First tax for uk import, if car off road, arrears due?

rsta

Just got myself an english car, I went and registered it yesterday and was told I can go ahead and tax my car the next day. (They need 24 hrs to put the details on their system). I then went and picked up my license plates too so I have my Irish plate number now.

But seeing as its 1st of May tomorrow I was going to wait and tax it on Tuesday so I will be paying for tax from May. Can't see the point in taxing it in April as I am not even driving it yet as it has some work to be done on it.

But I've just seen on the Motortax.ie website that the tax is payable for the month the car is registered, meaning I'll have to pay for April after all. Can I go with my RF100 to the motor tax office on Tuesday and tell them my car is not even on the road yet, and just pay tax from May onwards?? Or will they want the arrears for April to be paid too??

Thanks

rebel.ranter

I think you'll have to get the RF100 stamped at a Garda station to do what you are looking to do.

dergside

rsta wrote: »

Can I go with my RF100 to the motor tax office on Tuesday and tell them my car is not even on the road yet, and just pay tax from May onwards?? Or will they want the arrears for April to be paid too??

Thanks

It'll be hard to demonstrate that the car wasn't on the road following the VRT declaration if you drove it home......

Sorry, but you are stuck with paying April too.

dergside

dergside wrote: »

It'll be hard to demonstrate that the car wasn't on the road following the VRT declaration if you drove it home......

Sorry, but you are stuck with paying April too.

For gods sake, you would want your head examined to pay April aswell. You dont have to bring your car to VRT it so it may not have been driven. I got someone else to register my car when I brought it in and the car wasn't even in the same county as the office.

OP get it signed off the road, don't give them a months tax for nothing.

dergside

Hugh Gigantic Hermit wrote: »

For gods sake, you would want your head examined to pay April aswell. You dont have to bring your car to VRT it so it may not have been driven.

OP has stated that it has already been VRT'd.

Regardless, you do have to bring a car for examination when declaring it. They may choose not to view it but it is still a requirement for it to be available.

The OP asked whether he would be obliged to pay roadtax for April in the circumstances he outlined. The answer to that the question is yes. He may choose to try and evade it but the answer is still yes. He may have options to evade it but the answer is still yes.

Tax evasion is a breach of the law. If he chooses to go that route he may get away with it but that's not the question he asked.

Other suggestions are in the "cute hoor" category.

dergside

dergside wrote: »

OP has stated that it has already been VRT'd.

Regardless, you do have to bring a car for examination when declaring it. They may choose not to view it but it is still a requirement for it to be available.

The OP asked whether he would be obliged to pay roadtax for April in the circumstances he outlined. The answer to that the question is yes. He may choose to try and evade it but the answer is still yes. He may have options to evade it but the answer is still yes.

Tax evasion is a breach of the law. If he chooses to go that route he may get away with it but that's not the question he asked.

Other suggestions are in the "cute hoor" category.

I can tell you 2 other instances other than my own where the car was not brought and when asked was it outside they siad no, the VRT people said fine and continued. If the car is a certain age they wont care.

"Cute hoor" category is signing a car off the road for 6 months when its been in use, signing a car off for one day is called common sense. If he is asked he can either say he didnt bring it when vrting or he had it on a trailer. He wont be asked though.

The answer is not "yes". He doesn't have to pay it. There is an easy work around (for situations just like this) so the answer is no he does not have to pay for April. I would have imagined even the biggest law abider's wouldn't expect someone to pay a months tax for one bloody day.

Watch out for the wallet inspector!!

rsta

I didn't bring the car to the VRO, they didn't ask to see it either.

It does need a bit of work before I can drive it, so it will actually be off the road til early next week.

I think I'll bring the RF100 to the Garda station today and ask them to stamp it, see what they say, then go tax it next week. I'll post back here and let yous know what they say.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I'd hate to have to pay a whole months tax for just a day when I'm not even driving the car yet!

dergside

Hugh Gigantic Hermit wrote: »

I can tell you 2 other instances other than my own where the car was not brought and when asked was it outside they siad no, the VRT people said fine and continued. If the car is a certain age they wont care.

"Cute hoor" category is signing a car off the road for 6 months when its been in use, signing a car off for one day is called common sense. If he is asked he can either say he didnt bring it when vrting or he had it on a trailer. He wont be asked though.

The answer is not "yes". He doesn't have to pay it. There is an easy work around (for situations just like this) so the answer is no he does not have to pay for April. I would have imagined even the biggest law abider's wouldn't expect someone to pay a months tax for one bloody day.

