Excise Tax.. Phuket Gazette

[thaicbr]

You have to pay the 3% tax on offroad or race bikes.

[KhunAussie52]

You have to pay the 3% tax on offroad or race bikes.

If the excise on the assembled bike you own, has not been paid. Then you cannot ride it at all on public roads, or risk having the bike confiscated.

if the excise is not paid today,heavy fines will ensue,if the rider is caught by the BB

[LivinLOS]

You have to pay the 3% tax on offroad or race bikes.

If the excise on the assembled bike you own, has not been paid. Then you cannot ride it at all on public roads, or risk having the bike confiscated.

if the excise is not paid today,heavy fines will ensue,if the rider is caught by the BB

But what off road bike ever comes with papers ?? Even those dealers in bangkok selling the Chinese import dirt bikes.. All you get is the dealer invoice.. Off road bikes I have seen have usually come with zero !!

Actually involved in a trade for a 2 stroke 250 dirtbike right now and it is of course paperless totally. Its never intended for the road so it has no road book.

I have had now 10 or so bikes in Thailand, and not one of them ever had its import papers.. Green book for road reg was the most any ever had.

[KhunAussie52]

You have to pay the 3% tax on offroad or race bikes.

If the excise on the assembled bike you own, has not been paid. Then you cannot ride it at all on public roads, or risk having the bike confiscated.

if the excise is not paid today,heavy fines will ensue,if the rider is caught by the BB

But what off road bike ever comes with papers ?? Even those dealers in bangkok selling the Chinese import dirt bikes.. All you get is the dealer invoice.. Off road bikes I have seen have usually come with zero !!

Actually involved in a trade for a 2 stroke 250 dirtbike right now and it is of course paperless totally. Its never intended for the road so it has no road book.

I have had now 10 or so bikes in Thailand, and not one of them ever had its import papers.. Green book for road reg was the most any ever had.

You need the invoice papers and the last Thai owner (if applicable),copy of his license and ID card,then pay the excise.

If you have no papers,then i would suggest,you are out of luck,sorry......This is the Thai way!

[LivinLOS]

You have to pay the 3% tax on offroad or race bikes.

If the excise on the assembled bike you own, has not been paid. Then you cannot ride it at all on public roads, or risk having the bike confiscated.

if the excise is not paid today,heavy fines will ensue,if the rider is caught by the BB

But what off road bike ever comes with papers ?? Even those dealers in bangkok selling the Chinese import dirt bikes.. All you get is the dealer invoice.. Off road bikes I have seen have usually come with zero !!

Actually involved in a trade for a 2 stroke 250 dirtbike right now and it is of course paperless totally. Its never intended for the road so it has no road book.

I have had now 10 or so bikes in Thailand, and not one of them ever had its import papers.. Green book for road reg was the most any ever had.

You need the invoice papers and the last Thai owner (if applicable),copy of his license and ID card,then pay the excise.

If you have no papers,then i would suggest,you are out of luck,sorry......This is the Thai way!

My point is.. No offroad bikes I have ever seen sold had papers.. None..

[katabeachbum]

Thaicbr - bike is invoice not book, but as far as I was aware you still have an owners name on the invoice papers. Might have misunderstood though!

Second update - my boyfriend went to speak to the transport office again yesterday and they said that the tax has to be paid by 3pm today. If we were to pay it after this date we would be looking instead to pay around 60,000 in fines (I presume) even if we were not riding the bike. They said it would be police coming from Bangkok to enforce it so there was no possibility of postponing the payment and that they didn't really have any control over it. So we are paying it today, around 18,000 I think.

I dont see how they can fine you if invoice or bike is not in your name take the bike outside private property, yes

[KhunAussie52]

Thaicbr - bike is invoice not book, but as far as I was aware you still have an owners name on the invoice papers. Might have misunderstood though!

Second update - my boyfriend went to speak to the transport office again yesterday and they said that the tax has to be paid by 3pm today. If we were to pay it after this date we would be looking instead to pay around 60,000 in fines (I presume) even if we were not riding the bike. They said it would be police coming from Bangkok to enforce it so there was no possibility of postponing the payment and that they didn't really have any control over it. So we are paying it today, around 18,000 I think.

I dont see how they can fine you if invoice or bike is not in your name take the bike outside private property, yes

I would say yes,should not pose any problem!!

[LivinLOS]

I have a bunch of scooter books here.. None of them have any excise tax stamps on page 18 either.

So thats scooters.. New Kawasakis.. New BMWs.. Etc !!

Later I will scan my 'clearance letter' from when the blade was impounded and released from customs to see if that makes any sense to anyone.

[KhunAussie52]

My understanding is,that they are going after the Grey imports from Japan,a loophole has just been closed.I should imagine mostly big bikes are being targeted,not sure about page 18 though,never had a green book!!!!

[LivinLOS]

My understanding is,that they are going after the Grey imports from Japan,a loophole has just been closed.I should imagine mostly big bikes are being targeted,not sure about page 18 though,never had a green book!!!!

But the fact is the only way they determine if the excise has been paid is via green book page 18 stamps (or I guess receipts) but it seems many many legit bikes dont have those either.

