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What Is Toll Tax In India & Who Are Exempted From Toll Tax In India?

Sukanya Mukherjee -

Table of Contents:

1. Why Do We Pay Toll Tax In India?

2. Who Are Exempted From Toll Tax In India?

3. Toll Tax Rates In India

4. What Is Toll Tax In India?

5. What Is The Toll Tax & It's Use In India?

6. What Are Toll Plaza Rules In India?

7. States And Union Territories: Road Tax

8. What is FASTag? Online Application & Recharge

9. Documents Required For FASTag Application

10. FAQs On Toll Tax In India

1. Why Do We Pay Toll Tax In India?

Isn't it great to have wide clean roads to drive? Wouldn't you like excellent, long, clean, and well-equipped streets? If yes, then who do you think should develop and maintain these roads? Well, the government indeed must. However, in recent years, the concept of toll plazas has come up. All the highways in the territory of India are either state highways or national highways. These highways have toll taxes imposed on them by the government authorities.

The toll tax in India is used to cover the cost of the money spent on their construction and is also used to maintain the roads and the on-road services. At many places, it can be seen that the government works in partnership with the private construction giants who take up the responsibility of building the long highways and great roads. In return, these construction companies can levy a toll tax on the vehicles using that road. This money is used for the maintenance and upkeep of the streets.

The money that is collected from the toll plazas is used to cover the cost as well. Once the total amount of highway construction has been raised, the government lessens the amount of tax and only collects an amount necessary for its upkeep and maintenance.

2. Who Are Exempted From Toll Tax In India?

The following are exempted from paying a toll tax in India-

  • President of India
  • Vice President of India
  • Prime Minister of India
  • Governors of states
  • Chief justice of India
  • Speaker of House of people
  • Cabinet ministers of the central government
  • Chief ministers of the States
  • All the Judges of the Supreme court
  • Ministers of State of Union government
  • Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories
  • Chief of Staff Holding
  • Chairman of the Legislative council of state
  • Speaker of the legislative assembly of the state
  • Chief justice of high courts
  • All the Judges of the High court
  • Members of Parliament
  • Army Commander
  • Secretary of Government of India
  • Secretary of Council of state
  • Secretary of House of People
  • Foreign dignitary on a State visit
  • Magistrates of all states
  • Physically challenged person
  • Defence personnel from all the three services
  • Territorial Army & NCC cadets(On duty)
  • District collectors
  • Human remains vehicle
  • Fire Brigade
  • Ambulance

3. Toll Tax Rates In India

The toll tax rates in India are-

What Is The Toll Tax?

4. What Is Toll Tax In India?

The toll plazas offer many services to the users; some of them are-

  • The crane service
  • Car puncture services
  • Emergency services
  • Medical aid

5. What Is The Toll Tax & It's Use In India?

The use of toll tax in India are- It helps the government to raise the money it had spent on the construction of a highway. It helps the government to raise the additional money required for the maintenance of the highways.

The money raised from tolls is used to pay the salary of the people deployed at the highway for assistance. It helps in availing smooth roads that are an aid to the driver. It keeps unnecessary traffic away as people will have to pay a tax for a futile drive too.

6. What Are Toll Plaza Rules In India?

The toll tax rules in India include your standard things like:

  1. Vehicles- Any toll tax plaza in India cannot have more than 6 vehicles per lane in a queue during peak hours.
  2. Booths/Lanes- The amount of booths booth or toll lanes must assure that the service time per vehicle throughout peak hours is kept at 10 seconds per vehicle.
  3. Toll Lanes Numbers- If the maximum waiting time of a traveller exceeds 2 minutes then the number of toll lanes should be increased.

7. States And Union Territories: Road Tax

8. What is FASTag? Online Application & Recharge

A FASTag is a new toll payments scheme under which the people do not have to pay the cash at the toll manually. They have a sticker on their car, and the camera at the toll scans this sticker and deducts the amount of toll from the account linked to the sticker automatically. This avoids large queues and waiting for lines on the toll plazas.

