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Hi Fergus,

VRT won’t come into it. Even if you’re buying as a private buyer, you still pay the 13.3 per cent commercial vehicle rate. As for motor tax, for a 2.2 engine it’ll be €951 per year. 

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Hi Pete,

Yup, if it’s been registered as a commercial vehicle in the first place, and you’re using it only for work purposes, then you’re entitled to continue to tax it as a commercial. 

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Hi Martin,

If the car is registered as a commercial vehicle, and that’s how you’re using it (strictly no social, domestic, nor pleasure motoring) then yes, absolutely, you can tax it as a commercial.

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Hi John,

It goes back on to the old by-engine-capacity tax system, if you’re taxing a van as a private car, so if it has a 2.0 engine then you’re looking at €710 a year. 

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Hi Deirdre,

Not any more, I’m afraid. The government closed off the loophole in the tax system that allowed five-seat SUVs with big boots to be classed as vans for tax purposes. That was all shut down in July 2018. Now, it’s always worth checking with your accountant, and you can claim back VAT against five-seat crew-cab pickups and vans, but in general the claiming back on SUVs has gone, now. 

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Hi Trevor,

We’re not sure about the five per cent VRT BIK rate, as that will depend on your personal circumstances and how the vehicle is paid for and registered. Better to ask your company accountant that one. As for being OK to carry passengers for personal use, yes you can, but you’ll have to register it as a private car and tax it as such (which could be tricky if you’re trying to get the van rate BIK) and you’ll have to make sure that your insurance covers it for social/domestic/pleasure use as well as work.

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Hi Brian,

It’s pretty simple to tax a commercial vehicle as a private car, but it does mean reverting to the old by-engine-capacity tax system, so beware of going over 2.0 litres in engine capacity as the tax cost starts to become prohibitive after that point. 

Read our Buying a commercial vehicle for private use feature on the subject for more.

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Hi Declan,

That’s right — the NOx tax will only apply to Category A vehicles, i.e. private passenger cars. Vans are in Category B and are exempt. 

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Hi Aidan,

No, the new NOx tax is only applied to Category A vehicles — which means private passenger cars — from Jan 1st onwards. 

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Hi Jamie,

There are three main charges to consider when importing a car from Japan. Of course, there’s VRT, which you can try to calculate using the online resources supplied by Revenue, but often it’s a matter of guesswork until the car is actually physically inspected here. Secondly there’s the shipping (which would normally be in and around €1,000 to get a car freighted to Dublin). Finally, there’s VAT and customs duty — these will usually only be a minor charge if the car is relatively old, but if it’s a recent model, the VAT especially could be rather significant.