Vehicle Registration Tax

Vehicle Registration Tax or VRT is a tax that must be paid in Ireland when registering a motor vehicle.

The tax is paid to the Revenue in two ways:

• VRT is included in the retail price of a new motor vehicle purchased from a dealership

• The tax is paid by the owner of a motor vehicle imported from abroad upon applying for registration (subject to exemptions, below). The vehicle must be presented at a Revenue Vehicle Registration Office (VRO) no later than one day after arrival into Ireland.

Calculation

VRT is calculated as a percentage of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) of the vehicle. The OMSP is the "expected retail price" and includes all taxes (Including VAT) previously paid in the state.

VRT Rates Pre-July 2008

New VRT rates are being introduced in July 2008.More VRT information available at [http://www.vrt.ie VRT.ie] and [http://www.irishvrt.ie IrishVRT.ie]

Exemptions

* Disabled Drivers or Disabled Passengers who have been certified eligible and purchase vehicles modified for their use.

* Temporary or new residents who have previously registered their vehicle abroad for more than six months (and are additionally prevented from selling their vehicle for twelve months after moving to Ireland)

* Diplomats

* Electric cars and Electric motorcycles [ [http://www.irishvrt.ie/vrt-changes/changing-vrt-in-ireland/seven-new-bands.html Seven new bands] ]

Controversy

Some critics of VRT claim that it is effectively a continuation of the excise duty (which was applicable to vehicles in Ireland prior to 1992) and as such is illegal under European union law. Along with complaints about the very high rate of tax critics maintain the tax is ineffective in one of its stated aims the reduction of pollution from vehicles because while it may limit the number of vehicles on the road (by making new cars less affordable) it provides a disincentive for owners of older (more polluting) vehicles to replace their cars. Also as the tax is on vehicle ownership rather than usage (Irelands rates of taxation on petrol and Diesel are fairly low by European standards) there is little incentive for those who do manage to buy a car to ever consider using less polluting methods of transport. [ [http://www.simi.ie/showcontent.asp?SubsectionID=7 #] ]

Other Countries

Other countries with similar taxes in place are the Netherlands which has the BPM (Belasting Personenauto’s Motorrijwielen) tax. This tax is 45% of the selling price of the car and gives a discount or punishment based on the CO2 emission. The tax is supposed to disappear by 2018, but the government has said it would introduce a similar tax but then solely based on CO2 emissions.

References

ee also

Japanese used vehicle exporting