Car Tax

AthAnRi

Could some one please tell me how I can find out about car tax and how much it is for a 00 Ford Fiesta 1.8 diesal Van?

DivX

Motor Tax Rates

You didn't mention whether the van was private or commercial, as they are in different road tax categories.

AthAnRi

It's private

Seth Brundle

My mother in law in Belfast renewed her motor tax through the post office today and received the disk straight away. Is this possible here?
just going off topic, I am after driving back to Leixlip from BElfast and I passed two vans parked in different locations along the A1 (Newry to Belfast Road) with both rear doors open and two cameras staring out. On the side of the van it read Motor Tax Detection Van (or something similar). Sure beats Garda Muldoon stopping traffic!

DivX

Just realised that the goverment website reflects the old motor tax rates prior to the last budget, i sent off an email reminding them thats its out of date... you should give your local motor tax office a shout, they'll let you know. its going to be around €480/year.

Thats interesting about the vans with the reg no. recognition, wonder how they cope with the illegal plates, such as dirty or italics...
Reminds me my road tax is out this month, €820/year

I saw a similar reg recognition system over in England during the summer in all the bigger service stations.

AthAnRi

Thanks DivX. I think that you add 5 percent on to the price list on the website for next year.

Mocking Burd

Originally posted by kbannon
My mother in law in Belfast renewed her motor tax through the post office today and received the disk straight away. Is this possible here?
just going off topic, I am after driving back to Leixlip from BElfast and I passed two vans parked in different locations along the A1 (Newry to Belfast Road) with both rear doors open and two cameras staring out. On the side of the van it read Motor Tax Detection Van (or something similar). Sure beats Garda Muldoon stopping traffic!

No - you have to go to your local M.Tax office to get it issued on the spot. Absolutely bloody ridiculous system.:mad:

Silvera

I believe there are plans to allow Post Offices here sell tax discs.
When it will actually happen is anybodys guess :rolleyes:

Our man in Havana

New rates of road tax from 1/1/04

Victor

Originally posted by Silvera
I believe there are plans to allow Post Offices here sell tax discs.
When it will actually happen is anybodys guess :rolleyes:

I doubt it - the requirement exists to check the insurance etc. Not sure if they would leave this up to the post office.

JohnBoy

Beleive it or not you can do it online now.

I was shocked, but a mate of mine did it the other night, took less than ten minutes.

Don't have a URL now, but i'll try and get it tonight.

Also don't suppose anyone knows what the VRT rates are nowadays?

I seem to rememeber that 2L cars were at 23% but that's a few years ago now.

a_ominous

Originally posted by JohnBoy
...
Also don't suppose anyone knows what the VRT rates are nowadays?

I seem to rememeber that 2L cars were at 23% but that's a few years ago now.

Revenue found via Oasis link above.

a_ominous

Mea maxima culpa. Should have actually read the linked page and not the description on the Oasis s(h)ite. This was supposed to be an online calculator and cannot find the rates on the Revenue site at the mo.
Did find out that you can go to Tallaght and enter the details there. Omigosh how advanced is that! Hello? This is the twenty first century not the first!

JohnBoy

www.motortax.ie

"This service is available to customers in Clare, Galway and North Tipperary and will be extended to other counties in the coming months."

Oh yeah, I've seen that page alright. helpful innit....

Our man in Havana

Not alot of use then.

Why do the government pander to the likes of Clare and Galway?

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.cidb.ie/live.nsf/0/98305f9812692f2d802569730045fc4f?OpenDocument
Publication date: 01/02/2001.

Since1st January, 1999 there is a three tier structure of VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax) on cars.

The VRT rate of 22.5 per cent will apply on cars up to and including 1,400 ccs. Cars between 1,400 and 2,000 ccs are liable for a 25 per cent rate and cars over 2,000 ccs are liable for VRT at 30 per cent.

Budget 2001
Under a new scheme 50% of VRT in respect of motor vehicles which are fitted with hybrid electric engines will be refunded. This refund scheme will apply for a period of two years starting on 1st January 2001.

If you want to check how much vehicle registration tax you are liable to pay you should contact: Vehicle Registration Offices: St. John's House, Tallaght Tel (01) 4149777 or Castleforbes Rd., Tel (01) 8554045 or 111 Lower George's St. Dun Laoghaire Tel (01) 2800077.

