Importing brand new bike from North of Ireland

Aspire2020

Hi

I am looking to import a bike (brand new) 2020 from the north however the dealer is unfamiliar on how tax works etc.. would anyone have any advice on this? Do I need to pay the vat twice? Or will a cat number exempt me from UK vat?

Any help or advise greatly appreciated. Ta

colm_c

Aspire2020 wrote: »

Hi

I am looking to import a bike (brand new) 2020 from the north however the dealer is unfamiliar on how tax works etc.. would anyone have any advice on this? Do I need to pay the vat twice? Or will a cat number exempt me from UK vat?

Any help or advise greatly appreciated. Ta

You need to pay vat twice, and vrt.

Then once you've paid vat in Ireland, you can talk with the uk revenue/the dealer and they will refund the uk vat.

Some dealers will facilitate this easier than others.

I also wouldn't deal with a dealer up north who has not done it before, as you will have to do all the leg work.

When all is done, unless it's a savage bargain it's a lot of hassle to be honest to save a few quid.

What bike is it?

Wonda-Boy

When I was in talks with McCallans up north they were willing to sell me the bike VAT free (all legal whatever way they do it) and then just let me sort it with the Irish vat crowd...I did the sums with them and it worked out about 1000 cheaper overall. Unfortunately they did not have the newer bike and colour I wanted in stock so I had to get it from M50.

galwaytt

Aspire2020 wrote: »

Hi

I am looking to import a bike (brand new) 2020 from the north however the dealer is unfamiliar on how tax works etc.. would anyone have any advice on this? Do I need to pay the vat twice? Or will a cat number exempt me from UK vat?

Any help or advise greatly appreciated. Ta

I wouldn't bother with someone who is unfamiliar because at some point you'll need their help......CoC for instance. ...and reclaim of UK VAT etc

In short you'll pay UK VAT first, then pay VRT & VAT here and then you'll claim UK VAT back from HMRC.

is it reg'd in NI ?

What is it and how much are you saving ?

Esel

galwaytt wrote: »

Is it reg'd in NI ?

Brand new according to the OP.

Agree with your advice btw.

Del2005

colm_c wrote: »

You need to pay vat twice, and vrt.

Then once you've paid vat in Ireland, you can talk with the uk revenue/the dealer and they will refund the uk vat.

Some dealers will facilitate this easier than others.

I also wouldn't deal with a dealer up north who has not done it before, as you will have to do all the leg work.

When all is done, unless it's a savage bargain it's a lot of hassle to be honest to save a few quid.

What bike is it?

There's a form you can get to only pay the VAT once in the EU if buying for export, if the dealer does not know what it is walk away and find a dealer that does. Just be aware that the NOx tax will add to the cost of registration.

macplaxton

Del2005 wrote: »

Just be aware that the NOx tax will add to the cost of registration.

NOx tax doesn't apply to motorcycles only VRT Category A vehicles which are M1 type passenger vehicles up to 8 seats excluding driver.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/guide-to-vrt/calculating-vrt/calculating-the-nox-charge.aspx

Motorcycles are solely calculated on engine cc as they are VRT Category M

https://www.revenue.ie/en/importing-vehicles-duty-free-allowances/guide-to-vrt/calculating-vrt/applying-the-tax.aspx

galwaytt

...because it was the subject of another thread on here not long ago, the issue of an EU Certificate of Conformity is important. There are stocks of NOS (New Old Stock) and Non-EU4 compliant bikes lying around that may be registerable in the UK/NI under some arrangement, but not here/EU.

You don't want to end up with a bike that is non-register-able and your money spent.

goblin59

I just imported a bike from the UK there.
it was 8 years old though, so the process was much simpler.

Its a bit of a nightmare tbh, as they shouldn't be charging VRT and all that to begin with as we are still intra - EU.

When you buy a bike in the UK, make sure they hand you the log book (V5c) I had to get the dealership to post it over as the DVLA will not ship a new log book outside of the UK and if they are given a non UK address on the website when registering the new bike it automatically updates the bike as exported and off their system.


The VRT centres will not even look at the bike unless you can produce a physical V5c for it. I was lucky that the dealership i went through retained the original and didn't send the log book via post to the DVLA otherwise I'd have a bike that I legally couldn't drive anywhere.

AlekSmart

goblin59 wrote: »

I just imported a bike from the UK there.
it was 8 years old though, so the process was much simpler.

Its a bit of a nightmare tbh, as they shouldn't be charging VRT and all that to begin with as we are still intra - EU.

When you buy a bike in the UK, make sure they hand you the log book (V5c) I had to get the dealership to post it over as the DVLA will not ship a new log book outside of the UK and if they are given a non UK address on the website when registering the new bike it automatically updates the bike as exported and off their system.


The VRT centres will not even look at the bike unless you can produce a physical V5c for it. I was lucky that the dealership i went through retained the original and didn't send the log book via post to the DVLA otherwise I'd have a bike that I legally couldn't drive anywhere.

The single most important element of any U.K. MPV purchase....The very first thing you ask the seller is,whether they are aware of the V5c process for exporting the machine. If they are not,then direct them to the relevant website... https://www.gov.uk/responsibilities-selling-vehicle

1. Fill in the ‘permanent export’ section of your vehicle log book.

2. Send it to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BD. Include a letter giving the buyer’s name and address.

