3-month grace period for owners of luxury, semi-luxury & semi-luxury dual purpose vehicles

A three-month concessionary period has been afforded to the owners of luxury and semi-luxury vehicles who have failed to pay tax when registering their vehicles. 

With over Rs. 350 million due to the State through the tax collection, the Cabinet this week agreed to slash the 50% penalty charged to vehicle owners who defaulted on payments to only 5% during the concession period from 1 September 2017 to 30 November 2017. 

The decision will give an opportunity for the owners of luxury vehicles, including diesel motorcars exceeding a cylinder capacity of 2,500 and petrol motorcars exceeding a cylinder capacity of 2,000, semi-luxury vehicles, including diesel motor cars 2201-2500cc, diesel jeeps exceeding 2200 cc. petrol cars 1801-2000cc, petrol jeeps exceeding 1,800 cc, and semi-luxury dual purpose vehicles such as diesel cabs  exceeding 2200 cc and petrol cabs exceeding 1800 cc, to pay the annual tax which should be paid up to seven years at the point of registration of the vehicle.

The first installment of the tax should be paid to the Department of Motor Traffic during registration and the remaining installments can be paid either to the department or the insurance company. 

The Government decided to declare a concessionary period to pay the tax after taking into account that the failure to make this payment could be due to reasons beyond the control of vehicle owners.