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

angrybeaver

Hi All,

Need some help.

Picked up a Kia Sportage 1.6 GDi (Petrol) for the wife a few weeks back in the UK.

Had the VRT appointment today and the wife presented the vehicle.

It came up about 270 more than the calculator, he told her that’s not always Accurate etc. She signed the declaration.

She paid the full VRT amount and got the Reg number etc and receipt.

Only when she got home I noticed he had the wrong details, he put it down as a 1.6CRDi (Diesel)

What should I do now?

Thanks

deezell

angrybeaver wrote: »

Hi All,

Need some help.

Picked up a Kia Sportage 1.6 GDi (Petrol) for the wife a few weeks back in the UK.

Had the VRT appointment today and the wife presented the vehicle.

It came up about 270 more than the calculator, he told her that’s not always Accurate etc. She signed the declaration.

She paid the full VRT amount and got the Reg number etc and receipt.

Only when she got home I noticed he had the wrong details, he put it down as a 1.6CRDi (Diesel)

What should I do now?

Thanks

Appeal

ScottL

Hi Guys,
Currently looking to change my wife's car before VRT changes/Brexit etc. (most likely importing) Her current car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta is on UK plates having lived and worked in NI for 2 years +. She is moving South in December. I was hoping to take advantage of the VRT exemption due to the car been in her ownership for > 6 months. She has all the documentation such as rent invoices, payslips, invoices etc however I see a caveat in that you cannot sell for 1 year after this exemption. What is to stop one selling after, say 3 months and how or will Revenue stop an unscrupulous person doing this?

Isambard

if they find out, they'll be looking for the VRT . Maybe the computer will flag it up if a change of ownership is put through

ScottL

Yes you can be sure they will definitely look for it if flagged but I suppose the question is can and how? Is there system linked to change of ownership? I somehow doubt it but would be curious to know

bazz26

ScottL wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Currently looking to change my wife's car before VRT changes/Brexit etc. (most likely importing) Her current car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta is on UK plates having lived and worked in NI for 2 years +. She is moving South in December. I was hoping to take advantage of the VRT exemption due to the car been in her ownership for > 6 months. She has all the documentation such as rent invoices, payslips, invoices etc however I see a caveat in that you cannot sell for 1 year after this exemption. What is to stop one selling after, say 3 months and how or will Revenue stop an unscrupulous person doing this?

As soon as you sell the car and the change of ownership is processed by the motor tax office it will be flagged with Revenue. It won't just fly under the radar.

If you want to sell the car soon after importing it then forego the VRT exemption and pay the VRT, but you really cannot have your cake and eat it.

User1998

angrybeaver wrote: »

Hi All,

Need some help.

Picked up a Kia Sportage 1.6 GDi (Petrol) for the wife a few weeks back in the UK.

Had the VRT appointment today and the wife presented the vehicle.

It came up about 270 more than the calculator, he told her that’s not always Accurate etc. She signed the declaration.

She paid the full VRT amount and got the Reg number etc and receipt.

Only when she got home I noticed he had the wrong details, he put it down as a 1.6CRDi (Diesel)

What should I do now?

Thanks

This is more than just an appeal for €270. Your going to get an Irish logbook that states it is Diesel, when you get an insurance quote and give the reg, they will ask “Its a 1.6 diesel, yes? when you tax the car you will be taxing it as a diesel, when you go for an NCT you will fail because in the system it will be diesel.. Its going to be a 1.6 diesel on all the systems. It happened to me except the VIN number was wrong on the declaration but I didn’t realise and signed it. That transferred to my Irish log book, and I failed the NCT because the VIN numbers didn’t match. You’ll have to go back to the centre and explain the situation, I think I rang the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services also and they sent out a new logbook. The Dept of Transport wanted nothing to do with it. It was a bit of a nightmare for me to be honest. Don’t tax it if you haven’t already because the logbook details will be incorrect.

pablo128

ScottL wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Currently looking to change my wife's car before VRT changes/Brexit etc. (most likely importing) Her current car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta is on UK plates having lived and worked in NI for 2 years +. She is moving South in December. I was hoping to take advantage of the VRT exemption due to the car been in her ownership for > 6 months. She has all the documentation such as rent invoices, payslips, invoices etc however I see a caveat in that you cannot sell for 1 year after this exemption. What is to stop one selling after, say 3 months and how or will Revenue stop an unscrupulous person doing this?

Trade it for a new car up the north, and import the new car.

ScottL

pablo128 wrote: »

Trade it for a new car up the north, and import the new car.

