Van - Commercial Vehicle Tax

keryl

Just want to get an idea of what this is all about


Some say it's not a big deal others say it doesn't matter if your just using the van to go to the beach, if your not registered for commercial purposes your in trouble.

I'm not 100% about it so could someone explain it to a simpleton please:)

If it is that strict, it's a sad day for the traveler, the surf traveler that is.:(

Mickeroo

I've had no trouble yet, they didn't even look at my DOE or Insurance cert the last time I was in!

I only drive Peugot Partner, I've only heard of people who drive bigger vans like transporters and 4x4's having much trouble with tax. I think it can often depend on who you get at the counter too.

Anyone on here have any bother?

Surf_Pointer

If you're using it for private use it is supposed to be taxed as a private vehicle! Its not strictly enforced though, but get the wrong gaurd at the wrong time and you could find yourself with a heafty fine!

rodento

And completely ****ed if you crash the thing

lamai

Surf_Pointer wrote: »

If you're using it for private use it is supposed to be taxed as a private vehicle! Its not strictly enforced though, but get the wrong gaurd at the wrong time and you could find yourself with a heafty fine!

stupid question, I am thinking of getting a partner or something like that for my bike and surfing, I am employed but would buy the van for myself, but would use it to hold some tools for work, would this count as commercial?

keryl

So basically

If it's a van for commercial purposes and your paying rate of Commerical on it then having it kitted out with a fridge is a no no

If you have a van and pay the private tax (which will be pretty steep) then your good to go, there is a different camper style tax isn't there?

Holding tools is up to you from what I gather because you paid the private tax on it.

FlashD

First its strange that you're asking in the surfing forum, you should probably asking in motors or camping vans forum.

What does the tax disk with the van say? Private or commercial?

If commercial, which it normally should say, then you are good to go. I have never heard of a van for private purposes unless its like some form of camper van.

FBD are good to insure for vans, they are used of dealing with them. They will want to know what you are transporting, basically they just want to know that you aren't going to be carrying hazardous or flammable chemicals so if you are converting to a camper then you need to check over in the camper van forum to see what the deal is.

keryl

Friends were on about it and we were just wondering what the deal was with it. Well I felt that a surfing forum would be a good place to ask it as there are surfers who use vans for surfing and some would have converted vans, that's why....

ted1

Flashd, its illegal to tax a van commercial if its being used for private use. Many vans including.mine are taxed private. Mind you my company pays for the van not me. They taxed it private as I use it for day to day use and they can't afford to be seen to be non tax compliant.

stevire

The last I heard you need a VAT number to tax it when taxing it at the office, some Local Authorities are more strict than others. I've my van taxed privately, quite pricey at 900e a year but currently converting it to a camper so hopefully it's the last time I'll paying it at that price.

rsole1

I have a Peugeot Partner and taxed it again this week. To tax it for business use you have to go to the guard station with RF111A and declare for business use, then back to tax office with your insurance policy which must be commercial. That's all you have to do, apart from give them €310. I'm unemployed and drive it with no worries at all - the guards have better things to do than ask me what I'm using the van for.

FlashD

ted1 wrote: »

Flashd, its illegal to tax a van commercial if its being used for private use. Many vans including.mine are taxed private. Mind you my company pays for the van not me. They taxed it private as I use it for day to day use and they can't afford to be seen to be non tax compliant.

What's private use? I owned the van, a van is a commercial vehicle, I can do what I like with it. Who was going to dispute with me that I needed a van to try and get my own business going.

I really don't understand your company taxing their van as private, I don't understand either what you mean by day to day use not unless the company are supposed to logging all the road miles

Anyway in my situation I checked with both the insurance and tax office. I was asked what does it say on the tax disk, commercial. The van got taxed and insured as a commercial but this was around 2005 so maybe things have changed as I have been out of the country for the majority of that time.

Best advice to the OP is check with the insurance and tax office.

Ronnie Beck

AFAIK you can re-register your van as a camper for 10% of the value of the the van. They seem to seriously overvalue vans though 5000 for a 1500 euro transporter with a matress and stove in the back. Friends of mine got pulled over by a little guard in ballysadare and forced to change there tax to private because they had it kitted out as a camper.
...

