SORN and renewing motor tax

cerastes

Im renewing a vehicles motor tax, it having been off the road.

I want to start the new tax in November (1st).
I checked the paperwork sent to me, if I renew now, I get back dated charged to the start of October, if I renew on Nov 1st, I'm taxed but I cant display a disc as I wont have one.
I double checked and went through the steps on motortax.ie and it gives the date of motor tax as from the start of October.

What kind of stupidity is this?
Wouldn't it be reasonable to allow people to tax their vehicles online, a week or two or some other allowed time period in advance and just have the disc posted out the week before it was due?

corktina

they wont let you have a disc in advance, I've tried too. Their computer wont do it. I took in the form and they gave me a stamped receipt for it, which would be something to show a Gard I guess. I got the disc a few days into the month. Infuriatingly, I went in on a Friday and the first was a Monday, which I thought was reasonable

cerastes

corktina wrote: »

they wont let you have a disc in advance, I've tried too. Their computer wont do it. I took in the form and they gave me a stamped receipt for it, which would be something to show a Gard I guess. I got the disc a few days into the month. Infuriatingly, I went in on a Friday and the first was a Monday, which I thought was reasonable

I dont even want the disc way in advance, I just want to complete the transaction in advance, given its due in a week, it seems reasonable to expect I can have my disc ready to display for when Ive paid and not to have to wait for it to arrive (which I wont be doing) it makes the system seem inflexible, maybe even intentionally so. I see no reason why they couldnt process transactions in advance and still send the disc a week before it is required. There should be no reason why they shouldn't be able to do this.

All I want is to do is pay now, they can send out the disc, I'll have it for the 1st Nov.

Anyway, Im waiting till saturday to do it, not paying for all of october too.
I'll print off my screenshot of the transaction.
thanks

Kristopherus

Are'nt you allowed 10 days grace anyway? So then go in next Monday and tax away.

corktina

Kristopherus wrote: »

Are'nt you allowed 10 days grace anyway? So then go in next Monday and tax away.

no such thing. Myth

corktina

cerastes wrote: »

I dont even want the disc way in advance, I just want to complete the transaction in advance, given its due in a week, it seems reasonable to expect I can have my disc ready to display for when Ive paid and not to have to wait for it to arrive (which I wont be doing) it makes the system seem inflexible, maybe even intentionally so. I see no reason why they couldnt process transactions in advance and still send the disc a week before it is required. There should be no reason why they shouldn't be able to do this.

All I want is to do is pay now, they can send out the disc, I'll have it for the 1st Nov.

Anyway, Im waiting till saturday to do it, not paying for all of october too.
I'll print off my screenshot of the transaction.
thanks

well the reason is obvious and quite understandable.If they sent the disc in advance, people would be driving in advance. I can't see why they can't post it to arrive on the first day of the month though (except their computer wont do it.)

Cerco

Kristopherus wrote: »

Are'nt you allowed 10 days grace anyway? So then go in next Monday and tax away.

Might be hard to explain since the car was off the road. The suspicion would be that it was driven while declared off the road.

Can you complete the form with the Nov start date and send it by registered post with the appropriate fee?
That way you would have some proof.

punisher5112

Tax it and print off your receipt online.

The reference number will show you have tax and put this in the window also.


I would not worry only if parking on street it may happe where a warden see's its out.

You should be fine op they highly unlikely are going to do you for no tax when it is taxed..

cerastes

corktina wrote: »

well the reason is obvious and quite understandable.If they sent the disc in advance, people would be driving in advance. I can't see why they can't post it to arrive on the first day of the month though (except their computer wont do it.)

I dont want it months in advance, but there is no reason why it cant be transacted in advance and sent so it arrives when its needed?
for them to aim for it to arrive on the day its due means it should arrive the day before.
Also, In the current instance, if I processed the transaction up till midnight on the 30th or in this case the 31st, Id be back paying till Oct1st.

Cerco wrote: »

Might be hard to explain since the car was off the road. The suspicion would be that it was driven while declared off the road.

Can you complete the form with the Nov start date and send it by registered post with the appropriate fee?
That way you would have some proof.