AthAnRi

Why do the government pander to the likes of Clare and Galway?

Because Galway rocks

aodh_rua

Anyone else think its unfair to calculate motor tax on the cc's and nowt else. I've a 1.9 diesel and the tax is almost €500, and yet its only as powerful (and therefore as damaging on the road) as a 1.4 petrol.

[kind of off-topic - just wanted to vent]

DivX

Totally agree it unfair, my car is 2499cc diesel and the tax is €821 or €924 if paid quarterly... and same it's only as powerful as some 2L petrols.

OT : Is the road tax and insurance rolled into the cost of the fuel in australia, think i heard it was, or cost very little in any case.

capistrano

It is dishonest to charge road tax on the basis of engine size. The new mazda with the rotary engine has an engine size of 1.3l but it equivalent in power to a 3.5L V6 ot something.

There should simply be flat rates for different categories of vehicle: motorcycles, cars, lorries, etc.

Of course this would be too simple. People with bigger engine cars now pay extra in road tax, fuel tax, VRT and VAT.

Moroting taxation has absolutely nothing to do with any kind of equity - it is just a handy way to squeeze extra cash out of us poor long-suffering taxpayers.

Zascar

I just looked at that Tax Rates Document, and it says that if you are paying in arrears you have to pay a 10% penalts per month! Is this right or am I reading it wrong... My tax it out ages, i've just been lazy but I never knew there was a penalty!

Our man in Havana

Simple way out of the arrears is to declare non useage of the car for the out of tax period. Find a garda station and make the declaration.

Note there are severe penalties for making false declarations to avoid road tax:D

Zascar

I thought about that but a friend told me that he tried it and the Garda just laughed at him...
Anyone done this successfully? Any tips?

ColinM

Originally posted by capistrano
The new mazda with the rotary engine has an engine size of 1.3l but it equivalent in power to a 3.5L V6 ot something.

The RX rotary engine has a power 'stroke' every revolution rather than a normal engine completing all the power strokes in 2 revolutions so it's equivalent to a 2.6-litre.

And I get nothing for my road tax. Drive anywhere around Dublin and you'll see what I mean. There are huge cavernous potholes that would buckle your wheels which have been there for years. Look at the state of the roads around the city centre even - and Luas works can no longer be an excuse. It's unusual to see a road anywhere that has a smooth even surface of tarmac. Every other country in Europe has roads far better than ours. It's just another symptom of the state of our little joke of a country run by crooked useless morons. Ah, that's better...

ColinM

Originally posted by Zascar
I thought about that but a friend told me that he tried it and the Garda just laughed at him...
Anyone done this successfully? Any tips?

Dunno why he would laugh at him. As long as they can't prove you have been using the car in the period you say you haven't been (like a speeding fine during that date) they should just do their job and sign the form no questions.

Zascar

Thanks Colin. I've actually had two fines for having no tax (bothin within a week). The thing is, I haven't paid either of them. When I get a ticket I always wait to revieve the written warning, and then pay it immediatly. Sometimes the ticket never gets processed and you'll never hear a thing. I've got away with it a couple of times with parking tickets, once with a speeding ticket (2 years ago), and I haven't heard anything about the 2 fines for no tax, and that was at least 3 months ago... What do you think, would it be stupid to try?

ColinM

Hmm - dunno, if you were out and about and got stopped for no tax displayed then you'd have to assume there'd be a record of it. If it's been three months though, maybe you have gotten away with it and no record was made.

Maybe the "hedge your bets" option would be to say the car had been off the road from whatever time in the past up until a day or week before the first time you got caught with no tax. At least that way you can give yourself a discount on the amount of arrears you have to pay. Basically, work your story out properly and be sure of your dates!

Our man in Havana

The statute of limitations for tax offences is 12 months. So they may decide to procesute you at any time up to 12 months from the time they nabbed you.

For parking tickets its 6 months.

Warning: They only have to apply to the court for a summons within the 6 or 12 month period. The court could be months after the summons is issued. So in effect it is possible that it could be 18 months after the offences before seeing the judge.

Victor

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
The statute of limitations for tax offences is 12 months. So they may decide to procesute you at any time up to 12 months from the time they nabbed you.

