Customs Act 1960 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Levying of Duty and Tax
17. Tax on motor vehicles using heavy fuel oil, etc.
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2018.
Despite and in addition to any tax, duty, fee or other charge leviable on any mechanically-propelled vehicle under any other Act or scale of fees made thereunder, a special tax is imposed on motor vehicles which are equipped with engines using heavy oil, diesel oil, liquefied petroleum gas or any other gas as fuel or fitted with producer gas or other gas attachments.
petroleum
“petroleum” includes the liquids commonly known by the names of rock oil, Rangoon oil, Burma oil, kerosene and kerosene substitutes, paraffin oil, petrol, gasoline, benzol, benzoline, benzine, naphtha and any other similar inflammable liquid, whether a natural product or one that is made from petroleum, coal, schist, shale or any other bituminous substance, or from any products thereof;
The special tax chargeable under subsection (1) in respect of a motor vehicle is —
motor vehicle
“motor vehicle” means a mechanically-propelled vehicle primarily intended or adapted for use in the conveyance of goods or in the carriage of passengers (including any person driving the vehicle) on roads maintained at the public expense, and includes any vehicle constructed to tow any other vehicle along such roads, but does not include such vehicles as excavators, crawlers, bulldozers, tractors and any similar vehicles which are not primarily intended for use on such roads;
of an amount that the Minister may prescribe and the Minister may prescribe different rates for motor vehicles of different classes, categories or descriptions or motor vehicles used for different purposes;
chargeable by reference to such tax period as the Minister may prescribe; and
payable in advance at such time and in such manner as the Minister may prescribe.
[Omitted as spent]
[Deleted by Act 29 of 2018]
For the purposes of the special tax, a motor vehicle is deemed —
to be chargeable with the like special tax as on the occasion of the issue of the vehicle licence or last vehicle licence issued for the motor vehicle under the Road Traffic Act 1961, and to be so chargeable by reference to the prescribed rate as applicable to the motor vehicle on that occasion; or
if no vehicle licence has been issued for the motor vehicle under that Act, to be chargeable by reference to the prescribed rate applicable to the motor vehicle.
Subject to subsection (5A), a person who for any period keeps a motor vehicle in respect of which the special tax has at any time become chargeable is, whether or not the motor vehicle is still a mechanically‑propelled vehicle during the period, liable to pay the special tax on the motor vehicle for that period.
The period mentioned in subsection (5) for which the person is liable to pay the special tax, does not include any period notified by the person to the Registrar under the Road Traffic Act 1961 as a period when the motor vehicle will not be used or kept on a public road (called in this section the notified period).
Registrar
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Vehicles or a Deputy Registrar of Vehicles or an Assistant Registrar of Vehicles appointed under the Road Traffic Act 1961;
However, the person is not exempt from liability to pay the special tax by virtue of subsection (5A) if, at any time during the notified period, the motor vehicle is used or kept on a public road —
by the person; or
with the person’s consent,and there is no vehicle licence in force for the motor vehicle at that time.
A motor vehicle to which this section applies must not be used —
after the latest date appointed for payment of the special tax until the tax has been paid; and
at any time during the notified period.
If any motor vehicle to which this section applies is knowingly used in contravention of subsection (6), the person driving the vehicle or the owner thereof shall be guilty of an offence.
The Registrar has for the purposes of this section all the powers of the Director‑General under this Act.
Director‑General
“Director‑General” means the Director‑General of Customs appointed under section 4(1);
In this section, “tax period” means the annual or half‑yearly period by reference to which the special tax is chargeable under this section.