Vehicle tax dodgers in crosshairs

Unpaid taxes of Bangkok vehicle owners alone estimated at B3.1 billion

Vehicle tax dodgers in crosshairs
Officials show a mobile application that can be used to renew annual vehicle registrations on Aug 11, 2020. (File photo)

The Department of Land Transport (DLT) and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) are teaming up to improve vehicle tax collection as unpaid taxes are estimated to total 3.1 billion baht.

The DLT is responsible for collecting the tax and it remits revenue of 14.4 billion baht annually to the BMA which uses it for city development, said Seksom Akkrapan, the department’s deputy chief.

However, owners of some 2.77 million vehicles registered in Bangkok have not been paying the tax, which in the last three years has resulted in the city losing out on an estimated 3.1 billion baht, he said.

The DLT and the BMA have signed an agreement to help the department collect the unpaid tax and swell the BMA’s coffers by 1 billion to 1.2 billion baht annually, he added.

Ampha Noranattrakul, director of the BMA’s fiscal office, said City Hall would provide support to the department, by allowing vehicle owners to check their annual vehicle tax payment via the BMA’s one-stop service system.