For minor traffic offences 12 months, for tax offences 12 years. Not quite sure about motor tax.

mike65

Originally posted by capistrano
It is dishonest to charge road tax on the basis of engine size. The new mazda with the rotary engine has an engine size of 1.3l but it equivalent in power to a 3.5L V6 ot something.

The engine is classified as a 1.7 for some strange reason
but hey thats still "cheap" for that power! Its also got 4 doors and is therefore a saloon - how much does insurance for a 1.7 saloon cost these days?!

Mike.

Quatre Mains

- don't mind what your mate said about the cops not signing the form, I have done it a good few times and they never ask any q's. There are so many valid reasons (owner sick, car broken down, just bought car etc etc) that they don't mind....

BTW I am just abck from a stint abroad and need to get the car taxed - what is the story with the NCT - does that have to be current for the car to be taxed or will they not ask for the form? My NCT is out dince 01/03, I did the test recently and failed cos I have an amp running off the battery, which is no longer permitted apparently. I missed the retest date as I just moved house and forgot in the chaos. My tax is out 6 months so every time I see a cop car my stress leels are going thru the roof

Cheers
Neil

ColinM

Yeah, that one has always struck me as a very grey area that is surely in need of legal clarification, because as far as I can see, you are totally reliant on the discretion of the guard if you are stopped "on your way to the NCT".

You can't get a tax disc without an NCT (and you can't get a tax disc without an insurance certificate either). How the hell are you supposed to get to the NCT test centre if your tax has run out but you can't re-tax it until it passes the NCT? It seems like a total catch-22 situation to me. I think it's farcical to prevent you from paying tax anyway if you don't have NCT or insurance. I mean, think about it - they won't allow you to pay tax until you have your car insured and NCTd. Why not? Because they want to check that you have the others before you go out on the road? Bollox to that! Having this system in place just makes people drive around with no tax (and no NCT). Why can't each just be treated separately and enforced by spot checks?

So in the current situation, how is one expected to get a car to the test centre legally if you can't tax it before it passes? Are we expected to tow our vehicles there?

Also, as was said already - they make it so hard for you to renew your tax disc. You have to find your log book, insurance certificate (not disc), NCT certificate (not disc) drive to one of the offices, find parking, take a ticket, fill out the form, queue for hours (just as well you saved up all that flexi-time at work, eh?) before you can shell out.

Why can't I just ring up and say "Please send me a new disc. When you saw my details last time, I was insured and NCTd. I still am according to those documents you saw. Here's my visa number."? Why can't I do this online?
I should be able to do that even if they don't change the law regarding it being a requirement to be insured and NCTd first. Why don't they just scrap that requirement so that anyone who frigging wants to pay car tax, fricking well can!

Seth Brundle

I was under the assumption that you could tax it if you had a NCT booking letter.

ColinM

Ah, well if that's the case, that sort of solves that one then.
I'm still pissed off about how unnecessarily difficult it is to get the tax paid and don't see why paying it has to be dependant on anything else.

Seth Brundle

I must say, one unfair thing about motor tax is how different people can be paying different rates of tax (for the same engine cc) at the same time for similar durations.
If I pay for my tax in November 2003 for 12 months, it costs me say €500. If I tax it a few months later I pay say €550 because the Revenue have increased the tax. Therefore, for a few months (where the two overlap) people are paying different rates of tax.
Also there are different rates of tax based upon how long you tax your car for:-
taking a 2L car as an example over 12 months:-
full yr = €539
6mths = 2 x €299 = €598 (+€59)
3mths = 4 x €152 = €608 (+€69)
monthly (arrears) = 12 x €53.90 = €646.80 = (+€107.80)

Is there any other tax where different rates are applied for the same thing?

Victor

Originally posted by ColinM
So in the current situation, how is one expected to get a car to the test centre legally if you can't tax it before it passes? Are we expected to tow our vehicles there?

Why not? If you can't keep things in order, why should special exemptions be made for you. It would be like a shop selling food a week past it's use by date - "ah shur it's only a week".

Originally posted by ColinM
Also, as was said already - they make it so hard for you to renew your tax disc. You have to find your log book, insurance certificate (not disc), NCT certificate (not disc) drive to one of the offices, find parking, take a ticket, fill out the form, queue for hours (just as well you saved up all that flexi-time at work, eh?) before you can shell out.