If it's not kitted out as a camper you should be grand.

c-note

If you tax a van commercially;
It is ILLEGAL to use it for personal, social or domestic purposes,
That means driving to the shop, beach, collecting the kids from school is in breach of THE LAW.
This law may not be strictly enforced or even enforced at all but it is the law. If you want to go to mass in your van, you legally must have it taxed privately

You will not get camper tax on a small van, it must be min of 1.8m from floor to ceiling inside, which the low roof transporters/traffics/transits are not. you must also have gas rings and a bunch of other stuff.

rodento

rsole1 wrote: »

I have a Peugeot Partner and taxed it again this week. To tax it for business use you have to go to the guard station with RF111A and declare for business use, then back to tax office with your insurance policy which must be commercial. That's all you have to do, apart from give them €310. I'm unemployed and drive it with no worries at all - the guards have better things to do than ask me what I'm using the van for.

So basically all you have to do is go in the a police station and lie through your teeth...

Ronnie Beck

c-note wrote: »

If you tax a van commercially;
It is ILLEGAL to use it for personal, social or domestic purposes,
That means driving to the shop, beach, collecting the kids from school is in breach of THE LAW.
This law may not be strictly enforced or even enforced at all but it is the law. If you want to go to mass in your van, you legally must have it taxed privately

You will not get camper tax on a small van, it must be min of 1.8m from floor to ceiling inside, which the low roof transporters/traffics/transits are not. you must also have gas rings and a bunch of other stuff.

Are you a guard? If I know irish law you can get away with anything as long as your going to mass:D

rsole1

rodento wrote: »

So basically all you have to do is go in the a police station and lie through your teeth...

Yes it's as simple as that. On the insurance certificate it states for business, social and domestic - so I don't see any problem telling lies, I thought everyone in Ireland tells lies and fiddles whatever they can.

FlashD

c-note wrote: »

If you tax a van commercially;
That means driving to the shop, beach, collecting the kids from school is in breach of THE LAW.

For a self employed person, lets say carpenter, plumber. How is a guard going to tell the difference between doing a job and the above that you mentioned?

ted1

Well if you've a passenger they'll know or if there is shopping in the van etc.

We taxed it as private because we've a couple of million going through the company and don't fancy bringing a fine or audit on to us. So its best to keep things legal.

spaceHopper

c-note wrote: »

If you tax a van commercially;
It is ILLEGAL to use it for personal, social or domestic purposes,
That means driving to the shop, beach, collecting the kids from school is in breach of THE LAW.
This law may not be strictly enforced or even enforced at all but it is the law. If you want to go to mass in your van, you legally must have it taxed privately

You will not get camper tax on a small van, it must be min of 1.8m from floor to ceiling inside, which the low roof transporters/traffics/transits are not. you must also have gas rings and a bunch of other stuff.

VRT have dropped the 1.8m rule you can covert a low top camper but youhave to pay13.5% VRT on the OMV.

There are other rules about cooker, bed, seats... that are on the revenu site

slimgsi

AFAIK you have to give them ur prsi number when your taxing the van. that rules out a lot of bluffing.

rsole1

slimgsi wrote: »

AFAIK you have to give them ur prsi number when your taxing the van. that rules out a lot of bluffing.

Not in Roscommon.

Mickeroo

rsole1 wrote: »

Not in Roscommon.

or mayo

bagus

c-note wrote: »

You will not get camper tax on a small van, it must be min of 1.8m from floor to ceiling inside, which the low roof transporters/traffics/transits are not. you must also have gas rings and a bunch of other stuff.

That's no longer correct. Look on donedeal, recently there has been a few low roof vans registered as campers.

Don't know where to get the new criteria. If any ones finds out please post it.

bagus

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/faqs-vrt.html#section88

rosenvelt

Hi to all, im new to this site so bare with me please.
I have followed this thread all the way down along, and it was good to get the advice that everyone had to share.
But,,, and theres always a but. Hears the thing, someone said that it was illegal to use your van for personal use if you tax it commercially.
You cant insure it privately in the first place, they wont allow it, it cant be done.
so why are you made to tax your VAN, COMMERCIAL VEHICLE, PRIVATELY at all.
Is it not illegal to do it that way also. What im trying to say is your van, commercial vehicle can only be insured commercially, yes.
And you have a van, commercial vehicle that you want and should be able to tax commercially, yes,,,.
But now you cant because you have to produce vat numbers and tax numbers and all kinds of paper work to prove that you are using your van for commercial use. My point is you insure your van, commercial vehicle, commercially, and if you have not got the correct paper work to get it taxed commercially, you have to tax it privately, correct yes.
Well does that not make a discrepancy between the two policy's. You got commercial insurance and private tax, all im saying is everyone knows insurance companies, if you have an accident they'll do what ever it takes not to pay out, and i think this is one way they wont pay out if you have a accident. Which in my mind makes this illegal.
Yes i have a van that im trying to get taxed commercially, only im being put through the mill about it all.
And yes this is an old thread, but i needed to voice my opinion and see if what i am saying makes since.
I would appreciate a little fed back from anyone to see what your views are.
Thank you.

