Car Tax rip off

holly_johnson

Ok, this is a bit of a rant, but also a bit of a warning.

Changed my car on the 21st of this month. Got my VLC yesterday, so rang the tax office this morning to find out what's involved in taxing it.

got this "yoke" on the phone, saying I have to pay tax for all of this month! I explained I didn't own the car until the 21st, that it was off the road, but got a reply something along the lines of "dat's jus' the way ir is" aaarrrggghhh!

So ignorant and completely rude! never mind wrong! why should I have to pay for tax on something I
a) didn't own
b) was sitting in a garage!

Also, what really sickens me is that my old car was taxed until March next year! my fault I know, as the purchase was a bit spontaneous, but I am just sick over the whole thing. not only is the tax extortionate at €484, but now I have to pay for someone else!

Bluetonic

If it was off the road get a Garda to fill out and sign the appropriate section on the motor tax renewal form.

Endex.

holly_johnson wrote:

Ok, this is a bit of a rant, but also a bit of a warning.

Changed my car on the 21st of this month. Got my VLC yesterday, so rang the tax office this morning to find out what's involved in taxing it.

got this "yoke" on the phone, saying I have to pay tax for all of this month! I explained I didn't own the car until the 21st, that it was off the road, but got a reply something along the lines of "dat's jus' the way ir is" aaarrrggghhh!

So ignorant and completely rude! never mind wrong! why should I have to pay for tax on something I
a) didn't own
b) was sitting in a garage!

Also, what really sickens me is that my old car was taxed until March next year! my fault I know, as the purchase was a bit spontaneous, but I am just sick over the whole thing. not only is the tax extortionate at €484, but now I have to pay for someone else!

unkel

holly_johnson wrote:

I have to pay tax for all of this month! I explained I didn't own the car until the 21st, that it was off the road

Even if you bought the car on the 31st of August, you'd have to pay tax from 1st of August unfortunately

Bluetonic wrote:

If it was off the road get a Garda to fill out and sign the appropriate section on the motor tax renewal form

No good I'm afraid unless you had the car off the road until the 1st of September

Lesson learnt: if you are getting your new car late in the month, to avoid paying tax for that month make sure you get the car signed over on the 1st of the next month

holly_johnson

I wonder would I get away with going to the Guards and saying that I bought the car on the 21st, and then went on holidays, so it was off the road until the 1st?

Bluetonic

unkel wrote:

Even if you bought the car on the 31st of August, you'd have to pay tax from 1st of August unfortunately



No good I'm afraid unless you had the car off the road until the 1st of September

Lesson learnt: if you are getting your new car late in the month, to avoid paying tax for that month make sure you get the car signed over on the 1st of the next month

Ah right.... on seconding reading I see it's not been off the road for more than one month which is the min time.

blastman

unkel wrote:

Even if you bought the car on the 31st of August, you'd have to pay tax from 1st of August unfortunately



No good I'm afraid unless you had the car off the road until the 1st of September

Lesson learnt: if you are getting your new car late in the month, to avoid paying tax for that month make sure you get the car signed over on the 1st of the next month

Shame that,eh?

Seth Brundle

holly_johnson wrote:

I wonder would I get away with going to the Guards and saying that I bought the car on the 21st, and then went on holidays, so it was off the road until the 1st?

If you are going to lie then don't put yourself into a situation where you are likely to be caught out. If asked why it was off the road just say that it was because you had hurt your ankle or something.

Nuttzz

kbannon wrote:

If you are going to lie then don't put yourself into a situation where you are likely to be caught out. If asked why it was off the road just say that it was because you had hurt your ankle or something.

In the past if have let my tax run 4-5 months out of date, i filled in the off the road portion and ask the GS to stamp it, they did and didnt even ask a question, just stamped it and give me the usual funk off out of here look.

holly_johnson

Nuttzz wrote:

In the past if have let me tax run 4-5 months out of date, i filled in the off the road portion and ask the GS to stamp it, they did and didnt even ask a question, just stamped it and give me the usual funk off out of here look.

