# Staying temporarily in Ireland & VRT



## DeskJet (12 Oct 2006)

Hi all!

I was hoping if someone could help me with a problmen with VRT. I'm a Finn who has a 11 month contract here in Ireland, so I'll be living here max 12 months. My plan was to buy a bit later a tax-free car from Finland and keep it here with Finnish export plates and get a Finnish insurance for it for the time I'll be staying here.

In that way I could avoid the Finnish VRT which is somewhere around 28%. Conditions are that I'll be staying abroad for 12 months and own the car at least for 6 months. 

If I would live for that 12 months e.g. in Sweden, France or Germany there would be no problem with that. I would be allowd to have the car with Finnish export plates at least for 6 months, usually 12 months before I would have to register it. But now as I have contacted Irish officials, for instance at VRO, they have told me that I have to register the car and pay VRT within 24 hours when it's brought in Ireland.

And what is even more confusing, one answer I received was, that as long as the car won't be here more than 12 months and as long I have that 11 months contract, no VRT should be paid. So I'm extremely confused what is the truth.

The fact that you would have to be registered within 24 hours sound a bit odd, since all around EU that time is usually between 6 and 12 months. 

Thanks in advance


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## Frank (13 Oct 2006)

Sounds like VRO are being over zealous.

Can you import the car VRT exempt as you are moving from one country to another? I think you need to own the car at home for 6 months.

There are lots of people driving foreign plated cars here for years. They seem to get away with it fine. 

Check out www.revenue.ie lnks to vrt and importing for all the info.

Search here for vrt related questions lots of detail in prvious threads.

Good luck.


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## DeskJet (13 Oct 2006)

I've been reading e.g. www.revenue.ie and oasis.gov.ie a lot, but haven't been able to find all the answers. It is quite clear that if you are going to permanently move to Ireland and you have owned the car for 6 months you don't have to pay VRT. But I haven't been able to find an answer for the case if you are living here only temporarily and you would buy a brand new car and have it here only for 6 months tops, until movin back to yor home country.

I've noticed that there are a lot of people from Poland and Baltic states who are driving cars with their national plates on. Even at the moment I can see couple of those cars from my window. And it is hard to believe that all of them have owned the cars for 6 months before moving here, since as far as I have understood, many of those people have been living here quit a long time already. And any way, you have to register your car here after certain period of time, often 24 hours.

So obviously it's quite "safe" to break the law, but I really wouldn't want to do that.


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## Furze (13 Oct 2006)

see  [broken link removed]


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## DeskJet (14 Oct 2006)

Furze said:


> see  [broken link removed]


I've read that page several times already, but that's actually not what I'm looking for.

I would like to know more about this: 

_[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All cars/vehicles          brought into Ireland *(apart from temporary visits of less than 12 months)*          are subject toVehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and must be registered          with the Revenue Commissioners. The tax rates vary depending on engine          size - but are around 25 % of the expected selling price.
        People who have owned their vehicles abroad for more than 6 months and          who are moving permanently to Ireland are exempt from VRT. But          if you sell it within 12 months of arriving - you have to pay the tax.[/FONT]_

[broken link removed]

I haven't been able to find any info about that red text, except one phone call where one person told me that as long the car and I will not be here longer than 12 month no taxes have to be paid. Basically I'm here on a temporary visit for less than 12 months since I have only a 11 month contract. But on the other hand I'm an a resident of Ireland since my only address is here.

It just sound extremely weird if you have to register the car within 24 hours since even in Finland, which is a real nazi state when it comes to car taxation, as a foreigner you can have the car at least for 3 months before you have to register it.


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## lorna (14 Oct 2006)

ring this number 071 9148682.  this is the sligo vehicle registration office and they should be able to help you.


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## DeskJet (14 Oct 2006)

Thanks! I'll try that on Monday.


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## Furze (14 Oct 2006)

DeskJet said:


> Hi all!
> 
> My plan was to buy a bit later a tax-free car from Finland and keep it here with Finnish export plates and get a Finnish insurance for it for the time I'll be staying here.


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## Furze (14 Oct 2006)

DeskJet said:


> My plan was to buy a bit later a tax-free car from Finland and keep it here with Finnish export plates and get a Finnish insurance for it for the time I'll be staying here.


 
Sounds like a new import to me and would be subject to Irish VRT.


This leaflet outlines the circumstances in which a foreign registered motor vehicle may be brought into the Republic of Ireland (the State) on a temporary basis.


The vehicle must have been acquired with all the appropriate taxes paid and these must not have been exempted or refunded in any way. The standard registration plates in use in the domestic market of a country are normally accepted as evidence of this.
The period of time that the vehicle is in the State does not exceed 12 months.


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## extopia (14 Oct 2006)

Seems clear enough. If the Finns give you the car VRT-free and you can get a plate, you'll be fine at this end...


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## Furze (14 Oct 2006)

Can't see Finnish export plates as being standard registration plates ?


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## DeskJet (15 Oct 2006)

Well yes, I'm not sure if Finnish export plates qualify as standard plates. Though they do not vary much from the plates that are usually used in Finland. They have only validity date marked on the right side of the plate with red colour. The person at the VRO told me, that VRT has to be paid if the car does not have any plates, but that wouldn't be the case here. 

It just doesn't feel so fair if all the Poles get away with it driving Polish cars here for years, but when I'm here only temporarily and would have the car here for just a couple of months, I would have to pay thousands of euros.

