Motor tax reminder upon expiry of SORD

tony67

When this new Statutory Off Road Declaration came into effect in September I declared my car off the road for 3 months and got a receipt. I was hoping to be in a position to tax it when this was up.
However this is not the case and I will be unable to put it back on the road. I remembered reading that, when the SORD is about to expire, I would recieve a letter reminding me that the expiry is imminent, similar to a tax expiry reminder.
Question 9 here https://www.motarviews.ie/ORD/faq
I never recieved this letter, which should have arrived last month. I have just come across the receipt which said it expired at the end of Nov
Ive now got to go and argue this with the tax office (which should be fun) and i'm looking for anyone else who done a SORD in Sept for 3 months. Did you receive a reminder last month? Im wondering if the huge rush of people to declare overwhelmed the system and some of our reminders fell through the cracks.

Any help would be appreciated
Tony

CiniO

I think they might not bother sending anything anymore.
My tax expired at end of November, and I received nothing.

Also I don't think fact that you didn't receive a letter will change anything in your case.
If you want to tax your car, you will have to do it from December onwards, and if you wait until later, arrears will start from 1st December.

tony67

This is the problem, I am not in a position to tax my car and am looking to extend my SORD (sounds strange) but because I got no reminder I missed the deadline.

My argument will be that if they introduce these very restrictive rules regarding deadlines then they must be held to their obligation to issue reminders as promised, otherwise how are people to keep track. I don't wake up every morning and think "how long is left on my SORD" I was relying on the reminder that their FAQ said I would get to trigger action.

One way or another I cannot tax the car and since its not in use I have no desire to either. Ultimately it is a cheap car so if transferring the ownership is the only option I am left with thats what will happen. I'm going to head up to the tax office in the morning. I will post the outcome so others will know, but I know next time it'll be a year I apply for, to hell with the honest approach.
Tony

corglass

tony67 wrote: »

This is the problem, I am not in a position to tax my car and am looking to extend my SORD (sounds strange) but because I got no reminder I missed the deadline.

My argument will be that if they introduce these very restrictive rules regarding deadlines then they must be held to their obligation to issue reminders as promised, otherwise how are people to keep track. I don't wake up every morning and think "how long is left on my SORD" I was relying on the reminder that their FAQ said I would get to trigger action.

One way or another I cannot tax the car and since its not in use I have no desire to either. Ultimately it ist a cheap car so if transferring the ownership is the only option I am left with thats what will happen. I'm going to head up to the tax office in the morning. I will post the outcome so others will know, but I know next time it'll be a year I apply for, to hell with the honest approach.
Tony

Tony,

I'm afraid you're not going to win this one. Ensuring your car is taxed/declared off the road is the owners responsibility.

Whether you receive the reminder or not is irrelevant. Keeping track of the SORD expiry date, annoying as it may be, is your responsibility.

It's actually very similar to car insurance. If the insurance company fail to issue a renewal letter it's still up to you to ensure you're insured.

Sorry

tony67

corglass wrote: »

Tony,

I'm afraid you're not going to win this one. Ensuring your car is taxed/declared off the road is the owners responsibility.

Whether you receive the reminder or not is irrelevant. Keeping track of the SORD expiry date, annoying as it may be, is your responsibility.

It's actually very similar to car insurance. If the insurance company fail to issue a renewal letter it's still up to you to ensure you're insured.

Sorry

Similar but not the same. For example my insurance company does not require me no notify them if I don't want to drive. If I don't contact them my insurance expires. I don't start running up a bill with them.
With tax now if I don't notify them my tax expires but then I start running up a bill.
This would suggest a reminder is not only good practice but should be essential.
So the insurance example does not really compare and insurance reminders are never absent in my experience. So if they can do it why can't the tax office. Guess someone is going to be buying a fiesta soon.

tony67

Well as suggested and if I'm honest, as expected. I hit a brick wall in the tax office. I was told the only option is to tax it for 3 months or change ownership and change it back. With the car currently uninsured, missing a wheel and no NCT, Im sure as hell not taxing it for 3 months.
So lesson learned and a warning to anyone taking out a SORD. Watch your expiry date. Even though they promise a reminder you may not get one and they won't entertain you if you challenge it.

two wheels good

Thanks for answering the same problem I encountered today. Probably not worth me pursuing the matter with Dept of Transport.