3. Give the rest of your log book to the buyer - they’ll need it to register the vehicle in the country they’re going to.

If the seller still quibbles then walk/run away and find another one !!

Hotblack Desiato

goblin59 wrote: »

Its a bit of a nightmare tbh, as they shouldn't be charging VRT and all that to begin with as we are still intra - EU.

Well for starters the UK has left the EU, but even so the above is still nonsense

VRT is not an import duty, it has nothing to do with importation.
You can totally legally import a vehicle here, never register it for the road and pay no VRT.
Similarly if a vehicle is produced here it's still liable for VRT when registering it for the road.

We are not the only EU country with a vehicle registration tax, and there is nothing illegal about it whatever some eejit on facebook might say.

And TBH I don't want to have to pay more income tax just so some rich cnut can get a cheaper Merc or Beemer, thanks very much.

Esel

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Well for starters the UK has left the EU, but even so the above is still nonsense

The UK has not left the EU yet...

Hotblack Desiato

Esel wrote: »

The UK has not left the EU yet...

It left on January 31st.

Esel

Oops

cubix

I see on the ROS site if the bike you intend bringing in is over 6months old & has at least 6K KM you simply pay the VRT as per their online calc. I have seen some bikes that fit the age category but have less than 6K KM. In these cases is it automatically 23% vat on top of the vrt when you bring it to the NCT centre and is the 23% vat based on the Irish market value for you bike or something else.

Del2005

cubix wrote: »

I see on the ROS site if the bike you intend bringing in is over 6months old & has at least 6K KM you simply pay the VRT as per their online calc. I have seen some bikes that fit the age category but have less than 6K KM. In these cases is it automatically 23% vat on top of the vrt when you bring it to the NCT centre and is the 23% vat based on the Irish market value for you bike or something else.

Take the long way home and you have 30 days from import to register it, perfect excuse to keep going for spins

colm_c

cubix wrote: »

I see on the ROS site if the bike you intend bringing in is over 6months old & has at least 6K KM you simply pay the VRT as per their online calc. I have seen some bikes that fit the age category but have less than 6K KM. In these cases is it automatically 23% vat on top of the vrt when you bring it to the NCT centre and is the 23% vat based on the Irish market value for you bike or something else.

It's 23% of the 'new' value of the bike.

Absolutely not worth it for any second hand bikes.

Buy one with over 6k km on it.

blade1

cubix wrote: »

I see on the ROS site if the bike you intend bringing in is over 6months old & has at least 6K KM you simply pay the VRT as per their online calc. I have seen some bikes that fit the age category but have less than 6K KM. In these cases is it automatically 23% vat on top of the vrt when you bring it to the NCT centre and is the 23% vat based on the Irish market value for you bike or something else.

In these cases I recommend putting doing the milage before bringing it to vrt office.

Nabidana

Aspire2020 wrote: »

Hi

I am looking to import a bike (brand new) 2020 from the north however the dealer is unfamiliar on how tax works etc.. would anyone have any advice on this? Do I need to pay the vat twice? Or will a cat number exempt me from UK vat?

Any help or advise greatly appreciated. Ta

Hey OP,

Did you make any progress with this?

Dies anyone know do Crossans in Newry have experience if selling new bikes South of the border?

Cheers,
NBD

Japcati2020

Nabidana wrote: »

Hey OP,

Did you make any progress with this?

Dies anyone know do Crossans in Newry have experience if selling new bikes South of the border?

Cheers,
NBD

Call Crossans and speak to Nigel or John and they will advise you of what's what.

Nabidana

Japcati2020 wrote: »

Call Crossans and speak to Nigel or John and they will advise you of what's what.

Will do.

Cheers japcati.

micknail

Lets say you wanted to buy a bike up north that was older than 6 months, and had 6000km on it.
How do you prove to the VRT place the date you brought it into the country?

Esel

Dated receipt?

micknail

Esel wrote: »

Dated receipt?

Are you asking or telling me?!


not sure if that would do, it didn't when I brought a bike in from across the water, they wanted ferry receipt.

Esel

micknail wrote: »

Are you asking or telling me?!


not sure if that would do, it didn't when I brought a bike in from across the water, they wanted ferry receipt.

A receipt has always been sufficient for a car or other vehicle being imported from the North, afaik.There is no other documentation such as a ferry ticket to prove when the bike entered the State.

I would think that the VRT people are mainly trying to 'catch' people who are trying to register after (and maybe a *lot* after) the official 30 day period required and also obviously being strict on the 'New or not' determination.

My understanding from the stickied megathread in the Motors Forum (posted by user michellie https://touch.boards.ie/user/127322,a VRT employee) is that the date of importation (in relation to the 6 months and 6000km - even from GB) is considered to be the date on which you register for VRT, and the 6000+ km is satisfied by the odometer on that day.

You should try searching that user's recent posts in the Motors importation thread, the topic has been discussed relatively recently (in the last 6-9 months). I'm pretty sure there have also been recent separate threads about the 6/6000 scenario when importing from the UK.

The VAT situation if not qualifying and the possibility of being able or not to reclaim UK VAT seems to be a bit of a minefield that you do not want to find yourself in.

IrishGrimReaper

The dated receipt is fine.

They won't ask for proof when it entered country.

If you don't have a receipt do one up yourself.