rsole1

rosenvelt wrote: »

Hi to all, im new to this site so bare with me please.
I have followed this thread all the way down along, and it was good to get the advice that everyone had to share.
But,,, and theres always a but. Hears the thing, someone said that it was illegal to use your van for personal use if you tax it commercially.
You cant insure it privately in the first place, they wont allow it, it cant be done.
so why are you made to tax your VAN, COMMERCIAL VEHICLE, PRIVATELY at all.
Is it not illegal to do it that way also. What im trying to say is your van, commercial vehicle can only be insured commercially, yes.
And you have a van, commercial vehicle that you want and should be able to tax commercially, yes,,,.
But now you cant because you have to produce vat numbers and tax numbers and all kinds of paper work to prove that you are using your van for commercial use. My point is you insure your van, commercial vehicle, commercially, and if you have not got the correct paper work to get it taxed commercially, you have to tax it privately, correct yes.
Well does that not make a discrepancy between the two policy's. You got commercial insurance and private tax, all im saying is everyone knows insurance companies, if you have an accident they'll do what ever it takes not to pay out, and i think this is one way they wont pay out if you have a accident. Which in my mind makes this illegal.
Yes i have a van that im trying to get taxed commercially, only im being put through the mill about it all.
And yes this is an old thread, but i needed to voice my opinion and see if what i am saying makes since.
I would appreciate a little fed back from anyone to see what your views are.
Thank you.

You get commercial insurance, you declare it is for business use only, you tax it commercially and you drive the van wherever you want. Technically you are not supposed to do "private" things, ie shopping, taking wife to hairdressers etc. But Mr Garda has better things to do than keep checking on what you are up to.

rodento

rsole1 wrote: »

You get commercial insurance, you declare it is for business use only, you tax it commercially and you drive the van wherever you want. Technically you are not supposed to do "private" things, ie shopping, taking wife to hairdressers etc. But Mr Garda has better things to do than keep checking on what you are up to.

Until you crash

boardsusername

My Caddy is commercially taxed. I am registered self employed (no vat number, not compulsory for my business). I have a commercial insurance policy. When I bought my van I had to present everything in the motor tax office in person. From there on in I can do it online.
I clarified with my insurance company that although it is for commercial use it is my only vehicle & will be used outside of work too. They said that is ok, I will be covered.
I use it to surf, amongst other things, at weekends.

Some people make all this appear very complicated, even though they don't seem to have done it themselves. Find someone with a van & ask them is my advice.

rsole1

boardsusername wrote: »

My Caddy is commercially taxed. I am registered self employed (no vat number, not compulsory for my business). I have a commercial insurance policy. When I bought my van I had to present everything in the motor tax office in person. From there on in I can do it online.
I clarified with my insurance company that although it is for commercial use it is my only vehicle & will be used outside of work too. They said that is ok, I will be covered.
I use it to surf, amongst other things, at weekends.

Some people make all this appear very complicated, even though they don't seem to have done it themselves. Find someone with a van & ask them is my advice.

I've had a van for the last 15 years and not once have I had any problem with the Garda.

nick75

i had an absolute nightmare with it. you only need to be vat registered if you earn over 50k a year or something, but i had to register with the tax man as self employed. i was grand for a few years til the new law came in and i changed my van. i tried the tax office at different times and went to different people but theyre all very strict now. if you work for someone and it might involve moving cargo or goods then your employer can write you a letter saying you NEED a commercial vehicle ( a van ).
otherwise getting it taxed privately will go on engine size , say a 2.4 litre might cost you well over a grand every year to tax it.
this all resulted from people from cities buying expensive SUVs and taking out the back seats temporarly or blocking out the back windows so they could claim commercial tax.
you have to prove to them that you need a van for your work....
otherwise its private tax and insurance