How to tax your car for 72 euro a year?

mike65

I just had a thought - proberly a stupid one.

To lower ones motor tax to just 72 euro a year would it be possible to re-invent your car as a hackney?

The initial application fee of 250 euro is followed by an annual renewal fee of 125 euro while the licence itself is just 72 so 200 euro a year to run anything.

The other thing required is a tax clearenace cert from the revenue commisioners which should be straightforward for most of us!

I'm not aware there is any need to prove actual use of the car as a hackney.

Anyone ever thought about this? Or am I missing something?

Mike.

maidhc

The extra insurance which I presume a PSV must pay might negate the benefits?

Interesting though.

mike65

It might but I suspect if you are like Unkel i.e. of a certain age with clean licence and full NCB and driving a 4 litre car it would proberly mean a decent saving.

Mike.

Bluehair

Bloody hell this is worth investigating! All of a sudden being 31 years old isn't so depressing after all!

bazz26

If you have a fairly newish car it more than likely has to go on the Vehicle Licensing Form that the car is a Public Service Vehicle in order to be taxed as one. This will have a major influence on the resale value of the car. Cannot see it being much of an advantage to owners of ordinary family run about cars.

It would obviously not make much difference if you were buying a large engined old car where the previous owner has already taken the hit on depreciation.

Stephen

Would doing this mean your car will have to have a DOE test done every year?

Victor

Stephen wrote:

Would doing this mean your car will have to have a DOE test done every year?

Yes.

Citroen Guru

You have to have it insured as a taxi. Think about 2500 euro if you are over 30 with full NCB. Or you could get a V12 Jag taxed for 42 euro as long as its over 30 years old.

dubtom

Good plan, but sorry, no cigar. First, in order to insure a psv you need a psv licence, that may be no problem if you do the studying, takes about six months to go through (in the past preference was given to the unemployed, not sure if that still applies)You then need to get a tax clearance cert, this probably won't be a problem on year one, but after that your main income and what you earned from the hackney will be combined, a fairly large tax bill would follow i would imagine.The tax clearance cert was introduced to cut down on double jobbers and social welfare scammers, it's worked, about 6 hundred are out of the trade since it started.I really don't think they would accept that you didn't earn anything from the hackney and I wouldn't reccomend letting them do the sums, so you would have to pay something, probably at the higher rate seeing as your earning so much:D .First insurance is usually around 3 grand since quinn started up, mine was 5 grand four years ago,it's come down considerably since then even though I dont use them.The nct will be doing all the psv stuff from september and a nct suitabilty test is done first, about 150 euro I think(thats for everytime you change the car)after that a straight nct every year. So yes, tax for 72 quid, believe me, thats the only thing that comes cheap in the trade.

mike65

Bah! Not that I would ever try to find a way round excessive taxes of course.

Mike.

junkyard

I know of another guy who though of a scam like this whereby he taxed a large Merc. as an island car for 60 euros a year or something and got a few months in jail for his sins.:)

unkel

mike65 wrote:

It might but I suspect if you are like Unkel i.e. of a certain age with clean licence and full NCB and driving a 4 litre car it would proberly mean a decent saving

Interesting. So roughly a saving of nearly a grand (compared to a 3000+ cc engine) minus what the extra insurance is and minus what the extra depreciation of the car is once it has been labelled a PSV. In my case the latter is negligible

Anyone any idea of how much PSV insurance is? And in particular, is PSV insurance dependent on mileage?

maidhc

junkyard wrote:

I know of another guy who though of a scam like this whereby he taxed a large Merc. as an island car for 60 euros a year or something and got a few months in jail for his sins.:)

If it is the same guy i'm thinking of the car tax was probably just an excuse to put him in jail.

junkyard

maidhc wrote:

If it is the same guy i'm thinking of the car tax was probably just an excuse to put him in jail.