So you see the problem.. Using a system to determine that we pay, when many bikes that have to be legal also dont have it.. Makes it a bit of a joke. Just seems like they are throwing the widest (most profitable) net they can.

[thaicbr]

Just have to add that this does seem to be a Phuket transport office problem and not nationwide. I might be wrong.

And Bard was told that if you have a race bike and want to take it out of the country for racing you have to have paid the 3% duty and have your receipt (also if it being transported in country). Allan

[LivinLOS]

Just have to add that this does seem to be a Phuket transport office problem and not nationwide. I might be wrong.

Erm no..

The same excise tax is being told to the guy with the 1500cc he just bought in udon.. I bet its whats behind the d-tracker stop in Chaing Mai posted today (demanding invoice proof)..

[mssabai]

Thaicbr - bike is invoice not book, but as far as I was aware you still have an owners name on the invoice papers. Might have misunderstood though!

Second update - my boyfriend went to speak to the transport office again yesterday and they said that the tax has to be paid by 3pm today. If we were to pay it after this date we would be looking instead to pay around 60,000 in fines (I presume) even if we were not riding the bike. They said it would be police coming from Bangkok to enforce it so there was no possibility of postponing the payment and that they didn't really have any control over it. So we are paying it today, around 18,000 I think.

I dont see how they can fine you if invoice or bike is not in your name take the bike outside private property, yes

Presuming we never took the bike on the road, no they would probably not fine us, but this would be a bit of a waste of a bike! If you get caught with the tax after today though you will pay around 5 times the cost of the tax in fines. Ditto if you want to register the bike. And from the sounds of it they are clamping down hard based on the story from Chiang Mai.

Wonder how many invoice bikes are available at knock down prices today eh? By tomorrow they are going to be 50k more expensive! Just hope people are aware of that. My guess is there will be lots of people trying to sell their now very expensive bikes if they weren't able to stump up the cash by today. And I am sure they won't be very forthcoming about the unpaid excise tax.

Just got ours paid. Bike is not in our name, but no details of the old owner were required. Just the cash and the invoice papers.

NB - this is definitely nationwide. We are in Trang. The Transportation office here says that they are being directed by Bangkok.

Edited September 25, 2009 by mssabai

[LivinLOS]

Wonder how many invoice bikes are available at knock down prices today eh? By tomorrow they are going to be 50k more expensive! Just hope people are aware of that. My guess is there will be lots of people trying to sell their now very expensive bikes if they weren't able to stump up the cash by today. And I am sure they won't be very forthcoming about the unpaid excise tax.

Just got ours paid. Bike is not in our name, but no details of the old owner were required. Just the cash and the invoice papers.

NB - this is definitely nationwide. We are in Trang. The Transportation office here says that they are being directed by Bangkok.

Its not invoice bikes only tho.. its ALL bikes..

Can see this getting real ugly if nationwide.

[KhunAussie52]

Hold your money folks.....My Thai friend rang a local big bike shop.he said that the payment has been suspended to the end of the year.At the request of a Thai Motorcycle association.that has lobbied the ministers office to review the whole matter.So it seems like the end of the year will hopefully see a better result .keep your fingers crossed

Edited September 25, 2009 by Udonfarang52

[mssabai]

Hold your money folks.....My Thai friend rang a local big bike shop.he said that the payment has been suspended to the end of the year.At the request of a Thai Motorcycle association.that has lobbied the ministers office to review the whole matter.So it seems like the end of the year will hopefully see a better result .keep your fingers crossed

Well that is totally not the story down here. There was an idea that it might be suspended because so many people were against it, but that didn't happen. All invoice bike owners that we know went to the office today to pay up (all Thai) including local policemen etc because there seemed to be no leniancy at all - only the threat of much heavier fines if it wasn't paid. Personally don't think it is worth risking.

No one has talked about it affecting green book owners yet though. I will talk to my boyfriend about it later and see what he knows about it. There is quite a big big bike community here in Trang so it has been the hot topic for the last couple of weeks and would have thought that would have come up.

[LivinLOS]

Hold your money folks.....My Thai friend rang a local big bike shop.he said that the payment has been suspended to the end of the year.At the request of a Thai Motorcycle association.that has lobbied the ministers office to review the whole matter.So it seems like the end of the year will hopefully see a better result .keep your fingers crossed

Well that is totally not the story down here. There was an idea that it might be suspended because so many people were against it, but that didn't happen. All invoice bike owners that we know went to the office today to pay up (all Thai) including local policemen etc because there seemed to be no leniancy at all - only the threat of much heavier fines if it wasn't paid. Personally don't think it is worth risking.

The chance of them telling anyone while people are lining up with thier money in thier hand is highly un-Thai.

No one has talked about it affecting green book owners yet though. I will talk to my boyfriend about it later and see what he knows about it. There is quite a big big bike community here in Trang so it has been the hot topic for the last couple of weeks and would have thought that would have come up.

The excise tax is the 3% they were raiding all the Phuket bike shops about and insisting on page 18 information / proof of payments.

I was actually told customs were out and about hitting up bike shops early this week on the island. My shop guy called me and asked me to bring in my paperwork so if he got raided again they wouldn't haul them all down the customs impound.