Motor tax arrears on 2nd hand car

Tipsy Mac

Anyone know if I purchase a car privately and say there's 2 months tax expired on it do I need to pay those two months or will the tax only apply to me when it changes to my name, ie if I buy it now will I only have to pay from this month to whatever period I want or do I also have to also pay the 2 months?

I know there's something you can get to say it was off the road but just say this is not possible.

crosstownk

You don't need to pay for the arrears. You are only liable for the tax due since the month of change of ownership.

If you took ownership on the 30th of June then you pay the tax for June.

unkel

crosstownk wrote:

You don't need to pay for the arrears. You are only liable for the tax due since the month of change of ownership.

If you took ownership on the 30th of June then you pay the tax for June.

I can confirm that. Just to make it absolutely clear, if you took ownership (date on VLC) on the 30th of June, you have to pay tax for the whole month of June

You do not have to fill in (and have it signed by Gardai) the form to declare it off the road

Anan1

unkel wrote:

I can confirm that. Just to make it absolutely clear, if you took ownership (date on VLC) on the 30th of June, you have to pay tax for the whole month of June

You do not have to fill in (and have it signed by Gardai) the form to declare it off the road

As in you cannot use the form signed by the Guards?

unkel

Anan1 wrote:

As in you cannot use the form signed by the Guards?

Yes you can use the form, i.e. you bought the car on the 30th of June but didn't use it on the public road until a date later than the 30th of June. You then owe tax from the first date of the month that you filled in on the form. Might be an idea if you buy on the 30th of June, take the keys home but leave the car on the previous owners drive, pick it up the next day, fill in the form and have it signed by a Garda for the 1st of July and save yourself up to €112

Some people would date the change of ownership bit of te VLC to the 1st of July to avoid all that hassle

Last time I bought a car I was neither fully up to speed on all legal possibilities as in the first paragraph, nor a chancer as in the second paragraph and I had to pay a months tax for a car I owned only a week. Lesson learnt

Wishbone Ash

unkel wrote:

Last time I bought a car I was neither fully up to speed on all possibilities as in the first paragraph, nor cheeky as in the second paragraph and I had to pay a months tax for a car I owned only a week. Lesson learnt

A work colleague recently bought a 3 litre car at 5pm on the last day of a month. Was he sick when he contacted the motor tax office!

crosstownk

Just tell the guy your buying it from (or salesman) to date the sale for the first of the next month if the day your buying is close to the end of a month.

I'm not happy with the length of that sentence................