car off the road for 7 months - tax query

geanfranco

Hi folks, i have a Toyota Avensis which has been off the road for 7 months and wish to put it back on the road for the sake of getting it NCT'd and eventually sold off. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to cars so unfortunately i didn't know about the new legislation which dictates that I should have contacted the tax office before taking the car off road. So from what i've read it looks like i will have to pay back tax on this for the last 7 months to get back on the road....:((.

So my query is this, does anyone know if would be worth my while to go to the Garda station with details on my new car (which i've been using for last 7 months) to somehow prove that the old car was not in use during this time? Is it worth a shot or will i just have to suck it up, pay the back tax and put it down to experience?

Thanks for the help in advance
D.

corktina

no that's a waste of time.

If you are selling then the tax arrears will be extinguished when owner changes, so you won't have to pay back tax.Obviously, you could therefore sell it to your brother or wife and start from scratch. Sell it back to you at a later date if so wished.

geanfranco

Hi corktina, sorry i don't follow. I need to get the car NCT'd and get a few things fixed up on it. I would therefore need to get taxed if i'm going to be driving around to a few places to get these jobs done. Or are you saying that i should just sell it as is, reduce price and hope someone takes it on as is without NCT?

corktina

No, transfer it to the name of your partner or whoever..."they" can then tax it with no arrears. It doesn't sound legal but it is and if the Government want to leave massive loopholes in these things, then there's no problem in exploiting them.

(Driving it on the road with no NCT is of course not legal.....)

CiniO

geanfranco wrote: »

Hi folks, i have a Toyota Avensis which has been off the road for 7 months and wish to put it back on the road for the sake of getting it NCT'd and eventually sold off. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to cars so unfortunately i didn't know about the new legislation which dictates that I should have contacted the tax office before taking the car off road. So from what i've read it looks like i will have to pay back tax on this for the last 7 months to get back on the road....:((.

So my query is this, does anyone know if would be worth my while to go to the Garda station with details on my new car (which i've been using for last 7 months) to somehow prove that the old car was not in use during this time? Is it worth a shot or will i just have to suck it up, pay the back tax and put it down to experience?

Thanks for the help in advance
D.

You have few options.

1. Sell the car as is and don't worry about tax.

2. Get it fixed and NCTed without taxing. To make it legally you'd need to have car transported between garage, NCT centre and your house on the trailer. However if it was me, I'd chance driving between those places untaxed, as it's not really considered a serious offence in Ireland (driving without tax). Just saying.
And then sell it still without tax.

3. Sell your car to someone you know and trust (f.e. your wife). That way she can tax it from date of purchase, without paying any arrears. And then arrange fixing it and NCTing it and selling it. Disadvantage of this is that car is going to have one more owner in "previous owner" field on logbook.

4. Tax the car with paying arrears. Kinda pointless.

CiniO

corktina wrote: »

It doesn't sound legal but it is and if the Government want to leave massive loopholes in these things, then there's no problem in exploiting them.

But it's not a loophole! It's just how the system works.
And OP wouldn't do anything illegal by doing it.

geanfranco

Thanks guys for all the advice. Cinio, i think option 2 is looking like the best for me. If i did sell it to her, could i transfer my insurance to the car temporarily as she would need her own car for work everyday and probably wont transfer her insurance. Also does physical money need to change hands for me to "sell" and transfer ownership to her, do i not just register the car in her name and then get her to tax it? Can't remember what's involved with buying and selling cars!!
Thanks in advance
D.

CiniO

geanfranco wrote: »

Thanks guys for all the advice. Cinio, i think option 2 is looking like the best for me.

Just remember that to be 100% legal you can not drive the car without tax so it needs to be transported on trailer or towing truck.

If i did sell it to her, could i transfer my insurance to the car temporarily as she would need her own car for work everyday and probably wont transfer her insurance.

You would need to check with your insurer, but in many cases, they don't care if car is registered to you or your spouse so it still would be covered. But you need to check with them.

Also does physical money need to change hands for me to "sell" and transfer ownership to her,

Well it's all between you and her. If you want to sell it to her for €1 then it's absolutely up to you. No one is going to ask how much did you sell it for, and if money actually changed hands.

do i not just register the car in her name and then get her to tax it? Can't remember what's involved with buying and selling cars!!
Thanks in advance
D.

Fill in the last page of VRC with her deatils, and sign it both (as buyer and seller) and post it to Dept. of Transport, Shannon.

goz83

If transferring to your wife, put an email address on the logbook. When you post it to shannon, check www.motortax.ie to see if ownership has transferred. It usually only takes about 3 days. Click the "vehicle transaction enquiry" tab on the home page and enter the registration number to check.

When it it transferred, I recommend you declare it off the road there and then. It then gives you the option to tax it later (if you want) without accruing backtax in the new name.