Excellent methinks that is what I shall do so! I just can't bear the thought of paying twice for my tax until next March, plus paying for a time when I didn;t even own the thing!!

thelurcher

Go to a guarda station in the roughest part of your town in a few weeks time and get them to stamp the off the road cert - you'll get no grief at all - they'll know what your up to but have bigger things to worry about

You could fix a generator into the back of it and get it taxed as a mobile workshop I've know people to get away with glueing it in place - just so long as when the guy from the tax office gives it a shake it's sturdy enough!
Have a good story ready though - not sure you can do it on non-commercials?

unkel

Nuttzz wrote:

In the past if have let me tax run 4-5 months out of date, i filled in the off the road portion and ask the GS to stamp it, they did and didnt even ask a question, just stamped it and give me the usual funk off out of here look.

I'm not even commenting on the morality of your actions, but beware you're playing a dangerous game. If it emerges your car got noticed (e.g. speed camera) during the period you claimed the car was off the road, you're in for something far more serious than paying a few € in back tax

Seth Brundle

Nuttzz wrote:

In the past if have let me tax run 4-5 months out of date, i filled in the off the road portion and ask the GS to stamp it, they did and didnt even ask a question, just stamped it and give me the usual funk off out of here look.

Same here, except for one time where I was genuinely off the road for about 6 months (years ago). Went down to the local cop shop and was given the 3rd degree.

holly_johnson

unkel wrote:

I'm not even commenting on the morality of your actions, but beware you're playing a dangerous game. If it emerges your car got noticed (e.g. speed camera) during the period you claimed the car was off the road, you're in for something far more serious than paying a few € in back tax

I understand what you are saying, but where's the morality in charging the public tax on something they didn't even own??
When, for example, I got NTL broadband, I was charged for the part of the month that I had it. Fine. No quibbles with that. How hard is it to divide the cost of a months tax by the number of days in that month and charge me that rate??? Ridiculous in this day and age that this is the case. Even worse that you cannot transfer the tax from your old car onto the new one, but get stuck paying 8 months tax TWICE!!
Like I said, where's the morality in that??

IrishRover

holly_johnson wrote:

I wonder would I get away with going to the Guards and saying that I bought the car on the 21st, and then went on holidays, so it was off the road until the 1st?

In my experience, yes of course. My experience has been exactly the same as Nuttz. They don't fill out anything, they just stamp the box on the blank form. Rarely a hello or goodbye.

Obviously if you think there's a chance a record exists of you having driven this car before Sept 1st then maybe you'd better not chance it.

Related to this, is that it's not possible to go to the tax office on 31st August and ask for a tax disc commencing on 1st Sept. You have to return the following day. Of course if you go there on any day after that you are losing out by paying for days already gone by. So the system is designed to generate large crowds on the beginning of each month.

Also ridiculous is the fact that you can't send back tax discs with unused months remaining for a rebate.

I can't imagine feeling any moral qualms about not wanting to pay for a full month's tax when you may have only driven it for a day or two of the month.
Less so when I never see any evidence that the money collected for motor tax is actually spent on the roads.

Nuttzz

unkel wrote:

If it emerges your car got noticed (e.g. speed camera) during the period you claimed the car was off the road, you're in for something far more serious than paying a few € in back tax

While that is true, the systems they have arent linked (e.g. penalty points) so the chances of someone checking to see if the car was taxed at the same time it was gatso'd is nearly nil.

Manned checkers are the biggest risk, but they normally believe the "i'm just back from manchester with work" excuse.

DubTony

IrishRover wrote:

Also ridiculous is the fact that you can't send back tax discs with unused months remaining for a rebate.

Agreed. But when they can get people to pay road tax twice for the same period why would they bother with the admin? Amazing that Eddie Hobbs didn't get his teeth into this.

Nuttzz wrote:

Manned checkers are the biggest risk, but they normally believe the "i'm just back from manchester with work" excuse.

Does it have to be Manchester? :rolleyes:

stevenmu

It's really the car that gets taxed though not the person. It's a bit of a pain though, I just got rid of a car taxed till july next year, and got one only taxed till december this year. Still, in the history of state related rip-offs, this would be one of the more minor.

unkel

holly_johnson wrote:

I understand what you are saying, but where's the morality in charging the public tax on something they didn't even own??

Indeed. I am opposed to motortax in its present form. If you believe in the principle of "the polluter pays" then motortax should be abolished and a pollution levy should be added to the price of fuel. People that drive more and / or drive bigger cars pollute more and should pay more

IrishRover wrote:

Also ridiculous is the fact that you can't send back tax discs with unused months remaining for a rebate

Absolutely. This combined with people not really able to work out their finances leads to many people buying 3 month tax discs, paying way more per year than they should have to

This topic is close to my heart. I drive 8k miles per year and I pay €1343 in motortax for the privilige :rolleyes:

SparkyLarks

unkel wrote:

This topic is close to my heart. I drive 8k miles per year and I pay €1343 in motortax for the privilige :rolleyes:

Why not get a car with a smaller engine??
You have a 3l Engine( acording to the tax you pau. Do you need that if your only driving 8K.

