Late to the SORN party...back tax?

TouchingVirus

So it's almost a year ago when I took my old car off the road - that is I drove it to the parents down the country, parked it up and it hasn't moved since. The introduction of SORN passed me by without a concern in the world. Recently I've been thinking of getting it back on the road after I do a few repairs to it and possibly giving it to a family member as a runaround.

From what I'm reading I'll be liable for tax since I didn't declare it off the road when SORN came in - is this true? I'm not paying any back taxes for it since it wasn't on a public road but I'd like to know where I stand

Zubeneschamali

TouchingVirus wrote: »

I'm not paying any back taxes for it since it wasn't on a public road but I'd like to know where I stand

It's scrap, so.

challengemaster

Yup, you owe back tax.

Only way around it is sell the car to someone in the family. If you're giving it to someone anyway that may be the best option

TouchingVirus

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

It's scrap, so.

They can go and shíte, I pay 'em €1809 a year already

challengemaster wrote: »

Yup, you owe back tax.

Only way around it is sell the car to someone in the family. If you're giving it to someone anyway that may be the best option

Yep, I'll just sell it to a family member - that was the plan all along. I'm getting it back running to give to my sister.

corktina

yep that's the situation and amazingly they haven't closed this loophole yet, so I shouldn't delay...transfer it to that family member or the Wife , or parents or whatever, and get them to do an RF150. You won't be able to tax it without paying the tax right back to the last time it was taxed, if it stays in your name.

JohnBoy26

TouchingVirus wrote: »

So it's almost a year ago when I took my old car off the road - that is I drove it to the parents down the country, parked it up and it hasn't moved since. The introduction of SORN passed me by without a concern in the world. Recently I've been thinking of getting it back on the road after I do a few repairs to it and possibly giving it to a family member as a runaround.

From what I'm reading I'll be liable for tax since I didn't declare it off the road when SORN came in - is this true? I'm not paying any back taxes for it since it wasn't on a public road but I'd like to know where I stand

Liability for the back taxes will cease when you change over ownership to your family member. They will then tax from the month of purchase.

TouchingVirus

Grand stuff, I'll have it transferred to her (or my parents) before the week is out, something to get it out of my name.

JohnBoy26

corktina wrote: »

yep that's the situation and amazingly they haven't closed this loophole yet, so I shouldn't delay...transfer it to that family member or the Wife , or parents or whatever, and get them to do an RF150. You won't be able to tax it without paying the tax right back to the last time it was taxed, if it stays in your name.

What loophole though? Someone else isn't liable for the op's backtax.

corktina

yes, but a swift change in the law might mean the original owner is liable!

TouchingVirus

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

What loophole though? Someone else isn't liable for the op's backtax.

I'd contest I'm not liable for back tax for a vehicle nobody drove in almost a year :pac:

JohnBoy26

TouchingVirus wrote: »

I'd contest I'm not liable for back tax for a vehicle nobody drove in almost a year :pac:

Phil hogan says different :pac:

In all seriousness I know that you shouldn't be liable. The change in the law though sees you as being liable unless you have it declared off the road before the tax runs out.

corktina

Hasn't come to that yet, but the point of the Declaration is that the vehicle is either declared of the road OR taxed. I can see a point coming where you will be liable for the tax if not declared off the road. In the UK you would just get a fine in the post....watch this space!

TouchingVirus

Tax was out before that law came in but I hear what you're saying. It's a load of balls but in this scenario doesn't really matter since my intention was to sell it anyways. Cheers for the confirmation though, much appreciated

JohnBoy26

corktina wrote: »

yes, but a swift change in the law might mean the original owner is liable!

Anything is possible I suppose, although I can't see that happening or working very well in practice.

corktina

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Anything is possible I suppose, although I can't see that happening or working very well in practice.

it works very well in the UK (too well!).if you haven't declared it off the road, you get a fine in the post if the tax is out OR the Insurance is out. I even heard of a guy who got a fine when he had just bought the car and was waiting for the V5 to tax it!

DeFinch89

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Phil hogan says different :pac:

In all seriousness I know that you shouldn't be liable. The change in the law though sees you as being liable unless you have it declared off the road before the tax runs out.

That is the sad desperate motor tax state we live in now unfortunately.

had to swap my girlfriends car's ownership into my name and back to her's just so she can avoid the misery of being ripped off for paying car tax on a car that has genuinely never seen the road since the last tax disc ran out nearly a year ago!!

Pure and utter bollix is all it is.

justsomebloke

DeFinch89 wrote: »

had to swap my girlfriends car's ownership into my name and back to her's just so she can avoid the misery of being ripped off for paying car tax on a car that has genuinely never seen the road since the last tax disc ran out nearly a year ago!!

