Extension to Cope with Motor Tax Backlog Necessary

IFA Farm Business Chairman Tom Doyle said farmers will be very disappointed that there is no extension to the transition period for the new motor tax rules, and again has called on Environment Minister Phil Hogan to review the situation as thousands of vehicle owners queue at motor tax offices around the country today.

Tom Doyle said IFA had highlighted the issues arising as a result of the change in legislation and had called for the deadline of the end of September to be extended to allow sufficient time for everybody to familiarise themselves with the new regulation, and for the overstretched administration to process applications.

He said, “Local authority offices around the country are inundated with queries and simply do not have the personnel to deal with the number of people who have to process the new form. Common sense must prevail and the deadline must be extended, or something must be done to deal with the backlog of applications before the new legislation is enforced”.

Following on from correspondence with Revenue, assurances have been given specifically regarding vehicles which are not registered. Those tractors which are unregistered will not receive a Vehicle Registration penalty if registered before the 31st of October. Instead those tractors will receive an exemption until the 31st of October during which they can be registered at a one off VRT charge of €200 with no additional VRT charge. These tractors will then have 10 days from date of first registration to be taxed or declared off the road and will thus not be liable for Motor Tax arrears. Motor tax is only due from 10 days after the date of first registration.

The Minister has given assurances that anybody whose application to declare a vehicle off the road is received in a motor tax office by close of business today, either by post or submitted in person, will be deemed to have complied with the deadline in the legislation, even if the form is in some respect incomplete or incorrectly completed.

Applicants will be contacted over the next few weeks to rectify the forms. Postal applications postmarked on or before 30 September will be regarded as having been received by the deadline. Therefore for owners with registered vehicles which are currently untaxed but which the owner intends to put back on the road sometime in the future need to submit a form RF100A filled in as completely as they can, or form RF150 (declaration of non-use into the future).