The Customs Department has halted its plan to put seized luxury cars under the hammer this fiscal year, forgoing an estimated 500 million baht in revenue, following the Land Transport Department's refusal to register such vehicles.
Over the past two years, 25 auction winners failed to register 30 luxury cars and motorcycles bought during Customs Department auctions because the Land Transport Department did not allow them to do so.
The Land Transport Department said these cars had already been registered or some could be modified cars, which are banned from being shipped to Thailand, said Kulit Sombatsiri, outgoing director-general of the Customs Department.
There are two obstacles to the auctions. One involves waiting for the director-general of the Land Transport Department to determine whether cars bought at customs auctions can be registered.
The other is that the tax-collecting agency has delegated its legal department to discuss with the Office of the Attorney-General whether the department can repay the auction winners who could not register these cars through the Land Transport Department, as funds raised from the auction have been sent to the government's coffers.
"The auction participants did nothing wrong, so we need to discuss with the Land Transport Department, which will have a new director-general in October," Mr Kulit said. "If the Land Transport Department still does not allow these cars to be registered, we must look into whether paying back money to the auction winners is legitimate.
"Some winners don't want the money back, but would rather register the cars."
Before the bidding took place, the Customs Department had asked for assurance from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) that the cars put under auction were not considered modified cars, Mr Kulit said.
The DSI's crackdown on luxury car importers last year resulted in the impounding of more than 300 cars from dealerships across Bangkok.
As noted in a previous Bangkok Post report, the DSI found that importers had paid unusually low taxes on 336 Italian cars and over 1,000 British cars.
The collective tax shortfall for the vehicles is estimated at more than 9 billion baht.