Will older cars benefit from 2021 tax changes?

My understanding was that cars registered in the past couple of years had their emissions tested under the new WLTP system. Let's say a car registered in 2019 would be taxed at a higher rate than the exact same make that was registered in 2016. Will the cars registered in 2019 or 2020 benefit from the motor tax changes in the recent budget?

Thanks,

Noel

Noel O'Callaghan (Cork)

Oct 2020 Filed under: taxation

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Expert answer

Hi Noel,

You're right that cars have been WLTP-tested for a while now, but the WLTP CO₂ figure was not in use. Instead, an-NEDC-equivalent value was used and quoted in all official documentation. That was a legal requirement, incidentally, not an attempt by the car makers to mislead. 

Cars already registered will not benefit from the tax changes coming in 2021. We've covered this in detail in our Motor Road Tax Prices in Ireland Explained feature.

Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Advisor
@Shane_O_D