To be honest, you are better off selling as is if the car is over 10 years old. Putting time and money into it will not likely be worth the effort unless you can do repairs yourself.

corktina

CiniO wrote: »

But it's not a loophole! It's just how the system works.
And OP wouldn't do anything illegal by doing it.

I used take notice of what you say, I don't usually anymore. I clearly said it was legal to do this.

CiniO

goz83 wrote: »

If transferring to your wife, put an email address on the logbook.

Where would you put it, and what advantage does it give?

When you post it to shannon, check www.motortax.ie to see if ownership has transferred. It usually only takes about 3 days. Click the "vehicle transaction enquiry" tab on the home page and enter the registration number to check.

When it it transferred, I recommend you declare it off the road there and then.

Can you do it online once ownership is transferred, without having VRC and VRC serial number?

CiniO

corktina wrote: »

I used take notice of what you say, I don't usually anymore. I clearly said it was legal to do this.

Sorry didn't really read throughly your post. What I wanted to point out, that IMO it's not a loophole.
If it was a loophole, you could legally avoid paying tax which should be paid.
In current situation you can't, so no loopholes.

goz83

CiniO wrote: »

Where would you put it, and what advantage does it give?



Can you do it online once ownership is transferred, without having VRC and VRC serial number?

There is a section on the logbook for email address. And where there isnt one, you can just add it onto the logbook anyway, as i have in the recent past.

And yes, once ownership is transferred, you can declare off the road that very same day, even without having the vlc.

CiniO

goz83 wrote: »

There is a section on the logbook for email address. And where there isnt one, you can just add it onto the logbook anyway, as i have in the recent past.

OK, indeed you are right.
Never seen it before.
I looked up now on my logbook (less than 2 years old) and it does have a field for email.
Other logbook - 7 years old, doesn't have one.
It must have been introduced not too long time ago.

But what's the advantage of providing it? Do they email any confirmations, etc???

And yes, once ownership is transferred, you can declare off the road that very same day, even without having the vlc.

How can you do it?
Online or in motortax office?
I see online you need PIN number, so I can't really think where could you get it from on day of ownership transfer, unless it's sent by email straight away when you provide email on logbook (that would make sense).

In motortax office, AFAIK, they won't accept declaration, if you don't have a logbook with it's serial number.

goz83

CiniO wrote: »

OK, indeed you are right.
Never seen it before.
I looked up now on my logbook (less than 2 years old) and it does have a field for email.
Other logbook - 7 years old, doesn't have one.
It must have been introduced not too long time ago.

But what's the advantage of providing it? Do they email any confirmations, etc???



How can you do it?
Online or in motortax office?
I see online you need PIN number, so I can't really think where could you get it from on day of ownership transfer, unless it's sent by email straight away when you provide email on logbook (that would make sense).

In motortax office, AFAIK, they won't accept declaration, if you don't have a logbook with it's serial number.

The advantage of giving email address is you dont need to wait to receive the logbook to tax the car (if tax expired). Once the new owner is on the system, he can get a pin sent to his email (if one was supplied) and the car can be taxed, or indeed, declared off the road using the motortax website.

Recenctly i have:

Taxed an out of tax car online before receiving the logbook. There was no email field, so I just entered my email on the back anyway.

Declared 2 vehicles off the road; one that I owned a couple of years and one I had just purchased, which had no tax. All this can be done once ownership is switched on the vlc.

I purchased a car a few days before the end of January. Tax was out since december. I asked seller to enter Feb 1st on the logbook, as the car would be in getting repairs anyway and I did not fancy paying January tax. He posted the vlc at end of January and the vehicle transferred Feb 2nd. I taxed it Feb 3rd and only received the vlc today. But I have been able to use the car, putting the receipt in the window, just in case.

Comes in handy.

mgbgt1978

CiniO wrote: »

How can you do it?
Online or in motortax office?
I see online you need PIN number, so I can't really think where could you get it from on day of ownership transfer, unless it's sent by email straight away when you provide email on logbook (that would make sense).

In motortax office, AFAIK, they won't accept declaration, if you don't have a logbook with it's serial number.

You can request a PIN (even if you didn't put an email address on the VLC) once ownership is showing as transferred on motortax.ie.
It is generated and sent to you automatically, so you don't even have to wait for a human in the Dept of Environment to process the request.
You can then use the PIN to either Tax the car or declare it SORD (handy as sometimes you have to wait too long for the VLC to arrive to physically declare it SORD).

JJJJNR

how long do you have once the name on the log book has changed to tax the car, do you still have a 14 day grace period.

CiniO

JJJJNR wrote: »

how long do you have once the name on the log book has changed to tax the car, do you still have a 14 day grace period.

You don't and never had.