Mr Phil Hogan TD Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government today (27 September) highlighted that the three month transition period provided for in the Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Act 2013 is coming to an end on Monday. If a vehicle is being taken off the road temporarily after that date, the owner must notify his or her local motor tax office in advance. The long-standing facility to declare that a vehicle was off the road retrospectively will come to an end, as this has facilitated widespread tax evasion. “The evasion is estimated at €55m per annum” Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan said today (27 September 2013). “This is a burden on those people who pay their tax as they should, and is a loophole that needs to be closed”, he added.
Minister Hogan said “I am aware that there is a certain amount of last minute activity arising from the shift in the operation of the motor tax system. Once the initial change is in place the process will be very straightforward – motor tax is either renewed or the vehicle is declared off the road in the month before tax, or a previous off-road declaration, is due to be renewed”.
Minister Hogan said “anybody whose application to declare a vehicle off the road is received in a motor tax office by close of business on Monday, either by post or submitted in person, will be deemed to have complied with the deadline in the legislation, even if the form is in some respect incomplete or incorrectly completed. Applicants will be contacted over the next few weeks to rectify the forms. Postal applications postmarked on or before 30 September will be regarded as having been received by the deadline.”
If there is currently a record of a vehicle on the National Vehicle and Driver File, an application to tax the vehicle or make a declaration of non-use must be made by Monday to avoid incurring arrears.
For those older vehicles that are not recorded on the National Vehicle and Driver File, and that will be used in a public place, the vehicle record will need to be uploaded on the File in order to allow taxing or the making of a declaration of non-use. Owners need to contact their local motor tax offices to put this process in train. They do not need to take any action before Monday as no back tax can be sought for the period prior to the uploading of the record on the National Vehicle File.
For vehicles that are not registered, the owners should contact the Revenue Commissioners to have the vehicle registered. Again, motor tax will not be sought for the period prior to the registration of the vehicle.
The National Vehicle and Driver File contains records for all vehicles registered since 01 January 1993. However many pre-93 vehicles are also recorded on the National Vehicle and Driver File (e.g if a vehicle was taxed at any stage since 2003 even if it was registered at a time prior to that) and in such cases a declaration of non-use will be required if these vehicles are being kept off the road. If an owner is in doubt as to whether the vehicle is on the register, he or she should fill in a Declaration of Non-Use (Form RF150) and submit it to their local motor tax office by close of business on Monday.
For those who cannot locate a registration book, arrangements are in place to enable the form to be processed in the absence of those details on the application form. There is no need to apply for a replacement registration book by close of business on Monday.
Finally, anybody who owns a vehicle that they do not plan to put on the road again need take no action on foot of this legislation.
“I would appeal to anybody impacted by these changes to regularise their position before Monday’s deadline,” ended the Minister.