First time motor tax

j1979p

I am taxing my second hand car for the first time. I bought it mid november and only drove it 3 times that month (only 2 km to a DART station).
I see there's a section for any arrears that must be payed on the RF100A form. There is also a section for declaration of non-use.
I don't feel I should have to pay a full months arrears for only using the vehicle 3 times at the end of Nov. I didn't even know that these arrears existed! The reason I am only taxing it now is that I was awaiting a vehicle certificate in the post and also I was awaiting a reply from the tax office as I thought I could do it online.

Can I be caught by the guards if I ask them to sign the non use section of the form? If I am caught, would they do anything considering my situation?

TwoShedsJackson

What's a month's tax, €25? (if it's a 1.4 or something) Do you really think it's worth making a deal out of and then worrying about lying to Gardai etc?

Mr. Presentable

j1979p wrote: »

I am taxing my second hand car for the first time. I bought it mid november and only drove it 3 times that month (only 2 km to a DART station).
I see there's a section for any arrears that must be payed on the RF100A form. There is also a section for declaration of non-use.
I don't feel I should have to pay a full months arrears for only using the vehicle 3 times at the end of Nov. I didn't even know that these arrears existed! The reason I am only taxing it now is that I was awaiting a vehicle certificate in the post and also I was awaiting a reply from the tax office as I thought I could do it online.

Can I be caught by the guards if I ask them to sign the non use section of the form? If I am caught, would they do anything considering my situation?

Nice way to start out, trying to evade your tax. Pay it and get in the law abiding habit.

You can do it online iirc once you have done it the hard way in the past.

I stand to be corrected on this, but don't you have to get the declaration of non-use signed in the Garda station?

Ginny

Your tax will be calculated as starting from when the VLC says you bought the car, so you will have to pay it.
if you email the tax office they might give you the PIN so you can tax it online before you get the VLC, they did for me, although your PIN is usually the first 6 digits of the cars chassis number.

j1979p

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

What's a month's tax, €25? (if it's a 1.4 or something) Do you really think it's worth making a deal out of and then worrying about lying to Gardai etc?

Well that's true! For some reason I was thinking that they might add some kind of fine for not paying it on time or something! Yeah, I'll go ahead and pay these arrears.

Thanks!

j1979p

GinnyJo wrote: »

Your tax will be calculated as starting from when the VLC says you bought the car, so you will have to pay it.

Not necessarily. There is a non use section of the form

if you email the tax office they might give you the PIN so you can tax it online before you get the VLC, they did for me, although your PIN is usually the first 6 digits of the cars chassis number

Again, this didn't work for me and they replied saying that the car was not eligible for online tax because the last renewal date was september!

Ginny

The non use covers the Sept-date you bought the car, unless you can prove you put the car on a flatbed truck out of the garage when you bought it, believe me I just went through the exact same thing, and again of the chassis number doesn't work drop the tax office a mail and they will get back to you, did it within the hour for me.
Again you will only pay tax from the date of purchase on your VLC.

j1979p

I didn't buy it in Sept. Check again. I bought it mid nov

TwoShedsJackson

Isn't the pin usually the last six digits of the chassis number? You can't tax it online if there are arrears going beyond the current month anyway so you'll have to get to the Motor Tax Office, just get there twenty minutes before it opens and there'll be like 5 people there and you'll be done in ten minutes. If you leave it until 9.30 to turn up there'll be about forty people there

j1979p

Well, I'm just gonna post everything in to them.As far as I can see, they just need my VLC (is this the RF101 form?), certificate of insurance and NCT cert. I will pay by credit card so it's handy.

Ginny

j1979p wrote: »

Not necessarily. There is a non use section of the form



Again, this didn't work for me and they replied saying that the car was not eligible for online tax because the last renewal date was september!

I mentioned Sept as you said it was the last renewal date, jaysus.

AGAIN you only pay for the portion of the month you owned the car, which will be confirmed by your VLC.
Oh and your VLC is your VLC, not a form you get from the tax office, the VLC will be posted to you from Shannon, and if you're posting your VLC off to the tax office you're very silly.
I bought my car in Oct the 25th or so, it hadn't been taxed since start of Oct, so in Nov I emailed the tax office they gave me my pin, I paid online, including the portion of Oct I owned the car, it's very striaghtforward.

j1979p

No, this is not what non-use means. Non-use by its very name suggests that you have bought the car but do not intend to use it until its taxed. I am assuming you are allowed to drive it home without the tax otherwise it makes no sense as you point out.
You are not obliged to pay for any arrears that have arisen before you bought the car. But this is not the non-use option. Together with paying arrears, there are 3 options on the RF100A form.
You are also required to post original copy of insurance cert, VLC and NCT cert. Obviously things have changed.
Also, as I mentioned before, you cannot use tax online if the arrears are more than 1 month it appears. I think thats what they were telling me.

L1011

"Driving it home" is use, if the vehicle isn't already taxed at the time. Driving it *at all* is use, as the word "use" suggests.

However, you didn't just "drive it home", you actually used the vehicle, albeit rarely. Just pay the month and don't try to break the law in future.

Ginny

j1979p wrote: »

Also, as I mentioned before, you cannot use tax online if the arrears are more than 1 month it appears. I think thats what they were telling me.

Who was telling you?
I emailed them like I've already said and it was sorted out within the hour, including the few days arrears, so yes you can use online tax if you have arrears providing this is the first time you are taxing the car.
Just email them and see what they say.
As for the use, once the car leaves the garage forecourt, you own it and are using the roads therefore you have to pay tax.

Wishbone Ash

j1979p wrote: »

No, this is not what non-use means. Non-use by its very name suggests that you have bought the car but do not intend to use it until its taxed

That would not be my interpretation of "non use".

If you taxed you vehicle for a year and then, for example, decided to go backpacking in India for 2 months, you can apply for a rebate for that period (providing no one else was using the vehicle and it was parked off a public road). That is what I would consider to be "non use".

Driving a car away from a garage/seller on public roads is "using" it.