[Article] Thousands of foreign-registered cars checked in roadside tax blitz

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/13060204?view=Eircomnet

Thousands of foreign-registered cars checked in roadside tax blitz
From The Irish IndependentFriday, 13th June, 2008
Eddie Cunningham Motoring Editor

THOUSANDS of foreign-registered cars have been stopped and checked in a customs and garda tax blitz over the last three weeks.

The latest in a series of checkpoints was set up early yesterday morning at Kilmoon Cross, near Ashbourne, Co Meath.

More than 15,000 cars were stopped last year and sources say the current level of checking is running at a higher level so far this year.

As many as one in four cars stopped require "further investigation".

The main offence -- and the one involving by far the most substantial amounts of money -- is non-payment of Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT).

If VRT has been dodged for over a couple of months, then officials usually seize the vehicle and impound it until the tax, fines and penalties associated with it are paid in full.

Usually, impounded cars are quickly retrieved by the owners, but older low-value cars can be abandoned to their Revenue fate.

Revenue sources say that while court action is always possible -- and taken in many cases -- they tend to impose fines on offenders more often than not with what is known as a "compromise penalty".

Penalties

It saves times, recoups the money due in the first place as well as additional late-payment penalties. These are often calculated on a rising percentage of the car's value -- depending on the length of avoidance -- and can come to a considerable amount.

The apparent proliferation of foreign -registered cars has been a serious source of complaint by the motor industry here. They claim both individuals and private importers are gaining a huge advantage over legitimate businesses by not paying VRT or by avoiding payment for months or, in extreme cases, years.

They claim this has most recently been exacerbated by the confusion caused by the changeover to the new emissions-based taxation system which kicks in from July 1 as some owners hold off on registering where a lower VRT rate will apply from next month.

But last night, the motor industry's representative group, SIMI, welcomed the higher level of visible checking. Its chief executive Alan Nolan said he hoped it would continue, as far too many had escaped for too long. He claimed it had been too easy in the past to avoid paying taxes. He also claimed that gardai needed to step up their tracking of foreign-registered cars.

"These cars have no reference point because they are not registered here in the event of penalty points or an accident. We would appeal to the gardai to increase their vigilance," he said.

godtabh

How do they tell the difference between a tourist and say some one working over here full time?

I worked for a lad from England who was over here for 2.5 years and I dont think he was stopped once with his eEnglish reg car

cyclopath2001

kearnsr wrote: »

How do they tell the difference between a tourist and say some one working over here full time?

Camera, luggage, hotel booking? If you're dressed for a building site and have a bunch of tools in the boot, maybe not.

Basicly if the answers don't sound right, the Garda or Customs officer can put it up to the driver to prove they're a tourist. Many checks take place at locations where you're more likely to find people going to work than for a bit of sight-seeing.

godtabh

Jaysus I look like I work on site from time to time but never had. Lucky I dont have a foreign reg car (unless you count sligo as foreign!)

Our man in Havana

What about the builder that works here for a few months and regularly returns to the UK?

L1011

Bond-007 wrote: »

What about the builder that works here for a few months and regularly returns to the UK?

Onus of proof is on him to show he has "personal ties" to the UK. Not on Revenue to prove him wrong....

If he's paying tax here he's deemed resident unless he can prove otherwise.

Our man in Havana

If he's paying tax here he's deemed resident unless he can prove otherwise.

Which is the exact opposite of the domicile situation where the Revenue say you can never break your old one no matter how long you are outside the jurisdiction. Try proving that you are domiciled elsewhere you won't get very far with them.

Foreign registered cars still need to have a valid road tax disc of some sort. Tourists & visiting workers should have their cars "street legal" for the countries they come from.

That's why so many "northern" drivers have friends up north to hande the documentation for them, I'm sure others can do the same.

cyclopath2001

cyclopath2001 wrote: »

Camera, luggage, hotel booking? If you're dressed for a building site and have a bunch of tools in the boot, maybe not.

Basicly if the answers don't sound right, the Garda or Customs officer can put it up to the driver to prove they're a tourist. Many checks take place at locations where you're more likely to find people going to work than for a bit of sight-seeing.

Also they're done outside the peak tourists season, if they tried it over easter all they would to is piss off a large number of tourists.

Davidth88

When I used to work in Ballycoolin (Blanch ) the tax/Garda used to check about once every 2-3 months.

The car park in Xerox there used to be like the UN, more French/Spanish/Italian cars than Irish , now the same cars were parked there day after day after day .... so I silently cheered when they were stopped.

The reason I cheered , well I had to go through the pain of importing my car from the UK , ie ensure I had fuel reciepts/shopping bills/household bills/servicing bill etc etc , then go and register the thing , so if I do it so should everyone else!

Question, whats going to happen on the M50 Toll to these cars ( and NI reg ) ?

Our man in Havana

Davidth88 wrote: »

Question, whats going to happen on the M50 Toll to these cars ( and NI reg ) ?

Absolutely nothing as per usual.

murphaph

Bond-007 wrote: »

Absolutely nothing as per usual.

Actually I'd say the eflow crowd will simply outsource the collection of debts to the same people (or similar) that TfL use for the London Congestion Charge. Many border councils (such as Donegal and Louth that I know of) also use private debt collection services to collect in Northern Ireland.

L1011

murphaph wrote: »

Actually I'd say the eflow crowd will simply outsource the collection of debts to the same people (or similar) that TfL use for the London Congestion Charge. Many border councils (such as Donegal and Louth that I know of) also use private debt collection services to collect in Northern Ireland.

Indeed, I read in one of the papers that they are going to do this. The fee for not paying at all is quite high so worth chasing down...

