THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) has filed an appeal to try and recover millions of dollars in taxes it says it is owed by Hyundai agent Komoco Motors.

An LTA spokesman confirmed that the notice of appeal was filed on June 16 but did not elaborate further.

This comes after the High Court ruled last month that the LTA cannot base its demands solely on Singapore Customs' revaluation of the vehicles in question.

Supreme Court Judge Judith Prakash ruled then that the LTA should relook its decision as it had not considered 'with an open mind' if there were any 'exceptional circumstances'.

The Straits Times understands that the actual process of appeal will take several more weeks, if not longer.

The case dates back to 2001, when Customs officers conducted an audit at Komoco. They concluded that more than 17,000 Hyundais registered between 1996 and 2001 should have had higher import values.

A 2004 revaluation carried out by Customs formed the basis of the LTA's claim of additional registration fees (ARF) - a multiple of the import value - amounting to more than $7 million from Komoco.

This process of claiming ARF has been followed since the 1960s, and the present case is believed to be its first failure - which is why it is being followed closely by motor company lawyers.

The ARF claim process could also come into greater play because Customs officers have raided several parallel importers recently.

Some parallel-import cars tend to have lower open market values (OMV) - the cost prices on which tax and duty of 130 per cent are based.

Asked to comment, parallel importer Richburg Motors' sales manager Eddie Lo said: "We do not know how other parallel importers source their cars, so we can't really comment on their OMVs.

"We source from Japan...our business model does not need us to play any games."

A check by The Straits Times showed that Richburg cars typically have OMVs 10 per cent higher than the average at other parallel importers.

Cars sold by authorised agents usually have higher OMVs.