Gov’t to collect unpaid taxes on cars imported as trucks

The Ministry of Finance said it will collect unpaid taxes worth VND34 billion (US$1.78 million) from the importers of around 550 cars that were declared as vans as a tax evasion measure.

It is necessary to collect the tax arrears in order to ensure fair competition between car importers, local news website VnExpress cited the ministry as saying Sunday.

As of September last year at least 36 companies had imported 549 cars of two models - Kia Morning and Daewoo Matiz - into Vietnam.

The cars had their rear seats removed and were registered as vans so that the importers could avoid paying luxury and value added taxes.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs said it is working with the Ministry of Public Security to find out who bought these cars and for what purposes they did so.