'Out-Of-State' Rolls Royce, Porsche, G-Wagen SEIZED For Road Tax Evasion By Karnataka RTO

The Karnataka Transport Department is known to be strict, and in the past, we have seen them take action against car owners from other states. This time around, officials from the Karnataka Regional Transport Office (West) have seized not one but five luxury cars from Mysuru that have allegedly evaded road tax.

As per the report, the seized vehicles include cars from brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, and Rolls-Royce. It looks like there is a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, Rolls Royce Cullinan, Audi A4, Porsche Cayman and one more Mercedes car in the list. The officials who seized the cars told the media that the owners of these vehicles had allegedly evaded road tax, which totalled up to Rs 4 crore.

According to Regional Transport Officer (Mysuru West) C.N. Ramachandra, the department had been monitoring the movements of these vehicles and had requested permission from the head office to conduct a search and seizure operation.

After receiving permission, a special team arrived from Bengaluru and conducted an operation last Sunday. During the raid, the officials found that all five vehicles now seized were owned by people from Mysuru but were registered in Puducherry.

This is not the first time we have come across a situation like this. Many people who buy expensive cars often choose to register them in Puducherry, as the road tax there is considerably lower compared to other states, being a Union Territory.

As per the authorities, the owner of an out-of-state car can use the vehicle in Karnataka for 11 months. If they want to continue using the car in Karnataka, they must pay road tax as per RTO guidelines and also re-register their vehicles.

The Transport Department in Karnataka charges 28 percent GST plus 22 percent conveyance charges on the ex-showroom price of the car. On the total amount obtained, 18 percent road tax and 11 percent cess are charged at the time of registration for cars priced above Rs 20 lakh.

After the cars were seized by the authorities, the owners were quick to get in touch with the department to have their vehicles released. One of the two Mercedes-Benz cars and the Rolls-Royce were released after the owners paid a total of Rs 1.78 crore in tax on Monday.

RTO Ramachandra also said, “We have also released the Porsche and Audi Q4 after their owners promised to pay the tax today. Meanwhile, we have retained the other Mercedes-Benz as we had doubts over its registration.”

This is not the first time we have come across a report like this from Karnataka. A few months ago, the Karnataka Road Transport Department and police had started cracking down on non-Karnataka-registered vehicles. Several videos of these incidents have surfaced online, showing authorities finding and seizing cars that had been in the state beyond the permitted period.

Similarly, a 41-member team from the Karnataka Transport Department, led by Transport Deputy Commissioner C. Mallikarjun, had seized around 30 expensive cars, including brands like Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, and Land Rover, over tax evasion. The officers had sent notices to the owners of these expensive cars to recover approximately Rs. 3 crore in taxes.