Car tax refund

irishguy

Is it possible to get a refund of car tax if your not using your car any more. I stupidly renewed my car tax on Oct for a year on a car I am getting rid of now, but with the lock downs it looks like it's going to take a while to sell it.

logically

irishguy wrote: »

Is it possible to get a refund of car tax if your not using your car any more. I stupidly renewed my car tax on Oct for a year on a car I am getting rid of now, but with the lock downs it looks like it's going to take a while to sell it.

Yes it is possible.

You can, but you can only get it back, if i recall correctly, in the installments you can buy it in (ie; 3 months or 6 months). So you have to declare the car as 'off the road' and request a refund of the 6 months remaining on the car (so best to wait until you're about 5 months into the current tax before declaring off the road).

whomitconcerns

Hmm will you may not be able to, according to this. https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/motor_tax_and_insurance/motor_tax_rates.html

You can declare it off road but it will be from the end of the next tax month. So you declare it off today for the perio from last October onwards, and you can get a refund of Feb-SEP this year if you get it done before the end of January. So get moving fast

irishguy

Just looked up the form and it says "Vehicle Not Used
The vehicle has not been in a public place at any time
since the issue of the tax disc."

I have used it a bit in Nov but it seems unfair that I have the pay all the road tax for that period, because of it. I assume there is no way of proving is has been used and declaring it off the road won't cause any issues if I later sell it?

august12

The vehicle has not been taken out or used in a public place at any time since the issue of the current disc.

If you can provide evidence for the above, then you maybe able to get a refund, but only for the remaining months , it's not backdated.

Dempo1

logically wrote: »

Yes it is possible.

Not sure that is correct, you need to declare car of off the road and from the dates applicable to that declaration, no tax payable. It is not retrospective, if car tax has been paid, it is not refundable. As an example, if you sold your car with tax paid, the lucky purchaser gets that as a bonus.

whomitconcerns

august12 wrote: »

The vehicle has not been taken out or used in a public place at any time since the issue of the current disc.

If you can provide evidence for the above, then you maybe able to get a refund, but only for the remaining months , it's not backdated.

So based on that you can declare it off the road at of the end of this month. But you will get no refunds of tax.

Unless you made a false declaration, which would not be advised of course....

Dempo1

august12 wrote: »

The vehicle has not been taken out or used in a public place at any time since the issue of the current disc.

If you can provide evidence for the above, then you maybe able to get a refund, but only for the remaining months , it's not backdated.

Again, no refund ever on Motor tax, only applicable from the date of declaration car off the road. The declaration is based on months, year ahead, for example you can declare car off road now for January 2021 and months ahead, NOT December 2020. The maximum declaration is for 12 months I believe but most people do it on a bimonthly basis.

Worth noting, you'd need to act fast for Jan 2021, I'd assume there's a cut off point, I recall declaration needs to be done before start of month you want car off road, you may have missed Jan 2021

Isambard

you can get refunds in certain circumstances, if a car has been scrapped for instance or the Owner has been posted abroad for some reason. Generally though, you cannot get a refund.

Dempo1

Isambard wrote: »

you can get refunds in certain circumstances, if a car has been scrapped for instance or the Owner has been posted abroad for some reason. Generally though, you cannot get a refund.

I'm unsure we're your getting that information from, there is NO mechanism to refund tax paid on non commercial vehicles in Ireland. Not sure what you mean owner posted abroad?

Atlantic Dawn

I'd try to sell it rather than leave it laid up for 6 months plus.

bazz26

Dempo1 wrote: »

I'm unsure we're your getting that information from, there is NO mechanism to refund tax paid on non commercial vehicles in Ireland. Not sure what you mean owner posted abroad?

Taken from here: https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/omt.do

You can only apply for a motor tax refund at your local motor tax office. You will need to complete Form RF120, get it witnessed and stamped by a member of An Garda Siochána, and then send it to that office. You should contact them in advance to find out if any other supporting documentation is needed.

A minimum of 3 unexpired whole calendar months must be left on the disc when it is surrendered to the motor tax office.

Form RF120 is available at your local motor tax office or by clicking here.

Refunds are generally only given where a vehicle is scrapped (by an Authorised Treatment Facility only), stolen or exported. They are not given where a vehicle has been sold.

Isambard

bazz26 wrote: »

Taken from here: https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/omt.do

You can only apply for a motor tax refund at your local motor tax office. You will need to complete Form RF120, get it witnessed and stamped by a member of An Garda Siochána, and then send it to that office. You should contact them in advance to find out if any other supporting documentation is needed.

A minimum of 3 unexpired whole calendar months must be left on the disc when it is surrendered to the motor tax office.

Form RF120 is available at your local motor tax office or by clicking here.

Refunds are generally only given where a vehicle is scrapped (by an Authorised Treatment Facility only), stolen or exported. They are not given where a vehicle has been sold.

thank you, I believe it was the case that a Civil Servant or member of the Forces posted abroad could claim a refund if the car was not being used . Logically that would still apply.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/motor_tax_and_insurance/motor_tax_rates.html#

Vehicle off the road: If your vehicle is temporarily off the road, you do not have to pay motor tax for that period. You must declare in advance that your vehicle will be off the road and not in use for a period of between 3 and 12 months.

CoBo55

[Deleted User] wrote: »

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/motor_tax_and_insurance/motor_tax_rates.html#

Yes but you don't get refunds. It applies when your tax is going to expire. If your tax is expiring the end of this month, when you get the renewal you declare the car off the road from the first of February. I had to do it for my father's car when he went into full time care, I did it for 12 months at a time, when 12 months have elapsed they'll send you a new notification ( his was sent by post but I did it online)

CoBo55

CoBo55 wrote: »

Yes but you don't get refunds. It applies when your tax is going to expire. If your tax is expiring the end of this month, when you get the renewal you declare the car off the road from the first of February. I had to do it for my father's car when he went into full time care, I did it for 12 months at a time, when 12 months have elapsed they'll send you a new notification ( his was sent by post but I did it online)

Fair point.

He still has the option of going for the refund under:

The vehicle has not been taken out or used in a public place at any time since the issue of the current disc

Unless the OP knocked down a Garda, how would anyone know?

irishguy

Thanks for all the information guys. I ended up sell the car, I wasn't expecting it so quickly

Nekarsulm

The only time you'll get a refund is if the vehicle is scrapped.
Even then it's not always straight forward
Wife's X Trail hit while parked, and insurance company declared it a write-off, after assessors examined it.
Over €800 euro of tax on it, so sent tax disk off to get the refund.
Despite her having got the insurance money, the X Trail lay in some insurance yard for five months, before going to be physically scrapped.
The Certificate of Destruction was not issued untill it went to be physically destroyed, and this certificate is what the Co.Council base their paying back the Motor Tax on, so they only refunded her the remaining 5 months tax money, not the 10 months valid at time of insurance pay-out...