Benefits Of FASTag

  • Provides Automatic Calculation
  • Contactless and Cashless Transactions
  • Hassle-Free Toll Payment Method
  • Online Recharge And Discounts

9. Documents Required For FASTag Application

For the FASTag Application process you will need the following documents:

  1. Filled up Application Form
  2. Registration Certificate of the Vehicle
  3. Official Identification Proof- PAN Card, ID Proof, Voter ID & Aadhar Card.
  4. Passport Sized Photograph of Vehicle Owner

Also Read:

1) How to Prepare Your Business for Tax Season?
2) How To Reduce Your Taxable Income?
3) What Kind of Benefits do We Get by Paying Taxes in India?
4) What Is Lower Tax Deduction Certificate?
5) How are the mutual funds taxed in India?

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10. FAQs On Toll Tax In India

Q. Who are exempted from FASTag?

Ans- Vehicles transporting the Dignitaries and accompanying security vehicles are exempted from FASTag and toll tax.

Q. Is Toll-Free after 3 minutes?

Ans- Yes. If a vehicles' waiting time exceeds by 3 minutes, that particular vehicle isn't required to pay toll tax as per NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) rules for toll plaza. One can pass free of cost i.e. the toll tax-free after 3 minutes of waiting in the queue.

Q. Who are exempted from toll tax in India?

Ans- Only people with a certificate from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities are eligible for toll tax exemption. Other vehicles include- NHAI authorised Vehicles, and Government Organization vehicles.

Q. How do I get exempted from FASTag?

Ans- Exempted FASTag shall be issued free of cost to the exempted categories of construction vehicles as per NH Fee Rule 2008. All applicants are asked to judiciously submit an application form to the concerned Regional Offices of NHAI only.

Q. Which FASTag is best?

Ans- The best FASTag service providers in India are:

  • SBI
  • ICICI Bank
  • Axis Bank
  • Paytm
  • HDFC Bank
  • Kotak Mahindra Bank
  • IDFC Bank

Q. Are doctors exempted from toll tax?

Ans- As the Medical field is considered a noble profession all IMA (Indian Medical Association Members) shall be exempted from toll tax when they show their IMA life membership card.

Q. Who collects toll tax in India?

Ans- The toll tax in India is created and collected by the government. The management at every toll plaza is then consigned to a private party, who then operates these toll plazas and collects the toll.

Q. Is toll-free for advocates?

Ans- No. Advocates aren't exempted from paying user fee (Toll) in NH Fee plazas as per the clarification statement issued by the National Highways Authority of India.

Ans. Yes, it is legal to levy toll tax in India because, with the tax received from toll, the government can maintain its roads and highways. This helps the government to cover the cost of construction and to raise the money that is needed for its long term sustainability and maintenance.

Q. Can you be imprisoned for not paying toll taxes?

Ans. Toll tax is imposed by the orders of the government authorities, and if you do not pay them, you may be penalised under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code that prescribes a punishment of a fine of Rs 500 or imprisonment up to 1 year.

Q. Is it necessary for all citizens to pay toll tax in India?

Ans. No, the following authorities, while on official duty, are exempted from paying a toll tax in India-

  • President of India
  • Vice President of India
  • Prime Minister of India
  • Governors of states
  • Chief justice of India
  • Speaker of House of people
  • Cabinet ministers of the central government
  • Chief ministers of the States
  • All the Judges of the Supreme court
  • Ministers of State of Union government
  • Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories
  • Chief of Staff Holding
  • Chairman of the Legislative council of state
  • Speaker of the legislative assembly of the state
  • Chief justice of high courts
  • All the Judges of the High court
  • Members of Parliament
  • Army Commander
  • Secretary of Government of India
  • Secretary of Council of state
  • Secretary of House of People
  • Foreign dignitary on a State visit
  • Magistrates of all states
  • Physically challenged person
  • Defense personnel from all the three services
  • Territorial army & NCC cadets(On duty)
  • District collectors
  • Human remains vehicle
  • Fire Brigade
  • Ambulance

Q. Can the government levy toll on a highway forever?

Ans. Yes, the government can levy a toll on a highway forever but not continuously. Tolls are levied for a specific period of time, and once this period is over, the authorities review the toll amount. Therefore, they can levy the toll forever but will have to review and recirculate the notification for it.

Q. What are the current toll tax rates in India?

Ans. The current toll tax rates in India are-