As the regional government departments do not keep documents with the relevant ownership details, information on the sale and resale of vehicles is not recorded, making it difficult for the authorities to trace the owner responsible when accidents or crimes take place.

In Parliament, MP U Nay Bone Latt from Thingunkyun township urged the ministry to implement a workable system for tracing all the owners of the same vehicle. He said that the ministry’s progress towards rolling out such procedures is taking too long.

”In Myanmar, there are a total of 900,000 vehicles, of which only 200,000 are still owned by the first owner. This implies that the current owners of the remaining 700,000 vehicles are driving cars registered under another driver’s name,” he said.

Based on U Nay Bone Latt’s research, the official ownership transfer process involves paying a hefty tax to the Internal Revenue Department and informing the Road Transport Administration Department of the change in name.

In the past, the tax rate for vehicle ownership changes was only 3 percent of the car price for cars valued up to K30 million. After a change in policy in 2015, the tax was raised to 15pc for cars valued up to K30 million, 20pc for cars valued between K31 million and K100 million and 30pc for cars valued above K100 million.

 But after changing the policy on 2015, the tax rate increased. According to the new tax rate, the owners must pay 15 percent for 1 K to K30 million, 20 percent for K 30 million to 100 million, 30 percent above 100 million.

”After the tax rates were increased, most people stopped recording the change of ownership and are now used to driving cars registered under another driver. But when accidents happen or if the vehicle is involved in a crime, we have difficulties to tracing the current owner,” said U Nay Bone Latt.

”We have heard that the people don’t want to change ownership because of the tax rate. So we are planning to discuss the current tax rates at the Union level,” said Daw Nilar Kyaw.

It is common for the first owners of an imported or new car to register their details with the car center or showroom from which the car was purchased. However, if the buyer subsequently sells the vehicle, the new owner must inform the Road Transport Administration Department (RTAD) of the change. Otherwise, it is still the first buyer who will be held responsible for all accidents or crime-related issues associated with the car.

Daw Nilar Kyaw added that the RTAD is now recording all details of ownership changes in a bid to keep track of drivers. Meanwhile, the Yangon Regional Government is also using surveillance cameras at traffic lights to monitor vehicles.

The Union Post and Communication Ministry  has also held a tender for the installation of  Radio Frequency Identification Devices in all cars.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/new-tax-rates-vehicle-ownership-changes-discussed-parliament.html