Expert answer

Hi Len,

Short answer: yes. If you’re buying used from the North, then you’re avoiding the ten per cent customs duty and the 21 per cent VAT on used vehicles.

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Hi James,

Basically, the situation is as before — as long as the van is older than six months old or has more than 6,000km on the clock, then you’ll pay the usual VRT at 13.3 per cent of the OMSP (the Irish market price as defined by Revenue). As it’s from the North, you’ll also avoid the ten per cent customs duty. Once you do get the camper conversion done, the good news is that motor tax for a camper is only €102 a year.

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Hi James,

You SHOULD be able to bring your car in with you without paying VRT or VAT, as, according to Revenue: “You may be able to claim relief from Customs Duty and Value-Added Tax (VAT). This relief applies to imports of the following: bicycles and motor cycles, private cars, trailers, caravans, pleasure craft and private aeroplanes." VRT would be waived, normally, for a transfer of residence. You’ll need to have all your paperwork in order, and you can bet that Revenue will be checking carefully to make sure no-one is trying to pull a fast one, but you should be OK.

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Hi Damien,

OK, as you don’t have a VAT number, you’ll have to pay the VAT on the Hilux at the time of purchase. But the good news is that, as you’re bringing it in from Northern Ireland, there won’t be any extra charges (no import duty and no Irish VAT) on top of the usual VRT payment. VRT will charged at 13.3 per cent of the Irish market value. That value should (emphasis on the should) be around €29,000, so VRT will be in the region of €3,900.

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Hi Eoin,

If you are, yourself, VAT registered, or if your company is and you’re buying the car through the company, then that may well be possible, but I would check with your accountant just to be certain before taking any leaps. Also, don't forget about the NOx levy and customs duty that will be due regardless. Read our Guide to Importing Cars from the UK feature for full details.

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Hi John,

You've asked solely about VRT, so we're assuming you're importing the car from the North, not England, Wales or Scotland. If it's not from the North, you'll have to pay VAT and customs duty as well as VRT and the NOx levy.

So, the price it is listed at means effectively nothing. Revenue will come up with its own OMSP (Open Market Selling Price), which it reckons it would sell for in Ireland at the time of the registration changeover. It's not easy to estimate what that would be. We'd guess €26,000.

A quick search shows that car's WLTP CO₂ rating at 147g/km (depends on which specific version of that car you are looking at), which means a VRT rate of 21 per cent. At an OMSP of €26,000, that means VRT of €5,460. The NOx levy will be on top of that.

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Hi Gerard,

Yes, the final Brexit-exit has indeed caused some changes. According to Revenue, if you’re importing a car from the UK, you will now have to complete an electronic customs declaration form BEFORE going to collect the vehicle (you can find them here) and you’ll then be liable for three potential costs — customs duty, VRT (as before, including the NOx charge) and VAT, currently at 21 per cent. That VAT charge, previously only applied to vehicles that are either new or less than six months old (or with fewer than 6,000km on the clock) now applies to all imports.

Except it doesn’t — if you import a car from Northern Ireland, thanks to NI’s new special status as per the Brexit withdrawal agreement, then the VAT will only be charged on new vehicles, and you won’t have to pay any customs duty (sometimes referred to as import duty).

Incidentally, that customs duty (which is charged at 10 per cent of the total value of the car, plus carriage costs) will NOT be applied if the car was built in the UK, or in an EU country. That’s a potential minefield as you’d be surprised how many cars that you assume to be British or European are actually made in, say, South Africa or the US. It obviously affects Japanese and Korean-built cars, but again, you’d be surprised how many of those that we buy are actually built in the UK, France, Slovakia or elsewhere in Europe.

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Hi Keiron,

Yes, there’s been a bit of a shake-up in imports from the UK, post Jan 1st (which kind of got lost in all the COVID and Trump headlines). According to Revenue, if you’re importing a car from the UK, you will now have to complete an electronic customs declaration form BEFORE going to collect the vehicle (you can find them here) and you’ll then be liable for three potential costs — customs duty, VRT (as before, including the NOx charge) and VAT, currently at 21 per cent. That VAT charge, previously only applied to vehicles that were either new or less than six months old (or with fewer than 6,000km on the clock) now applies to all imports.

Except it doesn’t — if you import a car from Northern Ireland, thanks to NI’s new special status as per the Brexit withdrawal agreement, then the VAT will only be charged on new vehicles, and you won’t have to pay any customs duty (sometimes referred to as import duty).

Incidentally, that customs duty (which is charged at 10 per cent of the total value of the car, plus carriage costs) will NOT be applied if the car was built in the UK, or in an EU country. That’s a potential minefield as you’d be surprised how many cars that you assume to be British or European are actually made in, say, South Africa or the US. It obviously affects Japanese and Korean-built cars, but again, you’d be surprised how many of those that we buy are actually built in the UK, France, Slovakia or elsewhere in Europe.

Expert answer

Hi John,

Yes, in theory, but you’ll need to keep a carefully compiled paper-trail of what you’ve been doing, and your reasons for bringing a car from NI to Portugal and subsequently to Ireland. Revenue will, of course, follow the rules when it comes to applying VRT or VRT relief for changes of address, but they’re likely to be suspicious of your motives, so make absolutely sure you’ve got everything properly documented. 

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Hi Darren,

We were lead to believe that there was no leeway on this, but since you posted this question, you've told us that you've been in touch with Revenue and, actually, a refund of the difference should be possible for people in your situation. We'd urge anyone else in this situation to get clarification beforehand of course.