I have contacted three different persons and allof them have given me a different answer. Don't get mad at me, but as a Finn I never believed that there would be any country with more bureaucracy than Finland, but Ireland beats even Finland.


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## mc-BigE (16 Oct 2006)

Could you buy a 2nd hand LHD car here , UK or Europe and drive over here for 11 months on an Irish Insurance policy ,then import the car into Finland? Would the VRT office allow this VRT free? in Finland but also here for 11 months?

regarding LHD cars have a look at this.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055003136


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## DeskJet (16 Oct 2006)

mc-BigE said:


> Could you buy a 2nd hand LHD car here , UK or Europe and drive over here for 11 months on an Irish Insurance policy ,then import the car into Finland? Would the VRT office allow this VRT free? in Finland but also here for 11 months?
> 
> regarding LHD cars have a look at this.
> http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055003136


I believe not because the car shoud have been in my posession over 6 months in any case before importing it here, if I would want to bring it here tax free.

But i did call VRO today again and I was told there might be some exemption which are not mentioned on revenue website, but I was not able to contact the right person. It has something to do with the fact that I have only 11 month contract and I will be leaving after that. One problem probably is that how can I convince them that I won't stay here longer.


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## Wonderwoman (17 Oct 2006)

I recently dealt with this situatuion for my mother and her husband. They came from England with a car registered over there. My step father was terminally ill and they came over here for treatment. After many phone calls and a personal visit from customs to their house, it was given the ok as long as they maintained a residence in the country the car was registered. They could prove that they did. They were told that that gave them a 12 month exemption, after which they would have to either return to England with the car or register it here.


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## NOAH (17 Oct 2006)

I think its as clear as day.  You are buying a car in Finland on the pretext that you are exporting it to avoid VRT. When you visit Ireland you are bringing a brand new car with you so you have to pay vrt on it at the Open Market Selling Price(OMSP) that is the price you would have paid if you had bought car in Ireland.  If you buy the car in Finalnd and pay VRT then you will not pay vrt in Ireland. 

By the way, wont it have steering wheel on the wrong side, very dangerous for driving in Ireland!!

I take it that when you re-import back to Finland it would no longer be new and less VRT to pay.

noah


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## DeskJet (18 Oct 2006)

If have been talking to several people e.g. at vro and it seems like that my wife can by that car from Finland tax free and keep it here for the we're staying and does not have to pay VRT. Since she lives here, but does not work here she is only a temporary resident, such as was in the case in wonderwoman's post, and can have the car here as long as we won't stay here longer than 12 months.

I'm legally seen as a permanent resident since I work here. Bit stupid from my point of view, because in any case we can avoide the tax being paid here, and in Finland as long we stay abroad for 12 months and own the car for more than 6 months.

The car being a left hand drive wouldn't be a big issue since the car would be very rarely used here.


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## Furze (22 Oct 2006)

DeskJet said:


> If have been talking to several people e.g. at vro and it seems like that my wife can by that car from Finland tax free and keep it here for the we're staying and does not have to pay VRT. Since she lives here, but does not work here she is only a temporary resident,


Sounds correct if kept in a pound or garage,but she would not be permitted to drive it on the public highways.



Deskjet said:


> such as was in the case in wonderwoman's post, and can have the car here as long as we won't stay here longer than 12 months.


Not the same case - Wonderwoman's post refers to a car that was registered in the UK with all its domestic local taxes paid.
This also is the case for the polish etc cars driven here on temporary exemption.


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## Wonderwoman (23 Oct 2006)

Came across this over the weekend... on revenue.ie VRT Calculator. Just thought it interesting that when you put all the cars details in it will give the open market value. 
https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/ShowVRT


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## DeskJet (23 Oct 2006)

Furze said:


> Sounds correct if kept in a pound or garage,but she would not be permitted to drive it on the public highways.



And why's that?




Furze said:


> Not the same case - Wonderwoman's post refers to a car that was registered in the UK with all its domestic local taxes paid.
> This also is the case for the polish etc cars driven here on temporary exemption.



Any way, there are a lot of people who have been told by the customs officials, when they have come into country with a car bought e.g. from Germany with German export plates, that as long as they won't live here more than 12 months they don't have to worry about taxes. And they have been already living here and are returning within that 12 months to where ever they lived before.


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## daviehug (26 Oct 2006)

Have you read condition no. 3 on the Revenue leaflet regarding normal residence..are you saying your wife is here (i.e. personal ties are in Ireland).  If so and you are here for at least 185 days, it looks like you are resident here.  You may not regard yourself as a resident here but the VRT laws would say different.  I suggest you write to or call to a VRO and state your case..give all the facts and they will tell you what is correct.


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## DeskJet (26 Oct 2006)

daviehug said:


> Have you read condition no. 3 on the Revenue leaflet regarding normal residence..are you saying your wife is here (i.e. personal ties are in Ireland). If so and you are here for at least 185 days, it looks like you are resident here. You may not regard yourself as a resident here but the VRT laws would say different. I suggest you write to or call to a VRO and state your case..give all the facts and they will tell you what is correct.


Yes, I'm a resident here, but my wife shouldn't be, at least that's how I've understood it. I have both called and VRO and I keep getting totally different kind of answers denpending if I call them or write to them. And I've given the same facts every time.

I quess that I'll take the risk and go with that answer that I can buy a car and keep it and not register it here and pay taxes here as long as I'll leave within a year.


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