The first tax rebates under the government's first-car buyers' incentive programme will be paid on Friday.
Deputy Finance Minister Viroon Tejapaibul on Monday announced that the first 47 qualified applicants would receive tax rebates worth 3.5 million baht.
He said the Excise Department and the Office of the Comptroller-General were in charge of processing the rebates.
Under the programme that the Pheu Thai government introduced last year, first-time buyers of new cars are eligible to claim tax rebates of up to 100,000 baht.
Mr Viroon said that because last year's floods disrupted car production, the government would extend the eligibility period for the programme. Originally, buyers had to take delivery of their cars by the end of 2012 to qualify for payments.
The programme was intended to encourage car ownership in order to raise Thai people's standard of living while promoting the auto and insurance industries, which would in turn drive the country’s economy, he said.
Mr Viroon said that so far, more than 250,000 new car owners had applied for the tax rebates worth an estimated 18 billion baht.
Starting with Friday's payments, reimbursements will be deposited into eligible applicants’ bank accounts on the 5th and 20th of every month.