Re-importing car from UK to Ireland

dulpit

Hey all,

Just wondering - if you have a car that was originally registered in Ireland and was moved to UK (and is now on UK plates) - do you have to pay to re-register the car back onto Irish plates?

savagethegoat

not if the VRT wasn't reclaimed on export

bazz26

As long as you didn't get a VRT refund when the car was exported to the UK then I'd imagine you will not have to pay any further VRT when re-registering here. Did you just take the car to the UK with you from Ireland or is a case of you just bought it in the UK and the car happens to be originally imported from Ireland?

The car will also get it's original Irish registration back when re-registered here.

dulpit

Car belongs to a friend of mine. He moved to Scotland, took his car with him and got it re-reg'd with UK plates. I don't know if he claimed anything back or anything, I'll check.

He has the Irish plates in the boot too, so would it be free? Just pay tax?

bazz26

You only get a VRT refund if you export and sell the car abroad. If he is just returning to Ireland with the car he brought over there then he probably doesn't have to pay any VRT. He will probably need to go through the VRT process though as a new Irish registration book will need to be issued, best he contact the VRT people for more information.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

You only get a VRT refund if you export and sell the car abroad. If he is just returning to Ireland with the car he brought over there then he probably doesn't have to pay any VRT. He will probably need to go through the VRT process though as a new Irish registration book will need to be issued, best he contact the VRT people for more information.

There's no requirement to sell a car in purpose to obtain VRT refund.
You can export it yourself, for own use abroad, and obtain VRT refund.

It's even eaiser to do that way, as you need a proof that vehicle was registered abroad in order to obtain VRT refund.
Once you register it yourself abroad, you can always get such a proof.
If you sell it to someone not willing to cooperate after transaction, you might not be able to get such document and therefore not be able to obtain VRT refund.

monkeysnapper

And I suppose it will have to go straight in for nct

dulpit

Update: car is not liable for VRT - but it would have been if refund had been claimed when he exported car (he didn't bother - car isn't worth much). Car would need to be taxed and NCT'd pretty much immediately when brought back to Ireland though.