ISLAMABAD: The Excise and Taxation Department on Wednesday extended the deadline for payment of vehicles’ token tax till Jan 15. Earlier, the department gave Dec 31 deadline and had planned punitive measures against defaulters from January 1, which include cancellation of vehicle’s registration and imposition of fine. In its fresh order, the department has extended the deadline by 15 days and warned that if the vehicles’ owners failed to pay the token tax, they will not only lose registration of their vehicles but will also pay 200 percent fine. The department warned the defaulters to pay the tax immediately to avoid the cancellation of registration and fine. The vehicles owner holding smart card can pay the token tax through Islamabad City App. Besides, the relevant counters at Islamabad Excise and Taxation Departments will remain open till 8pm daily for the convenience of the citizens. The defaulters will be identified through a system’s software at the department and after the deadline their registration will stand cancelled. After the cancellation, the owners will have to pay 200 percent fine as penalty for restoration of the registration. An officer of the department said the decision to cancel the registration of the vehicle was made because the number defaulters have increased over the time. At present, the officials of the excise and taxation department are carrying out random checking of vehicles for token tax. They do impose normal penalty on defaulters, but just imposition of the fine does not make any difference, as they do not deposit the token tax along with the fine and were caught again by the Excise and Taxation Department officials. In a number of cases, token tax has not been paid for the last many years. Director Excise and Taxation Bilal Azam Khan has asked the owners of the vehicles to deposit the tax immediately to avoid any legal action.