Excise on all big bikes with no plates

Subject: Excise on all big bikes with no plates Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:00 pm

To all Big Bike owners

Phuket Excise Office closes big bike loophole

Phuket Gazette Sept 21, 2009

PHUKET: The Phuket Excise Office says big bike owners have until
September 25 to pay excise on motorcycles assembled from parts – or
face hefty fines.

Motorcycles subject to prohibitive tariffs have long been assembled
from parts by ‘grey market’ operators in order to avoid paying the tax.

Now excise officials insist the owners of such vehicles – not the builders – must pay anyway.

Surat Saengnet, of the Phuket Provincial Excise Office, announced
in a meeting at Phuket Provincial Hall that “anyone who owns such
vehicles – which are mostly big bikes such as Harley Davidsons – will
have to pay an excise of 3.3 percent of the vehicle price.”

Owners who pay up before the deadline will not be fined.

Those who fail to do so and get caught will be “fined from two to ten times the tax amount,” Mr Surat said.

Another official at the Excise Office explained that “owners must
provide documents showing their vehicles’ engine and body numbers, as
well as invoices and receipts for parts.

“These documents are sent to the Excise Office’s Value Pricing
division, where a figure for the value of a vehicle is established. The
tax rate is set from that,” she said.

The official said the rate charged is “the same as that for new
bikes. Also new motorbikes imported from abroad must pay excise tax.”

“Excise tax has been collected since 1997,” said Surat, “but we
concentrated on motorcycles in shops. Now we will be much stricter,
checking all of them.”

Normally, spare parts imported from abroad are taxed according to
the tariff on spare parts – which is significantly less than the rate
for completely assembled vehicles.

Parts assembled into completed four-stroke motorcycles are subject to excise tax of 3 percent; two-strokes pay 5 percent.

Over the last three months, some 400 persons have been caught with motorcycles that evaded the excise.

Nicky’s Handle Bar and big bike shop owner Somneuk ‘Nicky’ Phonkaew
told the Gazette, “I have just one such bike and it has already been
taxed. If you follow the rules, you don’t have any hassles.”

Wanlop Inthanop of the Phuket Land Transport Office said, “Parts
assembled into motorcycles must be examined by the Thai Industrial
Standards Institute of the Ministry of Industry in Bangkok. They
receive certification only if they meet the institute’s standards.”

After passing that hurdle, owners must pay the excise tax – and
only then will the Land Transport Office allow them to register their
vehicles.

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Ed note:
The 'crackdown' on big bikes isn't peculiar to Phuket - Chiang Mai and
other areas all over Thailand are stepping up checks. So heads-up...
(and matching book ready!) Excise on all big bikes with no plates Icon_idea

Many questions remain unanswered!!!!

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