Surely she could of declared it off road to avoid you having to do that

DeFinch89

justsomebloke wrote: »

Surely she could of declared it off road to avoid you having to do that

she had the old off the road declaration stamped by garda after she took it off the road and was a few days too late to sort out the new tax system because the garda stamp meant sweet **** all to them after they got rid of the old tax system during the month they were giving everyone a last chance to declare off the road.

so in short she did declare it off the road but was a little late keeping up with the changeover and if it means swapping the log book so she avoids paying back taxes she rightfully shouldnt have to pay then so be it

corktina

there was plenty of warning of the new system.
It's logical that they will follow it up by wanting the tax for any car not declared off the road. I think it wont have escaped their notice that there has been a tidal wave of people changing the ownership . At some stage in the future, the loophole of extinguishing the back tax by transferring the ownership will be closed.

DeFinch89

corktina wrote: »

there was plenty of warning of the new system.
It's logical that they will follow it up by wanting the tax for any car not declared off the road.

Fair enough

corktina wrote: »

I think it wont have escaped their notice that there has been a tidal wave of people changing the ownership . At some stage in the future, the loophole of extinguishing the back tax by transferring the ownership will be closed.

Ah without a doubt it will be closed in the near future,
but there is still genuine cases out there of people who have missed the deadline and have no choice but to either scrap or sell perfectly good cars just to avoid a hugely expensive back tax that noone can realistically afford.

Unfortunately you still have as many arseholes as before abusing the system and avoiding the tax because they get away with it.

In my ideal world i would abolish the annual tax system altogether and instead pay a little extra on my fuel to pay for car tax, that way noone is abusing the system and everyone is paying their fair share of tax based on mileage driven.

challengemaster

corktina wrote: »

there was plenty of warning of the new system.
It's logical that they will follow it up by wanting the tax for any car not declared off the road. I think it wont have escaped their notice that there has been a tidal wave of people changing the ownership . At some stage in the future, the loophole of extinguishing the back tax by transferring the ownership will be closed.

There's one small problem though. There's a little portion of cars that will never be returned to the road, but will be sold from person to person, such as track cars.

There was no point declaring it off the road because a) it's incurring a pointless cost and b) the car is never intended to return to the road.

ba_barabus

OP, I was talking to a person working in Shannon about a change of ownership issue yesterday. She alluded to the fact that people were getting sworn affidavits signed by a peace commissioner to declare that their car was off the road and that they missed the deadline for one reason or another.

I didn't think this was possible but as I'll have to talk to a peace commissioner about a separate issue over Christmas I'll ask if it is.

JohnBoy26

The new system is fine the way it is Imo apart from limiting the maximum off the road declaration to just 12 months at a time which is a bit of a nuisance Imo.

The major benefit of the new system is no more going to the gards to get a form stamped.

DeFinch89

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

The new system is fine the way it is Imo apart from limiting the maximum off the road declaration to just 12 months at a time which is a bit of a nuisance Imo.

I agree, just have an infinite time off the road until you intend to put car back on road and then pay car tax from that date on.

I still stand by my annual tax abolishment though

DeFinch89

challengemaster wrote: »

There's one small problem though. There's a little portion of cars that will never be returned to the road, but will be sold from person to person, such as track cars.

There was no point declaring it off the road because a) it's incurring a pointless cost and b) the car is never intended to return to the road.

Its another of those genuine cases that brings me back to my previous points:

That is the sad desperate motor tax state we live in now unfortunately.

Pure and utter bollix is all it is

corktina

We had three months to put our houses in order...really there are no genuine cases.

challengemaster

corktina wrote: »

We had three months to put our houses in order...really there are no genuine cases.

I'd suggest reading my post again. Why on earth would someone continually have to declare (and pay) a car off the road that will never be returned to the road?

Valetta

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd suggest reading my post again. Why on earth would someone continually have to declare (and pay) a car off the road that will never be returned to the road?

Can you not de-register a car?

How to apply to Deregister a vehicle?


To deregister a vehicle registered online, download and print off a copy of the "Application for Deletion of registration and repayment of VRT" form from the VRT Forms Section on the Revenue Web Site (www.revenue.ie). The declaration must be completed and signed and returned to the address shown on the deregistration form.

From ROS.ie

corktina

challengemaster wrote: »

I'd suggest reading my post again. Why on earth would someone continually have to declare (and pay) a car off the road that will never be returned to the road?

Because it isn't an option....it's either SORD or taxed. You should be able to SORD indefinately though

Valetta

Surely if the car is not going to go back on the road then you just do nothing.

There's no obligation to SORD it.

corktina

Valetta wrote: »

Surely if the car is not going to go back on the road then you just do nothing.

There's no obligation to SORD it.

Not currently, this may well change though. I'd say it would be safer to SORD it