Some luxury vehicles registered in Bengaluru under fake tax challans: Transport Commissioner
An alleged nexus between Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials, middlemen and car owners to evade tax while registering high-end cars has come to the fore again.
Transport officials on Tuesday seized 10 luxury vehicles of various makes, including Mercedes Benz and BMW, after it was found that their owners were allegedly involved in tax evasion. Allegedly by misusing ‘loopholes’ in the system, the seized vehicles were registered either partially by paying tax or completely stealing in some cases.
All the vehicles seized were registered in Bengaluru.
Transport Commissioner N. Shivakumar said that the registration of these vehicles was done before the launch of VAHAN 4 portal. “Out of 10 vehicles, owners of six high-end cars owe ₹ 1.47 crore as tax. Owners of vehicles including BMW and Mercedes Benz either paid tax partially or did not pay tax at all. There is a possibility of RTO officials in collusion with the owners or agents of the vehicles,” said Mr. Shivakumar, adding that the matter is under investigation.
The official said that the vehicles may have been registered by submitting fake tax challan numbers.
Additional Commissioner of Transport (Enforcement South) L Narendra Holkar said they have sought vehicle information and registration details from the National Informatics Centre, which had prepared the registration portal.
Seven of the seized cars bear the registration number, 5556, and are reportedly owned by the same person. An official said the owner of the car is a property owner with political ties. They had registered the cars in various RTOs like Koramangala, Bangalore East, Electronics City. They are currently lodged at Nelamangala RTO. “How much tax evasion has been committed by the owner, it will be known only after investigation,” the official said.
In recent times, there were several instances of owners registering high-end cars outside the state but driving them on the roads in Karnataka without paying taxes. But owners of registered luxury cars in the city have raised serious questions on the functioning of RTOs with permanent registration numbers to evade taxes.
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