Motor Tax

daisydood

Hi my dad has a van off the road 12 monthsn . he has the form signed by guards up till Sept 30. He didn't realize deadline was up and now owes huge money. Can he transfer ownership to a friend and then back into his own name and will the arrears be gone.? Or what are his options?

Guy:Incognito

daisydood wrote: »

Hi my dad has a van off the road 12 monthsn . he has the form signed by guards up till Sept 30. He didn't realize deadline was up and now owes huge money. Can he transfer ownership to a friend and then back into his own name and will the arrears be gone.? Or what are his options?

Is it not a commercial? So even a full year would be €333 . Hardly huge money

CiniO

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Is it not a commercial? So even a full year would be €333 . Hardly huge money

Yes, but why pay tax which you are not due.

daisydood

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Is it not a commercial? So even a full year would be €333 . Hardly huge money

It may not be huge to you, but Its huge money to a man who has no money.

CiniO

daisydood wrote: »

Hi my dad has a van off the road 12 monthsn . he has the form signed by guards up till Sept 30. He didn't realize deadline was up and now owes huge money. Can he transfer ownership to a friend and then back into his own name and will the arrears be gone.? Or what are his options?

Arrears only become due to be paid, if you dad decides to tax the car.
If he changes ownership to someone else, and then back to his name, no more arrears when he is taxing it.

daisydood

CiniO wrote: »

Arrears only become due to be paid, if you dad decides to tax the car.
If he changes ownership to someone else, and then back to his name, no more arrears when he is taxing it.

Great, thank you for reply. but does that mean if he transfers it to his friend his friend is meant to pay?

mullingar

daisydood wrote: »

Hi my dad has a van off the road 12 monthsn . he has the form signed by guards up till Sept 30. He didn't realize deadline was up and now owes huge money. Can he transfer ownership to a friend and then back into his own name and will the arrears be gone.? Or what are his options?

He must pay the tax from the start of this month. If it stays off the road then it must be taxed for min 3 months then pre-declare it off the road from 1/1/14

CiniO

daisydood wrote: »

Great, thank you for reply. but does that mean if he transfers it to his friend his friend is meant to pay?

By transferring ownership to a friend, you dad is technically selling car to him.
Price might be 0 if they wish.
But remember, that this should be trusted friend, as once car is registered on his name, there's nothing stopping him to keep the car, instead of giving it back to your dad.

MadYaker

Why doesn't he transfer it to you or some other family member instead?

daisydood

Thanks for your replies guys. Sorry just really confused about this. Who will be liable for the arrears if dad "sells" the van and back to his name? Arrears are hardly just wiped off are they? Is somebody not liable?

Cee-Jay-Cee

daisydood wrote: »

Thanks for your replies guys. Sorry just really confused about this. Who will be liable for the arrears if dad "sells" the van and back to his name? Arrears are hardly just wiped off are they? Is somebody not liable?

No one. If he sells the car today then who ever buys it will have to tax it from the start of this month only. No arrears have to be paid and the slate is effectively wiped clean.

I'd be careful about transferring it to someone else and then transferring it back a month or so later, I think the motor tax office are wise to that trick and he could be landed with a huge bill.

CiniO

daisydood wrote: »

Thanks for your replies guys. Sorry just really confused about this. Who will be liable for the arrears if dad "sells" the van and back to his name? Arrears are hardly just wiped off are they? Is somebody not liable?

Arrears are not wiped out. No one is liable, because those arrears were not due.
Motor tax arrears only become due, at the moment when owner proceeds to tax the car which was untaxed beforehand (and not declared off-the-road).
If owner never goes taxing it, but sells it instead, then those arrears never become due, so no one is liable.
That's how motortax law is built

CiniO

CJC999 wrote: »

I'd be careful about transferring it to someone else and then transferring it back a month or so later, I think the motor tax office are wise to that trick and he could be landed with a huge bill.

Surely they can be wise enough to detect it, but with current law there's nothing they can do about it.

According to it, period of arrears start at most recent change of ownership.

daisydood

Thank you all so much for ye're help! I LOVE BOARDS! Log book in shannon as we speak so hopefully its sorted out and definetly a huge stress of dad's shoulders so thank you !

corktina

you may love Boards and may get good advice, but almost all of it is a matter of opinion and your Dad should tread carefully.

galwaytt

corktina wrote: »

you may love Boards and may get good advice, but almost all of it is a matter of opinion and your Dad should tread carefully.

90,170 transfers of ownership in September says there is little LA's can do about it anyway.

_Kaiser_

galwaytt wrote: »

90,170 transfers of ownership in September says there is little LA's can do about it anyway.

Not yet anyway.

I'd imagine the amount of used cars with crazy amounts of owners (particularly older, larger engined ones) to rise significantly in the coming months.

Will be another thing to look out for when buying a car

Wexfordian

Sooner or later the concept of beneficial ownership will be invoked (whether it will be successful or not is another matter). In other words if they can show that you still have full use of the vehicle and the transfer of title was done purely for the purpose of tax avoidance, then the sale might be ignored for the purposes of applying tax. Conceptually there is no reason why this wouldn't be the case, in practice might be hard to prove.