Thats what Im doing or have to do.
thanks

corktina

just checking: when you say SORN, you mean SORD right? Or maybe you are in the North?

cerastes

corktina wrote: »

just checking: when you say SORN, you mean SORD right? Or maybe you are in the North?

South, didnt realise it was SORD

obezyana

corktina wrote: »

no such thing. Myth

That is not a myth the girlfriend done that for her dad.

Stheno

cerastes wrote: »

Im renewing a vehicles motor tax, it having been off the road.

I want to start the new tax in November (1st).
I checked the paperwork sent to me, if I renew now, I get back dated charged to the start of October, if I renew on Nov 1st, I'm taxed but I cant display a disc as I wont have one.
I double checked and went through the steps on motortax.ie and it gives the date of motor tax as from the start of October.

What kind of stupidity is this?
Wouldn't it be reasonable to allow people to tax their vehicles online, a week or two or some other allowed time period in advance and just have the disc posted out the week before it was due?

When does the off the road declaration expire?

corktina

obezyana wrote: »

That is not a myth the girlfriend done that for her dad.

It's an offence not to have a disc displayed. There is no grace period, although you may get some goodwill form a Gard. Not recommended to park anywhere a Warden might get you

obezyana

corktina wrote: »

It's an offence not to have a disc displayed. There is no grace period, although you may get some goodwill form a Gard. Not recommended to park anywhere a Warden might get you

Indeed it is an offence but it can be sorted as we have done before.

corktina

so you agree it is a myth that there are days of grace then?

obezyana

corktina wrote: »

so you agree it is a myth that there are days of grace then?

No.

There is a grace period as said by another poster of 10 days. In my first post I was referring to dealing with the tax office, In my second post i was referring to you saying it was an offence and the Guards or Traffic Warden can issue a fine in which I merely said that issues like that can be sorted fairly easily.

slimjimmc

obezyana wrote: »

No.

There is a grace period as said by another poster of 10 days. In my first post I was referring to dealing with the tax office, In my second post i was referring to you saying it was an offence and the Guards or Traffic Warden can issue a fine in which I merely said that issues like that can be sorted fairly easily.

I've never heard of this, can you provide a source for this 10 days?

I can find no reference to being allowed 10 days grace for renewing motor tax while keeping the car on the road.
The only reference I can find relates to being allowed 10 days to declare a vehicle off road following a change of ownership. but if you intend doing that then you can't legally have the car on the road at any time.

You do have 10 days grace from date of buying insurance during which you can legally drive around without displaying an insurance disc though.

obezyana

slimjimmc wrote: »

I've never heard of this, can you provide a source for this 10 days?

I can find no reference to being allowed 10 days grace for renewing motor tax while keeping the car on the road.
The only reference I can find relates to being allowed 10 days to declare a vehicle off road following a change of ownership. but if you intend doing that then you can't legally have the car on the road at any time.

You do have 10 days grace from date of buying insurance during which you can legally drive around without displaying an insurance disc though.

Sorry no i dont have any proof only that the girlfriends dad was in this kind of situation regarding tax and she had it sorted by the tax office when she went in. He works away so he asked herself to tax the van she forgot then went in when she thought of it and they sorted it for her. The guy in the tax office told her there was a few days grace into the next month regarding the tax before arrears kick in.

cerastes

Stheno wrote: »

When does the off the road declaration expire?

end of October, while its close
I can sort this by doing it on Saturday, but it means I dont have a tax disc till midweek, if I had to park up somewhere I could get fined.

corktina wrote: »

It's an offence not to have a disc displayed. There is no grace period, although you may get some goodwill form a Gard. Not recommended to park anywhere a Warden might get you

This is what Im referring to.
If they are trying to promote online services, people should be able to have their disc for the period they paid for.

No reason they cant be paid for weeks in advance and be delivered the week before, but still only valid for when paid for, not received.

JohnBoy26

obezyana wrote: »

Sorry no i dont have any proof only that the girlfriends dad was in this kind of situation regarding tax and she had it sorted by the tax office when she went in. He works away so he asked herself to tax the van she forgot then went in when she thought of it and they sorted it for her. The guy in the tax office told her there was a few days grace into the next month regarding the tax before arrears kick in.