I have an earlier copy of the document, below, that has the section on page 22 that is commented out in the Freedom of Information Act copy below.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/foi/s16/vehicle-registration-tax/vrt-manual-section-1.pdf

It states:

"Unless a used vehicle has already been examined at the time of clearance by
Customs as part of the “One-Stop-Shop”/Pan-Revenue approach64, it must be
physically examined at the time of registration. However, physical examination
of Category C vehicles may be reduced to 1 in 5 based on risk analysis
techniques and local information."

If you can show me where " even the biggest law abider's wouldn't expect someone to pay a months tax for one bloody day." is covered in operating instructions or law I'll back off but otherwise the answer is still yes.

I'm not saying I don't agree that its a bit unreasonable but that wasn't the question asked. In the circumstances its cut and dried as far as the law is concerned.

As for signing off a car for a day being common sense, lets call a spade a spade, its potentially tax evasion. Lots of people try to cut corners but lets not kid ourselves that this is legally right. Calling it anything else is just is trying to pretty it up, like putting lipstick on a pig. Its still a pig.

The tax is due from the date of registration.

dergside

BTW. to the OP - if the circumstances are genuinely such that there should be no liability to pay, i.e. that the car has not been used on the road since its been VRT'd, then you have a legitimate case to have it signed off.

My arguments above are not aimed at telling you otherwise. Its more about the attitude expressed that its morally and legally OK to tell porkies. What we are paying for with NAMA, etc. is just a slightly larger scale example of the same principles.

Vertakill

I bought a car from N.I, 'didn't drive it for a few months', got it VRT'd, got the off-the-road stamped form, went down to the tax office and was expecting to pay, at least, the initial month that I had stated I brought the car into the country... but I wasn't.

The person in the tax office explained that they cannot charge/backdate me the tax on the car because it wasn't registered in the country, let alone my name, at the time.
So I got the full 12 months tax disc, despite me showing them documentation to prove that it was brought into the country months before that.

However, you've somewhat shot yourself in the foot by VRT'ing it despite having no intention of driving it because it's now registered in your name from the day you did it.
Remember, that whole 24hr thing is a scare tactic. You have usually 7 days (after you've been caught/reprimanded on the road by customs) to get it registered , and that only takes effect if you're driving it around on our roads.

If you bought the car and weren't planning on driving it on public roads for a couple weeks, you were under no obligation to get it VRT'd so quickly.

If you get the off-the-road form stamped, you still have to state when the last time you drove it was, so that would be the time you got it registered (this month). Therefore I don't see how you are going to get around having to pay for the 1 day of this month that you were driving the car (even if you left the car at home and got it VRT'd, that's how they look upon it). They'll basically give you a tax disc that expires 11 months from now rather than 12.

Give it a shot anyways and see how it goes.

R.O.R

How much is it to tax per annum?

If it falls in band A for tax then you'll be saving yourself €8.66 by going to the Garda station to get it signed off, then going to the tax office to get the disc.

In this case, I really couldn't be arsed and would tax it on line.

If it's band B then the saving is €13. It's touch and go for this - I've been stuck in a Garda station for almost an hour, surrounded by people who had to sign a book for one reason or another, then another hour in the Tax office. That was for a replacement disc that can't be done online, but if I had a choice I'd have done it on-line rather than waste 3 hours of my day (driving from office to Garda station, to Tax office then back to office).

If it's not Band A or Band B, get it signed off - you'll need the saving made for fuel!

uoluol

I remember a while back I bought a car on the second last day of the month, and did not see the fairness in why I should be expected to pay car tax for a period of time when I did not even own the car. So in I went to my local Garda station, asked them to sign the RF100 form. I told them honestly that I had bought the car 2 days previously, but didn't feel it was fair I had to pay the entire month's tax. Guard agreed with me, stamped my form and I went off happy.:D

rsta

Well just to let yous all know, I went into the Garda Station and asked him to stamp the back of my RF100 form, and he did. No questions asked at all!

Very happy

Kristopherus

You beat me to it. I was just typing a reply to you to advise that if you bring the rf100 form to any garda station, there is a 99% chance they will stamp it for you, and no questions asked. Well done!

rsta

Thanks! Yeah I'm delighted its worked out

-Corkie-

rsta wrote: »

Thanks! Yeah I'm delighted its worked out

I knew they would 99.999% of ags are sound out they are only normal working human beings like the rest of us:). Some people here have a terrible problem with things like your case. Chances are they have no tax themselves;)