On the polouter pays you'd be getting charged massively per mile.

I can;'t believe that someone who believes in the polouter pays principle drives a 3l engine, diesel I assume ya.

Kersh

Like as was discussed on here before, the bigger the engine isnt necessarily the bigger polluter, it just uses more petrol. for example, a 92 micra produces more pollution than a 05 bmw 740i, due to the fact that its older, has no cats, and wasnt produced under such stringent environmental laws. So a 'the bigger the engine the bigger the polluter tax' just wouldn be fair.
To make that system fair, a test would have to be performed at your NCT to see EXACTLY how much pollution your car creates, and then levy you from there.
I have 2 3 litre cars, which i tax alternately, and i bet you that one pollutes way more than the other.

is_that_so

stevenmu wrote:

It's really the car that gets taxed though not the person. It's a bit of a pain though, I just got rid of a car taxed till july next year, and got one only taxed till december this year. Still, in the history of state related rip-offs, this would be one of the more minor.

Car tax income is given over to local authorities to maintain local roads. Abolition of it would lead to some other kind of sinister tax. Pesonally not keen on the polluter pays idea for car usage. With the present system there is a "win" - ie local council gets funds(even if they use them poorly or for other things). IMO of greater benefit all round would be adjustments to the VRT and VAT regime so that smaller cars, hybrids , alternative fuel cars etc. would be taxed less and thus encourage us to drive them instead.
Punishment is fine when you have actually done something wrong. Driving a 3L car may be offensive to the green in us but it is a personal choice.

As regards car changing my advice would be to read up on the tax liability before you buy or buy at the beginning of the month.

My present car had nearly four months tax on it when I bought it and I was delighted. I look on that in the same way as people leaving the unused portion of parking stickers on the meters. You may lose out but someone gains

Kinetic^

This might enrage a few of you....I drive a 125cc scooter and my tax for the year is .....*drum roll* ...... €51.How'd ya like them apples??

is_that_so

Keyser Soze 69 wrote:

This might enrage a few of you....I drive a 125cc scooter and my tax for the year is .....*drum roll* ...... €51.How'd ya like them apples??

I just love it when you get that horizontal winter rain .

Guy:Incognito

Keyser Soze 69 wrote:

This might enrage a few of you....I drive a 125cc scooter and my tax for the year is .....*drum roll* ...... €51.How'd ya like them apples??

My engine is 16 times the size of yours and I can carry 4 passengers who dont get wet. I stay warm and can listen to the radio. How d'ya like them apples

dogg_r_69

thelurcher wrote:

You could fix a generator into the back of it and get it taxed as a mobile workshop ?

I think thats gone now They're all just taxed commerically Not totally sure but someone told me it anyhow.

Kinetic^

Stekelly wrote:

My engine is 16 times the size of yours and I can carry 4 passengers who dont get wet. I stay warm and can listen to the radio. How d'ya like them apples

It costs me €8 a week on petrol Touche

Guy:Incognito

Keyser Soze 69 wrote:

It costs me €8 a week on petrol Touche

Theres a good chance I wont die if im in a crash. Deloitte & Touche

Kinetic^

Stekelly wrote:

Theres a good chance I wont die if im in a crash. Deloitte & Touche

Believe me, if i hit a car,the car is ****ed. I'm 6'5 and 17 stone (aka fat bastard )

unkel

SparkyLarks wrote:

Why not get a car with a smaller engine??

No thanks

Keyser Soze 69 wrote:

I drive a 125cc scooter and my tax for the year is .....*drum roll* ...... €51

A company in the business park I work rents out 5 supersize american limos. They are about 30ft long, and the petrol consumption from their 5 liter V8 is about 4.3 MPG. They drive around 24/7. Total tax per year: €51 :mad:

Kinetic^

unkel wrote:

A company in the business park I work rents out 5 supersize american limos. They are about 30ft long, and the petrol consumption from their 5 liter V8 is about 4.3 MPG. They drive around 24/7. Total tax per year: €51 :mad:

Thatr tax is pretty good but they're getting raped on petrol costs.