But not only did Dept of Transport "fail" to remind me of the expiry of SORD they sent a Final Reminder of unpaid Motor Tax - since the beginning of the SORD period.
My local Motor Tax office says they are struggling to cope with the new system.

Because it's a motorcycle, I'll be obliged to tax for one year.

If they send tax expiry reminder letters then shouldn't they also send SORD expiry letters too. Unless ... could it possibly be an intentional tactic?

lau1247

Not having a dig at you OP, just more for people in general.

How hard is it to set a reminder yourself on the Phone calendar? I'm sure everyone at least have some sort of phone calendar these days.

kdevitt

That is one of the reasons why it makes absolutely no sense to SORD the car for any less than the maximum 12 month period. You can still tax it within that 12 month period if you choose to do so.

In reality, you should be allowed SORD it indefinitely - not sure what the benefit of 'checking in' every 12 months is.

In the meantime, there will be a lot of cars gaining additional owners.

CiniO

I was saying it from the beginning.
The whole idea of SORD is completely pointless.
All they had to do, was to start issuing severe penalties for anyone driving untaxed car - that's it. Effect would be exactly the same as with SORD, but much less complication and work for motortax office people, which would effectively safe taxpayers money.

two wheels good

kdevitt wrote: »

That is one of the reasons why it makes absolutely no sense to SORD the car for any less than the maximum 12 month period. You can still tax it within that 12 month period if you choose to do so.

In reality, you should be allowed SORD it indefinitely - not sure what the benefit of 'checking in' every 12 months is.

In the meantime, there will be a lot of cars gaining additional owners.

Yes. I wish I knew that when I declared SORD.
I agree with you about indefinite SORD.

two wheels good

lau1247 wrote: »

Not having a dig at you OP, just more for people in general.

How hard is it to set a reminder yourself on the Phone calendar? I'm sure everyone at least have some sort of phone calendar these days.

Fair point. My frequent resolutions to be better organised often end in failure.

However:
- DOT has already established an expectation of receiving a reminder about motor tax expiry.
- they could put a clear warning on the SORD application or confirmation letter.

I suggest some business analysts' meeting considered the option of a reminder and decided not to incur the cost of a letter when it wasn't going to generate revenue.

galwaytt

OP - here's the cure: change of ownership, problem solved.

galwaytt

tony67 wrote: »

When this new Statutory Off Road Declaration came into effect in September I declared my car off the road for 3 months and got a receipt. I was hoping to be in a position to tax it when this was up.
However this is not the case and I will be unable to put it back on the road. I remembered reading that, when the SORD is about to expire, I would recieve a letter reminding me that the expiry is imminent, similar to a tax expiry reminder.
Question 9 here https://www.motarviews.ie/ORD/faq
I never recieved this letter, which should have arrived last month. I have just come across the receipt which said it expired at the end of Nov
Ive now got to go and argue this with the tax office (which should be fun) and i'm looking for anyone else who done a SORD in Sept for 3 months. Did you receive a reminder last month? Im wondering if the huge rush of people to declare overwhelmed the system and some of our reminders fell through the cracks.

Any help would be appreciated
Tony

Indeed, as Q9 says:
"•Q9. Will I get a renewal notice at the end of the period specified in the declaration?
A9. Yes - in the same way that you currently get a renewal notice when your tax is about to expire."

So, the question is: how do you normally get notified ? If by post, there's no traceability, but if by email ...........there is......

scrap_man

my car is sord of the road until the end of this month and I received a the usual tax reminder form and a for to sord it again.

tony67

Since the original post I sent 3 emails detailing the issue to the DOT not one of which has been replied to, (not that I expected one) However towards the end of January I got a final reminder to tax my car. Strange how they can send a final reminder when it's too late to SORD again but can't send a reminder before it's too late. The cynic in me smells a rat.
@lau1427 I hold my hands up and say I should have kept on top of it myself however as I pointed out, I was expecting a reminder as was stated in Q9. I rather foolishly expected the DOT to have their act together.
It seems from scrap_mans experience they might have gotten on top of this problem and are sending the reminders.
Since i don't have much need for it I decided to put the car up for sale anyway so haven't been bothered with this problem. Just waiting on an NCT date.
For anyone else in this situation the only way out is to pay the back tax or change the ownership. The latter not a big issue for an old car like mine, what's another owner? but I wouldn't want to have to stick an extra owner on a newer car.