You can do all this by post can't you (and have it guaranteed to be done in 10 days).

Victor

Originally posted by kbannon
If I pay for my tax in November 2003 for 12 months, it costs me say €500. If I tax it a few months later I pay say €550 because the Revenue have increased the tax. Therefore, for a few months (where the two overlap) people are paying different rates of tax.

Last week bread was €1.20, this week it was €1.30. Bread lasts a week. How are these two scenarios different?

Originally posted by kbannon
Also there are different rates of tax based upon how long you tax your car for:-
taking a 2L car as an example over 12 months:-
full yr = €539
6mths = 2 x €299 = €598 (+€59)
3mths = 4 x €152 = €608 (+€69)
monthly (arrears) = 12 x €53.90 = €646.80 = (+€107.80)

Quite simple, there is more administration involved in issuing the paperwork 4 times than once.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by Victor

You can do all this by post can't you (and have it guaranteed to be done in 10 days).

Not if you live in Wicklow where it can regularly takes up to 6 weeks for a tax disc by post.

TommyK

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
Not if you live in Wicklow where it can regularly takes up to 6 weeks for a tax disc by post.

That's incredible - I've never had to wait any longer than 3 days or so!

Also, whenever I've called into my local Tax Office, they only thing they ever ask me for is the insurance cert and I'm not even sure they look at that.

Also, the NCT peole won't give a sh*t if your car is taxed - all they want is your VLC/Reg Book, your car, and your money.

LFCFan

Originally posted by ColinM
Also, as was said already - they make it so hard for you to renew your tax disc. You have to find your log book, insurance certificate (not disc), NCT certificate (not disc) drive to one of the offices, find parking, take a ticket, fill out the form, queue for hours (just as well you saved up all that flexi-time at work, eh?) before you can shell out.

Why can't I just ring up and say "Please send me a new disc. When you saw my details last time, I was insured and NCTd. I still am according to those documents you saw. Here's my visa number."? Why can't I do this online?
I should be able to do that even if they don't change the law regarding it being a requirement to be insured and NCTd first. Why don't they just scrap that requirement so that anyone who frigging wants to pay car tax, fricking well can!

It's probably because the government need to justify all the civil servants it employs and doesn't want to implement a system that would make some of them redundant. You could probably get rid of 60% of civil servants tomorrow and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference apart from free up a lot of the budget which of course would then have to go to pay dole money for the 60% that were laid off as most of them would be unemployable if some of the people I've had to deal with are anything to go by.

pablo21

I'm in the process of upgrading to a 530d and they're looking for €1300 Tax!!!! How to hell can that be justified!! Thats twice my insurance!

capistrano

3L engine - that the highest road tax bracket. Yep, you're right it's a bloody disgrace!

mike65

Originally posted by pablo21
I'm in the process of upgrading to a 530d and they're looking for €1300 Tax!!!! How to hell can that be justified!! Thats twice my insurance!

Buy a BMW 3.0 CSL it'll cost you about €40 a year to tax!




Mike.

pablo21

except my 530 makes 231bhp (with tuning box) and more torque than an M5 and can top over 150mph yet gives over 50mpg!!! I'll suffer the tax for the luxury and performance!

Oh did I mention it was diesel!!

mike65

For €40 a year I'd put up with some old world tech and spec!

Mike.

pablo21

Your probably right, but take one drive in the 530d and your addicted to the torque!

pedro ferio-vti

€40?? Is this classic tax? And to what cars does it apply? I.e. anything over 25years old???

Our man in Havana

Yes, and there is no NCT for classic cars. Could you imagine trying to get the emmisions on a Hillman Hunter down?

pedro ferio-vti

cool, how old do cars have to be then???

mike65

Originally posted by pedro ferio-vti
€40?? Is this classic tax? And to what cars does it apply? I.e. anything over 25years old???

Nearly, 30 years is the cut off. The good news is that a 30 year old car if well made to start with - ie BMW and well maintained will be good for years to come. Sadly a historied CSL will cost about €16,000! But a Rover P6 3500 V8 could be yours for 3-4000 grand.

Mike.

Baconator95

Can anyone give me some advice.

I'm looking to buy and insure a can commercially. It will be used for my employer's business.

Can I tax this thing commercially?

According to the Wicklow county council website you can, but I want to know if this is the case in Dublin.