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Hi Richard,

You will have to pay VAT here as it’s less than six months old. As for VRT, you’re probably looking at a charge of around €3-4,000, depending on the spec of the car.

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Hi Kevin,

The Tourneo uses a 2.0-litre TDCi diesel engine so taxing it as a private vehicle means using the old engine capacity tax system, which means €710 a year.

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Hi Tracey,

OK, the Triton is basically the same as our L200 pickup, so it’ll be assessed for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) at 13.3 per cent of the Irish market selling price. An L200 of that sort of age, depending on condition, will be worth around €10-12,000 so you’re probably looking at around €1,500 or so in VRT costs. Because it’s an older car you won’t  need to worry about VAT, but because it’s coming from outside the EU, there will be customs duty to pay, which is usually charged at 10 per cent of the vehicle cost plus shipping. When you bring the car in, you have a week to officially notify Revenue that the car is in the country, and then 30 days to book your VRT inspection appointment and complete the process. 

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Hi Marcin,

It can be taxed privately. Oddly, as it's a commercial, to tax it privately, the rate is calculated on the old by-engine-capacity regime, regardless of the fact that it's a 2016 model.

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Hi Katarzyna,

You can, but there are two things standing in your way — first you will have to tax the van as a private vehicle, and that means you may end up paying more every year than the flat-rate €333 commercial vehicle road tax rate. Secondly, you will need to make sure you tell your insurer that the van is being used for private, social, domestic and pleasure use, as that may have an impact on your quote and coverage. 

Read our Buying a commercial vehicle for private use feature for more

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Hi Tim,

Yes, that looks about right to us and, if you’ve used the Revenue VRT calculator, then the VRT cost should be close enough to what you’ll actually have to finally pay. One word of warning — the calculator doesn’t allow for extra optional equipment, which can jack up the cost of VRT, so beware of that when you bring it down for inspection.

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Hi Padraig,

If it’s a crew-cab and you’re taxing it as a commercial vehicle, then it’s a flat-rate commercial tax of €333 a year. If you want to use it as a private car, then you have to revert to the old engine-capacity tax, and that’s  going to be €710 a year for a 2.0-litre engine.

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Hi Felicitas,

It’s a tricky one. Theoretically, the amount of VRT you’d have to pay on an imported Kona would be zero or close enough to it, as the €5,000 rebate should more or less cover the VRT payment (I say more or less because the Irish spec of the Kona is slightly different to the UK’s so there may be some optional equipment charges). The payment you will have to pay is the VAT. If a car is less than six months old, even if the VAT has already been paid in the UK, you have to pay it here, so that’s going to be 21 per cent, which will be around €4-5,000. Also, beware of the BIK rebate — that is designed strictly for company car users, so I’d check with your accountant to make sure everything is above board. 

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Hi Tom,

There doesn’t, slightly bizarrely, seem to be an online way of doing this I’m afraid. Your best bet is to actually go to your local motor tax office, and bring both your vehicle registration document and your primary medical certificate with you. The actual human in the MT office should be able to sort you out, but it’s odd that there seems no way to do this via the web, which would obviously be much easier for those with restricted mobility.

Incidentally, you’re also allowed to claim back both VRT and VAT on the car you’ve bought (download form DD1 from the Revenue website) and there’s also a fuel grant, depending on your circumstances. Have a look at the Citizens’ Information website. It’s really helpful.

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Hi James,

It depends on exactly what Kombi version it is. You see, under the recently changed rules for N1 commercial vehicle VRT and tax, if the van has fewer than ten seats, and the seats and cargo area are all in the one section, then it technically counts as a passenger car and you’ll be paying VRT at either 28 per cent or 31 per cent of the OMSP, and then passenger car motor tax too in Bands D or E.

If it has three or fewer seats, or if the cargo area is physically separated from the seating area, then it counts as a crew-van and you’ll pay 13.3 per cent of the OMSP, but to tax it as a private vehicle you’ll have to put it on the old engine capacity rating (why this is still in use we’re not sure, but it is) and that’ll be €710 a year assuming it has the 2.0-litre TDI engine.