Thousands of motorists who imported cars from abroad without paying VRT will be targeted in a new Revenue crackdown CompleteCar.ie has learned.
The move comes as an estimated €100m is lost to the state each year in un-paid VRT. Since the start of 2010 insurance companies in Ireland have been forwarding the names, addresses and car details of foreign registered cars to Revenue. With this information Revenue is tracking down evaders and seizing cars in some cases.
Under Section 111 of the new Finance Act, every insurance company has to send details of drivers who have an unregistered car for more than 42 days in the state. Such drivers are now facing fines of up to €5,000 and having the cars seized until the VRT and fines have been paid.
As Ireland has a high rate of used imports compared to new car sales the problem of VRT evasion has been an on-going problem for Irish authorities.
According to a spokesperson from Revenue, "a pre-registration examination is due to come into effect shortly". This change requires all cars being registered in the state by private individuals to be presented at nationwide centres for examination, replacing the previous need to bring the vehicle to a local VRT office.
This process will involve the cross-checking of vehicle documents with the car's VIN number to confirm that both are the same and one. Previously, cars were examined on a random basis allowing motorists, in some cases, to pay less VRT than was due by concealing details about the car.
The new examination and the handling of VRT payments will be carried out by Applus+ Car Testing Service Ltd, who currently operates the National Car Testing service (NCT) on behalf of the Road Safety Authority. Motorists will be required to book their imported car for the new examination within one week of the car's arrival in the state with the examination and VRT payment required to take place within one month.