Please don't pay VRT, stand up and be counted as an EU citizen.
1) Article 25 of EU Leglisation states that "Customs duties on imports and exports and charges having the equivelant effect shall be prohibeted between member states. - (A registration Tax of STG50 has already been applied on the car thatyou imported from the UK car so this cannot be charged a second time) - You should also look up Article 90 re free trade between EU member states....€9,500 isn't exactly what you would call Free Trade...
2) You should email every Vehicle registration office in the country with your VIN number to find out how much VRT you would have to pay (The reason you should use the VIN number is so that the VRO know the exact makeup of your car including all extras) - I guarentee that you wlll not receive the same quote twice and there will be at least €3,000 in the difference between the lowest and highest quote - Not exactly an open and transparent system!!!!
3) Custom officers or the Guards cannot impound your car unless you willingly hand over your keys - For instance if your car is worth €30,000 and you owe the revenue €9,500 the law of proporationality (EU Leglisilation) states that customs and only sieze your property worth upto €9,500 max. This makes since as to take an item worth €30k for a debt worth €9K is something you wouldn't even see in the Sopranos.
(This is why customs officers have to use intimidation to get you to hand over your keys "willingly") - DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR KEYS)
4) Join www.irishdrivers.org to help you with backup in case customs try any dirty tricks
5) The European Court of Justice has already condemed VRT in Ireland
A good friend of mine (who also invested in blackstones EU legislation and is a member of www.irishdrivers.org) bought a BMW 3 Series in the UK nearly a year ago now. In April of this year 3 customs officers arrive at his house on a Saturday morning.
They demanded that he hands over the keys as the car is illegal to drive in Ireland....followed by some more BS....some more info re tax evasion....they will call the guards if he doesn't comply.....and on and on...........so my friend just kept very calm during this lecture and refused to hand over the keys.
He told the customs guy's that he was currently in negotiations with the depatment of revenue - After about an hour the customs guys left and he hasn't heard anything since - He still is driving his BMW 320 with UK plates
i too have gone to the uk and brought back a far better car that i would have got in ireland.... eventually paid vrt becuase of the wife going on about breaking the law.. am going back over next month buying a honda accord CDTI exec... for a bragain price compared to rip off ireland and this time i won't be paying any VRT !!!!
Hi folks,
I am currently working away on the site but I need some regular contributors with regards to EU and Irish legislation on VRT
www.abolishvrt.ie
Hello all,
Very interesting reading, will be sending my €10 to irishdrivers.org & look forward to http://www.abolishvrt.ie/ once up & running, I am going over to liverpool very soon to purchase a second hand BMW. On my return I will be insuring the car with english plates.
I have two questions; what happens when road tax runs out on the car, can anyone seize the car for not having road tax?
Second how do I get a list of e-mail address for VRT offices around the country to compare the VRT for my car? Does anyone have this list?
Thanks
FYI- still have my car registered in another member state and i've no intention of paying any vrt on it, i will go to jail first!
Ang1170, the previous postings are contradicting what you say:
Which bit of what I said does any of this contradict?
gardai are not interested in the tax element..
I'd be very surprised if not re-registering the car in Ireland in didn't invalidate/downgrade your insurance. The basic point is that it's illegal to drive it under the circumstances described.
Hi Stir
In the cases you have suggested you're not actually importing the car as you're leaving it on the UK plates (and, presumably, taxing it, MOTing it and insuring it in the UK). Under those circumstances you are allowed to drive in other EU states temporarily. In Ireland I think the limit is 6 months before you have to re-register the car. If you do not do so then you run the risk of the Revenue prosecuting you for the VRT.
Also, your UK insurance cover will only cover you for temporary use abroad. So, for example, you crash into the back of a car and an occupant of that car gets injured. Your story would quickly unravel if you can not provide any documentary proof of when you brought the car abroad (the insurance company WILL ask for this proof). In that case they would probably drop their cover down to the Legal third party minimum. You would be well advised to read the small print in your policy carefully.
To answer the other questions - yes you can get Irish insurance on a UK-registered car. However it's a bit of a dead giveaway that you're actually Irish resident (and therefore not a temporary visitor) isn't it?
I don't see how you can possibly get Irish tax on a UK-registered car as you need the registration certificate (or the form you get when you register the car, at least).
As for the tax issue, it's worth noting that France, in particular, has started clamping down heavily on the huge number of untaxed UK cars in their country (clustered round destination airports for low-cost airlines). The sooner the same happens here with all the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian etc. deathtraps over here the better.
Incidentally, I imported a car over here on an OMSP of €11997. After an appeal this was revised to €8750 and I was refunded!
SSE
There are comments like:
"Please don't pay VRT, stand up and be counted as an EU citizen."
"He told the customs guy's that he was currently in negotiations with the depatment of revenue - After about an hour the customs guys left and he hasn't heard anything since - He still is driving his BMW 320 with UK plates"
"am going back over next month buying a honda accord CDTI exec... for a bragain price compared to rip off ireland and this time i won't be paying any VRT !!!!"
"FYI- still have my car registered in another member state and i've no intention of paying any vrt on it, i will go to jail first!"
On the other hand, some are saying that you must pay this VRT, otherwise, you are breaking the law and will go to prison.
Hi Stir
In the cases you have suggested you're not actually importing the car as you're leaving it on the UK plates (and, presumably, taxing it, MOTing it and insuring it in the UK). Under those circumstances you are allowed to drive in other EU states temporarily. In Ireland I think the limit is 6 months before you have to re-register the car. If you do not do so then you run the risk of the Revenue prosecuting you for the VRT.
Also, your UK insurance cover will only cover you for temporary use abroad. So, for example, you crash into the back of a car and an occupant of that car gets injured. Your story would quickly unravel if you can not provide any documentary proof of when you brought the car abroad (the insurance company WILL ask for this proof). In that case they would probably drop their cover down to the Legal third party minimum. You would be well advised to read the small print in your policy carefully.
To answer the other questions - yes you can get Irish insurance on a UK-registered car. However it's a bit of a dead giveaway that you're actually Irish resident (and therefore not a temporary visitor) isn't it?
I don't see how you can possibly get Irish tax on a UK-registered car as you need the registration certificate (or the form you get when you register the car, at least).
As for the tax issue, it's worth noting that France, in particular, has started clamping down heavily on the huge number of untaxed UK cars in their country (clustered round destination airports for low-cost airlines). The sooner the same happens here with all the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian etc. deathtraps over here the better.
Incidentally, I imported a car over here on an OMSP of €11997. After an appeal this was revised to €8750 and I was refunded!
SSE
going back over now in june .july and buying another diesel for the lower vrt and tax rates.... are people mad buying cars here !!!!!!!!
Hi,
Just a quick Q on this.
If I was to buy an 05 Audi A4 (1.9 diesel) now, I'd pay approx 3.5k VRT and 560 tax for the year.
Would there be much of a difference if I was to wait til after teh changes come into effect in July? Also, what tax rate would apply after the changes - would it be the new greener tax or the current one based on engine size??!
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