Not for long enough.:mad:

unkel

I must have had this thread open for more than 30 minutes before my previous post. From the last few posts it's clear it's a non-runner. On a similar matter, your man O'Leary is still in the bus lane though

mike65 wrote:

Bah! Not that I would ever try to find a way round excessive taxes of course.

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion is not

Guy:Incognito

On the subject of psv licences, if you do whatever you have to to get the oicence, is it then a 10 year one that gets renewed, a la a standard cat B licence? I mean would it be worth getting just to have (and maybe make use of in the future)

dubtom

Stekelly wrote:

On the subject of psv licences, if you do whatever you have to to get the oicence, is it then a 10 year one that gets renewed, a la a standard cat B licence? I mean would it be worth getting just to have (and maybe make use of in the future)

No,it's a 5 year thing at the moment, although that may change. There talking of bringing training courses every couple of years for holders of the licence, ala customer service, possibly retesting on city knowledge (if they do that I'm fooked:D ). You can go for the licence and just hold on to it, though you may be obligated to do the courses, I'm not sure.

TempestSabre

The cost of insurance would out weight the cost of the tax. If you can run a 4.0 car petrol, insurance your not going to worry about the tax are you.

Our man in Havana

The tax on a 4 litre must be over €1300 a year, getting it down to €72 would be a massive saving.

TempestSabre

Hackney insurance is a couple of thousand euro on a "normal" car. More if you've had a couple of bumps. (par for the course). I know drivers paying anywhere from 3k to 10k! I can only imagine what it would be for a big capacity engine.

testicle

I don't think you would have to have extra insurance, as you are not using it as a hackney, you can after all have private insurance on a commercially taxed vehicle.

alias no.9

Two words for people considering going down this road... 'wedding car', you need the same hackney designation, license, tax, etc... but I doubt you'd have the same difficulty in selling it on after and you could probably get a specific weddings only policy with the insurance.

Slightly off topic, Mike65, if you're still looking I saw this advertised in a local rag, but it's here too last of the W124's get one of the last of the W124's.

dubtom

testicle wrote:

I don't think you would have to have extra insurance, as you are not using it as a hackney, you can after all have private insurance on a commercially taxed vehicle.

You can't tax the car as a hackney without hackney insurance!
You could of course tell them you have no intention of driving the car as a hackney,therefore you dont need the insurance, you just want to avail of the cheap tax. Do let us know how you get on.

Our man in Havana

dubtom wrote:

You can't tax the car as a hackney without hackney insurance!
You could of course tell them you have no intention of driving the car as a hackney,therefore you dont need the insurance, you just want to avail of the cheap tax. Do let us know how you get on.

That would lead to some very interesting conversations down the tax office.

maidhc

alias no.9 wrote:

Two words for people considering going down this road... 'wedding car', you need the same hackney designation, license, tax, etc... but I doubt you'd have the same difficulty in selling it on after and you could probably get a specific weddings only policy with the insurance.

That is a very good idea. Especially if you have a 4L barge.

My next car will be a barge!

unkel

TempestSabre wrote:

If you can run a 4.0 car petrol, insurance your not going to worry about the tax are you.

The tax on my barge @ €1343 per annum is by far the biggest cost and dwarfs maintenance, consumables, depreciation, insurance and even petrol

TempestSabre

unkel wrote:

The tax on my barge @ €1343 per annum is by far the biggest cost and dwarfs maintenance, consumables, depreciation, insurance and even petrol

I would have thought insurance would be about 1000, (if 30+ and full NC) petrol about 600, depreciation about 800, servicing and consumables about 350 a year.

Guess you're gonna have to buy a white one with ribbons!:D

dubtom

Why not go classic barge:D My 72'mustang has a 5.8 V8, cost 42 quid to tax and 600 to insure.

unkel

TempestSabre wrote:

I would have thought insurance would be about 1000, (if 30+ and full NC) petrol about 600, depreciation about 800, servicing and consumables about 350 a year

You're not far off, although petrol depends a wee bit on ones mileage

Did the figures again in my head and my previous post was incorrect. I pay a bit more in petrol than in tax