KARACHI – Two leading car giants in Pakistan have barred non-filer customers including individuals and corporate entities from booking their vehicles.
The decision is in line with the recently passed Finance Act 2018 which prevents non-filers of income tax returns from booking and registering new vehicles from July 1, 2018.
“Any application for booking, registration of purchases of a new locally manufactured motor vehicle or first registration of an imported vehicle shall not be accepted or processed by any vehicle registering authority of excise and taxation department or a manufacturer of a motor vehicle respectively, unless the person is a filer,” the Finance Bill FY19 says.
Pak Suzuki Motor Company Ltd (PSMCL), in the letter written to all authorised dealers, ordered to stop booking of vehicles from non-filer customers’ with immediate effect from May 22, 2018.
Similarly, Toyota-Indus Motors had also issued a public notice, urging the customers to change their status as tax filers to avoid any future complications.
“To avoid any possible delivery delays or cancellations of vehicle orders, we would like to humbly request all of our valued customers to ensure that they change their status as tax-filers. This will enable us to continue delivering our highest level of service to you now and in the future,” Toyota IMC notice stated.
A dealer of Honda Atlas Cars said the company is likely to stop booking of vehicles from non-filers of income tax returns shortly.
Assemblers have also asked their dealers to inform the banks not to accept orders from non-filers.
For vehicle deliveries scheduled for July and onwards, dealers are asked to approach each customer to change their status to a filer.
According to the industry executives, 60 percent buyers of cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) are non-filers, while 40pc are filers.
The local auto assemblers fear a sharp drop in sales following the government’s budgetary measure of barring non-filers from purchasing new vehicles.