Not when you see when the garage are offering...About £3500. Revenue value it at close to 8000 as far as I recall but reallistically around 7000 on Irish plates so 5500 on UK plate sold here?
On a separate note..The new car is a 2016 Skoda Superb..VRT has been calculated to be 3400. The car will remain in the north until Christmas. How do I know if I am better off bringing it in this year under current Revenue regs or waiting until 2020 with new regs

angrybeaver

User1998 wrote: »

This is more than just an appeal for €270. Your going to get an Irish logbook that states it is Diesel, when you get an insurance quote and give the reg, they will ask “Its a 1.6 diesel, yes? when you tax the car you will be taxing it as a diesel, when you go for an NCT you will fail because in the system it will be diesel.. Its going to be a 1.6 diesel on all the systems. It happened to me except the VIN number was wrong on the declaration but I didn’t realise and signed it. That transferred to my Irish log book, and I failed the NCT because the VIN numbers didn’t match. You’ll have to go back to the centre and explain the situation, I think I rang the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services also and they sent out a new logbook. The Dept of Transport wanted nothing to do with it. It was a bit of a nightmare for me to be honest. Don’t tax it if you haven’t already because the logbook details will be incorrect.

Thanks for this, Yes the above issues with Failing NCT Etc were my main concerns, the 270 is secondary. Plus if I ever wanted to sell it the log book wouldn't match.
I went back to the centre this morning first thing and the guy who VRT'd it was very apologetic and now has to write to Revenue to change the Details. As you said luckily it hasn't been taxed so its a little bit more straight forward. It will take about a week. He's going to keep me posted. Hopefully not too painful.

Marcusm

ScottL wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Currently looking to change my wife's car before VRT changes/Brexit etc. (most likely importing) Her current car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta is on UK plates having lived and worked in NI for 2 years +. She is moving South in December. I was hoping to take advantage of the VRT exemption due to the car been in her ownership for > 6 months. She has all the documentation such as rent invoices, payslips, invoices etc however I see a caveat in that you cannot sell for 1 year after this exemption. What is to stop one selling after, say 3 months and how or will Revenue stop an unscrupulous person doing this?

It’s written on the reg cert that it cannot be sold without Revenue’s consent. You’ll likely find no one willing to buy it when they see the cert.

P_Cash

I have found a car i want to proceed with, but I will have RAC carry out the inspection before i hand over the cash.

the car is up north near Glasgow, 2hrs outside it.

I can have the car moved for £95 to Manchester and take it from there.

my question is,
when do i put a deposit on this car ? before or after an inspection.
should i have the RAC view it first before moving it to manchester?
its from a main Dealer.

pablo128

P_Cash wrote: »

I have found a car i want to proceed with, but I will have RAC carry out the inspection before i hand over the cash.

the car is up north near Glasgow, 2hrs outside it.

I can have the car moved for £95 to Manchester and take it from there.

my question is,
when do i put a deposit on this car ? before or after an inspection.
should i have the RAC view it first before moving it to manchester?
its from a main Dealer.

Is it near Glasgow or 2 hours away from Glasgow? I flew to Glasgow to buy a car a month ago. 20 quid flight, 2 hours to the ferry, 2 hours on the ferry to Belfast, and 2 and a half hours to Dublin. Plus waiting on the ferry of course.

P_Cash

pablo128 wrote: »

Is it near Glasgow or 2 hours away from Glasgow? I flew to Glasgow to buy a car a month ago. 20 quid flight, 2 hours to the ferry, 2 hours on the ferry to Belfast, and 2 and a half hours to Dublin. Plus waiting on the ferry of course.

2 hrs south of Glasgow.

it would cost me slightly more to get down to it by flying in to Glasgow and out via Larne than it is for me flying to Liverpool and home via holyhead. So Im looking at moving it if I beleive it doesn't work out much extra.

Either way my logistics of getting it home is fine. Just the question on deposit / RAC etc

bazz26

Many dealers may ask you to put a deposit on it before they will allow you to have someone inspect it. It also protects yourself so that the inspection mechanic doesn't arrive to find the car has been sold to someone else. Best thing is to ask the dealer and ask is the deposit fully refundable if the inspection finds something wrong and advises not to proceed with the purchase.

michellie

ScottL wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Currently looking to change my wife's car before VRT changes/Brexit etc. (most likely importing) Her current car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta is on UK plates having lived and worked in NI for 2 years +. She is moving South in December. I was hoping to take advantage of the VRT exemption due to the car been in her ownership for > 6 months. She has all the documentation such as rent invoices, payslips, invoices etc however I see a caveat in that you cannot sell for 1 year after this exemption. What is to stop one selling after, say 3 months and how or will Revenue stop an unscrupulous person doing this?

Its stamped on the new irish vehicle registration document that it was a vrt exemption. I assume if you send it to shannon to change the ownership they will either decline or send you the VRT bill...

Minimo62

Quick question re VAT if car less than 6 months old or less than 6k km. How is VAT calculated ?

23% of purchase price at relevant exchange rate or Irish market value or is it only charged on the VRT amount. Apologies if covered before. Tx

deezell

Minimo62 wrote: »

Quick question re VAT if car less than 6 months old or less than 6k km. How is VAT calculated ?

