Am I able to keep my UK plates if I'm split between my English and Irish Address

  • Thread starter busgymolone
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busgymolone

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Hi there,
I'm planning to move over to Ireland full time, but for the next year (at least), I will be split between my home in England and my rented home over here. Am I able to keep my English car plates? If not do I have to own the car for so long before I am change them to the Irish plates without paying a hugh tax.

I will be grateful to hear from anyone, who has any relevant information because I currently know nothing.
 
busgymolone said:
Hi there,
I'm planning to move over to Ireland full time, but for the next year (at least), I will be split between my home in England and my rented home over here. Am I able to keep my English car plates? If not do I have to own the car for so long before I am change them to the Irish plates without paying a hugh tax.

I will be grateful to hear from anyone, who has any relevant information because I currently know nothing.
Click to expand...

I do not have the exact rules to hand but unless the rules have changed, you can import a car from another country without punitive taxes being applied so long as you fulfill certain conditions. Some of these conditions used to be something like 1)that you have lived in that country for at least a year plus 2) that you have owned the car for at least 6 months previous to returning to Ireland.

I believe you can find some more exact and authoritive information elsewhere on the forum or on the revenue website.
 
Basically, if you're employed in the UK, get paid there, pay rent & utilities there for 6 months then you're fine. But you DO need to have all this as C&E absolutely HATE letting you away with it (as they see it). If you still own a house there, then you can say you're a tourist and be safe for a good few weeks (months?). If it's taxed and insured in the UK, and you have all the proof of that, then what's to stop you moving over here every second week ? How are they to know ? The onus is on them to prove liability, at the end of the day.

If you do all the above (get paid there, pay rent there etc) but still live here for part of the time, then you can still be done. I know of people who are from Derry but stayed with their partner in Donegal a few nights a week and the C&E stopped them one morning saying that they've been noted staying in the South for so many nights over the past month or whatever and threatening them with seizure of the car.
That could all be a spiel to have the word spread that they're out and about and watching, admittedly...but it worked.

Also, and this could well be an urban myth, but they can only apparently seize the car from the owner. So if it's registered in another persons name, you're safe (temporarily).

I reckon the first scenario should cover you however.
 
The short answer to your question is "No". The law is very clear on this. If you bring your car to Ireland on holiday or on a business trip, there is no need to register the vehicle. If you are living and working here "full time" and taking up residence, then, according to Revenue Commissioners' website:

"If you bring a vehicle into Ireland from abroad you must register it and pay VRT by the end of the next working day following its arrival in the State."

There is more information on this on www.revenue.ie.

This question has been discussed several times on askaboutmoney.com. If you do a search, you may find the relevant threads.
 
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