An NBR circular yesterday said all new MPs will be allowed to import one duty-free car, but the tenure of parliament must be at least two years from the day of their oath.

The eighth parliament, which went into its first session on October 28, 2001, has only 14 months left of its tenure. The election to the women's reserved seats in parliament is due on September 6.

The NBR for the first time has also limited the category of vehicles -- 3,000cc for jeeps and 1,650cc for cars.

The revenue watchdog imposed the restriction as many MPs used to import expensive high horsepower vehicles and sell those, depriving the government of huge revenue, said NBR sources.

Generally, the overall import duty, customs duty, supplementary duty and value added tax for vehicles stand at 160 percent.

A number of MPs had allegedly sold the receipts issued by the Parliament Secretariat for importing duty-free vehicles for personal interest.

The sources said if the original price of a car is Tk 20 lakh, tax and other duty on the vehicle come to Tk 40 lakh. Ultimately, the total cost of the vehicle stands at about Tk 1 crore.

MPs used to utilise the duty-free option for their personal gain by selling the duty free permit, sources said.

Many enthusiast women aspirants to parliament consider it a profitable venture to become an MP despite high cost for nomination. Candidates of the ruling BNP for the reserved seats have to deposit Tk 3.3 lakh each for nomination.

The NBR move will now deprive the new women MPs of the duty-free car facility.

The NBR has also extended the handover facility of duty-free vehicles by one year. Previously, MPs required keeping the vehicles in their own name for three years.

Earlier, MPs were allowed to import a second duty-free vehicle after eight years. But now they can do it after seven years if they are elected again.

At least 200 duty-free cars are imported by the MPs during the tenure of each Sangsad, sources said.