VRT Penalty?

[Mail2017]

Hi,

I'm wondering what the situation is regarding a northern reg car that has been in the state for some time. The car was originally brought from the north by a northern irish resident commencing a temporary maternity cover job in the south. The job later became permanent and so the car remained in the state with the owner at this stage being a full time resident in the south. From what I can see online, for a vrt exemption, the car would need to have been registered in the south within 1 year of change of residence. This hasn't happened in this case. Therefore, I am assuming, full VRT is now due plus penalties for late payment. Can anyone shed any light on this and roughly how much the penalties would be?

Thanks,

 

[dereko1969]

My view is that it never actually needs to be re-registered here. That is, if the owner is maintaining links with their home country and is visiting it on occasion there is no need to register it in Ireland.
I did have the Directive to hand previously but can't find it now. Now, how it is being legally insured is another issue (are they pretending to home country that it's only being used up north) but for registration purposes not required in my view.

 

[Mail2017]

Thanks for the reply. Yes links are maintained with trips home every second or third weekend.

Yes insurance is a major concern which is another reason why registering in the south may be required. I'm not sure if any insurance companies in the south will insure a northern reg car on a full time basis or whether any insurers in the north will insure a vehicle that is located and driven in the south 95% of the time.