An MoF official told myrepublica.com that the ministry has instructed the Department of Customs to adopt identical method, through which import prices of overseas-made vehicles are fixed on the basis of invoices submitted by trusted organizations while importing vehicles of similar types. "In our case, we have taken the import price invoices submitted by diplomatic missions as a basis for cross-examining the invoices produced by private importers," said the official.
Earlier, the government used transaction valuation as a basis, which means valuation of the imported vehicles was based on invoices submitted by the importers themselves. "We have been hearing the complains of under-invoicing of non-Indian made vehicles for years and an investigation conducted recently by Department of Customs reckoned that there was widespread under-valuations of up to 50 percent," said the official.
According to the investigation, four leading auto makers - two Japanese auto giants, a British automaker and a Korean auto giant - were found involved in issuing under-pricing invoices.
According to an official engaged in the investigation, the under-price invoices submitted for Japanese-made autos were issued by Taiwan and Hong Kong based re-exporting agencies, but not by their manufacturers. Officials at the Ministry of Finance estimates that the state lost revenue amounting to Rs 400 million in the last fiscal due to the under-invoicing of third country made vehicles.
Deepak Thapa secretary at Nepal Automobiles´ Dealers Association (NADA) said that imports of third-country made vehicles have been obstructed due to the differences with the government over the procedures of valuation of vehicles, but he declined to make official comment.
“We have called a meeting of all automobile dealers in Nepal on Sunday to fix our common strategy to resolve the problem. Only then will we be in the position to make an official comment," Thapa told myrepublica.com.
He also dropped hints that NADA might itself initiate an investigation over the allegation of under-invoicing of non-Indian made vehicles and added that NADA is in touch with the Department of Customs over the issue.
Bodh Raj Niraula, director general of the Department of Customs said that the department has asked all importers to submit related documents to verify their claims within a week and added that all procedures will be completed by next week.
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