23% of purchase price at relevant exchange rate or Irish market value or is it only charged on the VRT amount. Apologies if covered before. Tx

The OMSP calculated by the revenue includes VAT at 23%, so divide this price by 1.23 to get vat free OMSP, multiply by 0.23 to get the VAT element. Some of this is paid regardless as part of the VRT, so we all pay an extra bit of VAT on import, as VRT is calculated on the VAT inclusive OMSP. Tax on the tax effectively. The remaining VAT on the Pre VRT OMSP is only liable as per less than 6 month old 6k km rule.
You can reclaim the UK vat of 20% from the UK sale price if the car is VAT qualifying in the UK. Example, you buy a less than 6 month car in UK for £24,000. You can claim back £4000.. the car has an OMSP here of Say 34,500, and VRT is due at say 18%, so the VRT bill will be €6210, the pre vrt OMSP is therefore €28290. This price includes 23% VAT, so the VAT element is 0.23/1.23 of this, which is
an additional €5290, a bit more than the reclaimable UK VAT of £4000. Strictly speaking the extra VAT should be just the UK VAT free price by 23%, but you might need to be VAT registered to do it this way, if its possible, and the car has to be VAT qualifying in the UK to get the UK VAT back. The revenue have always been able to demand VAT at the market price, rather than the invoice price, from a private individual. In my above example the extra Irish VAT on the Pre NCT price is in fact exactly UK VAT adjusted by 3% and using 1.15 as the exchange rate, but Ive used an OMSP based on equivalent value pre tax and exchage rates. If you got a bargain in the UK I'd guss you'd have to pay the VAT based on omsp, not what you'd imported for , , but I'd like to wrong about this.
I'd like to hear from someone who privately imported and paid VAT, with the omsp, vat, and vrt figures the revenue charged.

Marcusm

VAT has nothing to do with OMSP; if it’s applicable it is charged on the invoice cost plus any delivery costs which they charge (not your own ferry ticket). U.K. VAT is only recoverable if it is a VAT qualifying car in which case the U.K. dealer should be able to remit the VAT at point of invoice using NMT (new means of transport) procedures. If the dealer refuses to do this, find another dealer. No point in taking risk on VAT recoverability.

deezell

Marcusm wrote: »

VAT has nothing to do with OMSP; if it’s applicable it is charged on the invoice cost plus any delivery costs which they charge (not your own ferry ticket). U.K. VAT is only recoverable if it is a VAT qualifying car in which case the U.K. dealer should be able to remit the VAT at point of invoice using NMT (new means of transport) procedures. If the dealer refuses to do this, find another dealer. No point in taking risk on VAT recoverability.

Thanks, it's nice to have certainty. So in my example VAT is charged on the UK VAt free invoice price, so 23% of £20,000, £4600, exchanged at my example rate of 1.15, giving €5290 as per the example, where my OMSP was translated from UK price. The extra cost is effectively an additional £600/€690 as the car is under 6 months. When an Irish car is supplied new to an Irish VAT registered business, is the invoice VAT element 23% of the price , e.g., a new car costing 24,600 is that 20,000 plus 4,600 VAT?, or is the VRT element removed from the calculation to reckon the VAT? I usually do my own digging on questions like this, but if you have the answer....

P_Cash

How long does it normally take for the RAC or AA etc to go and inspect a car. How many days etc. Much waiting time?

michellie

VAT is charged at the basic invoice selling price before VAT or any other charges.

Minimo62

Thanks for all the info re: VAT charges. Unfortunately as I expected, so will add a good chunk to the cost. Would not have the option to recoup any of the VAT as vehicle would not be eligible. Need to find one with a few more miles on it, I think, to bring it above the 6000 km.

moby2101

Minimo62 wrote: »

Thanks for all the info re: VAT charges. Unfortunately as I expected, so will add a good chunk to the cost. Would not have the option to recoup any of the VAT as vehicle would not be eligible. Need to find one with a few more miles on it, I think, to bring it above the 6000 km.

Little tip for ya

Mileage needs to be 6000 km when you present it at your VRT appointment
You could have up to 30 days of driving between landing it and your appointment date

deezell

Minimo62 wrote: »

Thanks for all the info re: VAT charges. Unfortunately as I expected, so will add a good chunk to the cost. Would not have the option to recoup any of the VAT as vehicle would not be eligible. Need to find one with a few more miles on it, I think, to bring it above the 6000 km.

If you can't find a vat qualifying vehicle, you just need to make sure it's 6 months old, and over 6000km on VRT inspection. You'll have 30 days to get the milage above 6000 Km, not a huge task if there's already a good bit of it on it all ready.

angrybeaver

P_Cash wrote: »

How long does it normally take for the RAC or AA etc to go and inspect a car. How many days etc. Much waiting time?

Allow about 2 or 3 days notice for RAC or AA inspections. Due to no slots available in the timescale I used a company Called Carexamer and was very happy with the quality of report and service.

kindalen

What is the quickest way to get car taxed when it comes on the system? Online or go into the tax office? Do the tax office give you the disc on the spot?

murph226

What extra charges will be added on top of VRT after today?

Old diesel

murph226 wrote: »

What extra charges will be added on top of VRT after today?

Brexit is postponed via an extension of article 50 until 31st of January (unless the UK ratifys the deal in meantime)

aFlabbyPanda

I'm looking at a 2011 330d that a dealer has close to manchester. Mot & tax expired in July. Assuming the everything is ok with the car is there any issue with driving it back with no mot/tax? Or will that need to be sorted before taking it from the UK?