How to get a Toyota Land Cruiser's tax down to €333?

Hi Eoin,

If the Land Cruiser has been properly registered and used in Northern Ireland, you would normally pay Irish VRT but no additional customs duty or Irish import VAT. Make sure you have good evidence of its Northern Ireland history before buying it, as a vehicle that has come from Great Britain through NI can have different VAT and customs consequences. Basically, so long as you can prove that it hasn’t been brought through Northern Ireland just to be sold to someone importing it south of the border, it should be fine.

A seven-seat Land Cruiser is normally an M1 passenger vehicle, so it would be liable for Category A VRT. For a diesel version with CO2 emissions above 190g/km, that means VRT at 41 per cent of Revenue's Irish Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), plus the NOx levy. The precise amount depends on the exact model, emissions and Revenue's valuation when the car is inspected by NCTS.

Removing the two rearmost seats won't by itself get the annual motor tax down to the commercial rate. It does not automatically convert an M1 passenger Land Cruiser into a goods vehicle. To obtain goods-vehicle motor tax you would need the vehicle to be correctly classified as a goods vehicle and you would also have to qualify for commercial taxation, including declaring that it is used only for carrying goods in your business or trade and not for private, social or leisure use.

I would therefore work on the basis that a seven-seat passenger Land Cruiser will remain a privately taxed passenger vehicle unless a proper, compliant conversion and reclassification is carried out. Simply taking out the back seats isn't enough.