vehicles. PHOTO: FILE
The customs authorities have asked the excise and taxation departments (E&T) of all four provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to not register 1,805 vehicles that evaded tax by concealment of their true value during custom clearance, The Express Tribune has learnt.
On June 9, Model Customs Collectorate of Appraisement-West Customs House, Karachi, wrote a letter to the E&T authorities in the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK, asking them not to register the 1,805 vehicles—which did not pay due amount of surcharge at the time of clearance—without obtaining a no-objection certificate. The letter is accompanied by engine and chassis numbers and other details of the vehicles and a CD.
According to the list, the vehicles, were in the 660cc, 1,000cc and 1,300cc category, and had been cleared by the customs in 2012 and 2013 under the residence, gift and baggage schemes.
According to officials of Punjab E&T Department, the computer disk enclosed with the letter contained no information. The letter stated that demand notices for recovery of the short-paid surcharge amounts had already been issued to the importers of the vehicles and their customs clearing agents. The letter requested the E&T offices to provide complete postal addresses for any of the 1,805 vehicles that might have been registered.
Deputy Collector Customs Akbar Jan told The Express Tribune that a board of inquiry had been constituted to hold a probe against the officers suspected of involvement. However, he declined comment when asked why it took the customs authorities so long to realize that the appropriate tax had not been charged for the vehicles.
Punjab E&T Department Director General Naseem Sadiq said they would extend full cooperation to the customs authorities. Sadiq said the information regarding the vehicles would be cross-matched with the E&T data and details provided to Customs House, Karachi.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2014.
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