Importing from the UK - definitive guide (Q and A)

I have the same problem - its a Citroen and there is no Nox Value on the V5 , i went to the 'VRT shop' and they told me that Land Rover and Citroen or PSA group dont have them on the V5 for some reason - anyone know a cheaper way of getting one then from them ? its €220 that ide rather not give Citroen🙄

Short answer unfortunately is you cant.

To put it simplistically, your situation does not involve reclaiming UK VAT. Instead it involves the dealer not charging UK VAT initially and you paying the corresponding Irish VAT instead.

When the dealer sells a car to another UK resident, its normally done under the Margin Scheme, where by the dealer pays 20% UK VAT only on their profit margin.

But when selling to someone in ROI, the dealer zero-rates the entire sale as the car is being exported, as the sale treated as a "zero-rated intra-EU supply of goods" transaction under the Windsor framework.

No. Only a VAT registered business can claim VAT back.

For a private buyer in Ireland importing a car, in relation to VAT the it works this way.

From NI - a car needs to meet the criteria for the Windsor Framework exemption in order to avoid Irish VAT or Customs Duty in the first place, provided the car is not a "new" and has the necessary NI ownership history.

From GB - as a private individual, a buyer cant reclaim UK VAT (whereas a business can). What an irish buyer needs to try and do is ensure the seller removes the UK VAT from the price at the point of sale (the UK equivalent of a Retail Export Scheme), in turn saving the buyer 20% upfront, before you pay the 23% Irish VAT.

AFAIK there are only a few of the large car supermarkets will do this for private irish buyers - but I could be well wrong on that.

If I buy a used car from a dealer in NI, how should I pay them?

Say it's £15,000. I have Revolut. How might it work?

Day 1: travel to NI dealer in current car, test drive proposed purchase, agree to buy.

Send bank transfer in GBP from Revolut to dealer bank.

Day 5 or 7: return to the dealer, payment has gone through, drive away

Something like that?

I presume I must ring insurer in advance?

So I could travel once, test drive car, do a bank transfer there and then, and drive away?

I did that, travelled up on a monday, train and taxi test drove and agreed price. Car was 2yr old so risked not buying. Transfered money by bank. But it didn't arrive in their bank so i had to stay over, was driving back south at lunch time tuesday. Insurance transfer took all of 5min ph call.

Hi all

For the Revenue guidelines on proving Northern Ireland ownership for a reasonable amount of time "the V5C showing the last registered keeper in NI and a date of registration to that keeper"; is the date of registration the "Acquired vehicle on " date on the front of the V5C along with the registered keeper, or is it the date of the V5C issuance which is at the bottom of each page?

I'm looking at buying a used polestar (ev, manufactured in China) from an NI dealer, who are getting it themselves from mainland UK. They're saying that they will get an SAD document completed and this enables the car to be imported into the south immediately (without 3 month usage) without triggering a customs or VAT charge. Is this legitimate? I can't find anything online that backs this up. From what I've read, Revenue are trying to prevent exactly this from happening

Thanks for that. I can see the following on revenue website "Vehicles bought from NI dealers that have not previously been in use in NI (for example, vehicles that had been in use in Great Britain (GB) prior to being purchased by an NI dealer) will require proof that the vehicle has been imported to NI in accordance with the requirements of the Windsor Framework. A copy of the Customs Declaration lodged in NI, which clearly identifies the vehicle being registered, must be provided"

What's less clear is how it would be treated under that framework, do you know if the car would be processed under the red Lane (at risk of moving to EU) or the green Lane (will remain in NI) and what the implications are for Vat/customs ?

I wonder when that changed?

Is there formal guidance on this anywhere by revenue?

The only rule is “reasonable period of time”, if NCTS has been stating 90 days as a rule the. It would be interesting to see what guidance they had from Revenue, if any. The words need to be construed in context, the owner must be a private individual. Would it be “reasonable” to use a rule of 90 days? How many private owners would sell a car within 90 days of owning it? Very few, I would say.

As a related point, I’d note that Revenue has become very hot on VRT enforcement; in one recent case, a taxpayer bought a car from a dealer with U.K. plates, paid the dealer €22k VRT but the dealer did not complete the regustration. The purchaser registered it independently, paid the €22k VRT and a €15k penalty. Subsequently appealed to the Tax Appeals Commission and was told to lump it.

In this case it is duty and VAT which the European Commission are very hot on as they see NI as a back door to the EU market and did not want the current arrangements. I would expect there to be more rigid enforcement of things like this. It’s probably best to see if you can return the car as even if NCTS process it, I don’t think Revenue would necessarily take the same view, especially, as you have pointed out doubt that it is now in the system as being in the Republic.

Do same rules apply from UK and Japan regarding vintage cars. Flat rate 200