Our man in Havana

murphaph wrote: »

Actually I'd say the eflow crowd will simply outsource the collection of debts to the same people (or similar) that TfL use for the London Congestion Charge. Many border councils (such as Donegal and Louth that I know of) also use private debt collection services to collect in Northern Ireland.

What are the rates of sucessful collection? I would think it is not that high tbh.

Bond-007

Bond-007 wrote: »

What are the rates of sucessful collection? I would think it is not that high tbh.

Don't know, but if it's anything like other agencies in the UK they'll take the car if you refuse to pay!

Our man in Havana

If they are simple DCA's they will have to refer the matter back to the issuer i.e. etoll etc if they do not pay up. It would be up to the issuer to take legal action in the UK to recover any monies due. I would think this would only be reserved for persistent offenders.

The only other country that pursues foreign cars are the Norwegian toll roads companies. They use a collection agency but as stated above unless they take legal action in the country of the car owner there is really nothing they can do to enforce collection.

SerialComplaint

Deleted User wrote: »

That's why so many "northern" drivers have friends up north to hande the documentation for them, I'm sure others can do the same.

I think you'd need a lot more than an accomodation address up north to prove your residency up there. The first simple check for Revenue is to check where you pay your taxes.

Davidth88 wrote: »

Question, whats going to happen on the M50 Toll to these cars ( and NI reg ) ?

They could always start by picking up all those NI reg cars that drive through the eazypass lane on the M50 today. If you have an eazypass tag, it's a pretty good indication that you are spending a lot of time in Dublin.

SerialComplaint

SerialComplaint wrote: »

They could always start by picking up all those NI reg cars that drive through the eazypass lane on the M50 today. If you have an eazypass tag, it's a pretty good indication that you are spending a lot of time in Dublin.

One of my colleagues is a teleworker, lives "up north" cones to the office two or three times a week. He lives and works near home for the rest of the time.

Carawaystick

revenue's guides to residency mention the number of days in the country to be resident- 183 per annum but it's only midnight's that count.

It also mentions "abroad" I don't know if the six counties is abroad in the sense used here.

Seeing as the main roads from the 6 counties to Dublin pass a toll, getting a tag is not unreasoanble. Irish and British Motorists get french tags for the Autoroutes.

ardmacha

The first simple check for Revenue is to check where you pay your taxes.

Any person commuting from the North to the Republic pays their taxes there, so that type of simplistic analysis isn't much help.

Our man in Havana

I believe that they pay Irish PAYE and claim rebates later.

MrPudding

SerialComplaint wrote: »

They could always start by picking up all those NI reg cars that drive through the eazypass lane on the M50 today. If you have an eazypass tag, it's a pretty good indication that you are spending a lot of time in Dublin.

No. I would say it is a pretty good indication that you use tolls and want to make it as painless as possible.

MrP

Davidth88

It's quite simple really

Latvian ( just an example not picking on them )plate number xyz goes through the west link on Monday.

Tuesday it goes through again , there should be a way of stopping the car and demanding money from them.

If the same car is registered on the scanners more than x number of times over a few weeks then you have the gards stop him to check his tax status.

Why don't they leave one queue to pay cash , and all foreign plates have to go through there ?

anotherlostie

And would you like to be the car behind xyz stuck there for 10 minutes while there is an argument ongoing between the Latvian and those collecting the toll?

I don't think that would work.

I live in an apartment complex and notice that there are hardly any East European reg cars in the car park now. When I moved in first, there were loads. So either there has been an ongoing clampdown, or these guys have been getting rid of their high performance cars and buying Irish instead...

Victor

anotherlostie wrote: »

And would you like to be the car behind xyz stuck there for 10 minutes while there is an argument ongoing between the Latvian and those collecting the toll? I don't think that would work.

Why can't they have 3 lanes for normal traffic and say two lanes for people who want to pay cash on the spot?

Davidth88

I agree Victor this would be sensible , but of course everyone would use this because the current 2 euro is cheaper than the new 3 euro ( if you are not registered ) .

For those of you had not noticed , we will be stung for a 50 % increase on this bridge ( which we have already paid for out of our taxes , and via tolls many times over ). Now if you register and pay for a tag , then of course you don't pay this increase...... but then you have to pay extra for the tag/admin etc.

As for being stuck behind someone, lets think a little here, foreign reg car approaches bridge for the 2nd time ( having not paid the first ) , it should set of an alarm and the gards stop it , simple as that. They don't block the traffic , they pull the car over.

Carawaystick

cos the cops have nothing better to do....

Our man in Havana

Catching motorists evading road tax is a useful service.

PRND

The toll is supposedly there to pay for the road, maintennance, other road projects is it not? If Latvians and Northerners don't pay Irish road tax and therefore don't contribute to any other road in the state, is it such a big deal to let them away with it? As long as the Revenue are strict on those resident with non-resident cars then I don't see the problem with them not paying the new road charging system.

L1011

PRND wrote: »

The toll is supposedly there to pay for the road, maintennance, other road projects is it not? If Latvians and Northerners don't pay Irish road tax and therefore don't contribute to any other road in the state, is it such a big deal to let them away with it? As long as the Revenue are strict on those resident with non-resident cars then I don't see the problem with them not paying the new road charging system.

The general deal across Europe is that you *do* have to pay motorway tolls in other countries when travelling. Irish cars entering Switzerland, Austria, etc, are obliged to buy their window-stickers for using the motorway networks and obviously you need to pay at barrier tolls or you won't get through the damn things.

Davidth88

PRND, Yes it is a big deal , esp for the NI reg cars if you ask me ( because there are more of them )

Anyway , if I drive in the UK/France etc I have to pay the tolls ( as pointed out by MYOB )

To Carawaystick , not sure if your remark was meant to be sarcastic. I would say this is a useful thing to do , how many of these cars have valid insurance, are correctly maintained etc ?