The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has ordered that 31 luxury cars imported by the now-dissolved 12th Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) members be handed over to the Department of Government Transport under the Ministry of Public Administration.
A special order regarding this was issued on Wednesday.
According to NBR sources, the Chattogram Customs House inquired whether the members of the dissolved parliament can clear the cars imported under duty-free facility. In response, the NBR had clarified on 8 December last year that the duty-free facility no longer applies to these cars. Importers can clear the vehicles by paying the applicable duties and taxes at the normal rate.
Since no one paid the required duties and taxes, the cars were put up for auction under Section 94(3) of the Customs Act 2023. However, as no bidder offered a reasonable price at the auction, the NBR decided, based on an inter-ministerial meeting, to hand over the cars to the Ministry of Public Administration in the public interest.
The NBR stated that the total duty and tax on the 31 vehicles is approximately BDT 2,696,189,600. Among them, the highest duty and tax on a single vehicle was set at BDT 94,483,300, while the lowest was BDT 86,267,400.
The special order also stated that if the importers wish to legally release the vehicles in the future by paying the applicable duties and taxes, the Chittagong Customs House will be able to complete the customs clearance process and release the vehicles in their favor. In that case, the vehicles currently with the Government Vehicles Department will be returned to the customs authorities.
Bd-pratidin English/ ANI