That doesn't make sense. If that was the case I could declare a car off the road (with tax expiring on the 31-10) a few days into November if the arrears didn't kick in until then.

This isn't the case though. Once it's even a millisecond into the 1st day of the month I won't be able to declare my car off the road without paying 3 months tax first.

It's the same with paying the motortax, when you pay it, it goes from the 1st day of the month and not from a few days in. So if you wait a few days to pay it those few days count as arrears.

cerastes

obezyana wrote: »

Sorry no i dont have any proof only that the girlfriends dad was in this kind of situation regarding tax and she had it sorted by the tax office when she went in. He works away so he asked herself to tax the van she forgot then went in when she thought of it and they sorted it for her. The guy in the tax office told her there was a few days grace into the next month regarding the tax before arrears kick in.

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

That doesn't make sense. If that was the case I could declare a car off the road (with tax expiring on the 31-10) a few days into November if the arrears didn't kick in until then.

This isn't the case though. Once it's even a millisecond into the 1st day of the month I won't be able to declare my car off the road without paying 3 months tax first.

It's the same with paying the motortax, when you pay it, it goes from the 1st day of the month and not from a few days in. So if you wait a few days to pay it those few days count as arrears.

In this case Im pretty sure johnboy is correct, previously doing motortax online (only way I did it, but now its really the only practical option).
Was going to pay car tax, where I was already late, forgot, went past midnight by a few minutes, had to pay arrears and tax.
My understanding is, its the same for declaring off the road (SORD )

Anyway, there are hardly any tax offices left, online makes sense, where going to an office doesnt, I just want to pay in advance and not be forced to pay for a month I dont want, not be forced to leave it to pay on the day when its needed and suffer the potential hazard of being copped without displaying a disk Ive paid for but have not received in the post.

If they are processing applications manually and physically, they could process any motor tax transactions in advance and stick them in a big postal sack labelled, post on X date. Do that for however many months they allow in advance.
Even if processing is completed manually but the disc/letter is made up automatically, they could queue advance paid vehicle tax in order of need/closeness to date required. Any lull periods of work or system usage, just start processing those transactions.
If its all done automatically, just queue them and process them as normal/required, or if the system has a max capacity, queue discs not required yet. To maximise efficiency and usage of whatever system they have in place, if system is ever under utilised, process queued applications based on priority and divert for delayed delivery.

Even the UK is bringing out a paperless motor tax system, granted they have more cameras that can read plates, although I still think a paper disc is a convenient way to show vehicle is taxed and helps prevent reliance on technology which can fail, have errors or be incorrectly used. But there is no reason why a car could be checked against an live system for payment if its suspect to confirm any dodgy discs.

punisher5112

Always hated going into Motor tax office and untill last few months was forced as with commercial tax there was no other way now I can do everything from sitting at home.

Maybe some day will be like the UK with no disc at all.

Very easy system really as all cars registered or not have to be taxed or signed off and if cctv/anpr set up correctly these will be caught.

slimjimmc

obezyana wrote: »

Sorry no i dont have any proof only that the girlfriends dad was in this kind of situation regarding tax and she had it sorted by the tax office when she went in. He works away so he asked herself to tax the van she forgot then went in when she thought of it and they sorted it for her. The guy in the tax office told her there was a few days grace into the next month regarding the tax before arrears kick in.

That's not the same as being allowed to drive around without displaying a tax disc, that only means he can avoid arrears for a missed month. Had he been detected driving around untaxed he could have been fined.

It has always been the case that you can tax the vehicle any time in the month after expiry without incurring arrears but you still cannot legally have the car on the road until you get that disc on the windscreen. In the op's case that means if he leaves the car parked up in his driveway he can tax the car anytime in Nov which will be valid from 1st Nov. If he waited until Dec to tax the car then he'd have to pay 1 month's arrears for Nov in addition to tax from 1st Dec.

obezyana

Im only saying what the gf done for her dad and she had no problems.