‘Grace period’ on motor tax urged as loophole closes
There were lengthy queues as people tried to submit the new non-use of motor vehicle forms before close of business.
The Department of the Environment said an online process on motortax.ie is still being developed for the new regime and won’t be able to take applications until later this year.
The rush followed confirmation from Phil Hogan, the environment minister, over the weekend that the deadline for the new tax system would not be extended.
The new arrangements kick in today as part of a clampdown on tax evasion which is estimated at €55m per year, marking the end of a three-month transition period during which arrears could be paid or a declaration of non-use made.
Previously, a person could go to a Garda station and make a declaration that a vehicle was off the road, without having to pay arrears. But from now on, motorists must inform their local motor tax office in advance if a vehicle will be off the road. Motorists will be liable to pay all motor tax arrears before a new vehicle licence can be issued in respect of the vehicle.
Some of the longest queues were seen at motor tax offices in:
* Cork, where delays of up to two hours were experienced;
* Galway, where the average queuing time was three hours;
* Smithfield in Dublin where it took up to three hours for some requests to be processed;
* Portlaoise, where extra staff were deployed to cope with the numbers.
Lengthy delays were also experienced in Carlow, Tralee, Sligo, Tullamore, and Castlebar, where people began queuing from 7.30am.
RedFM DJ Philip Bourke was among the hundreds queuing outside Cork County Council’s motor tax office on Model Farm Rd to declare a car which will be off the road for the next year. “I joined the queue at about 8.40am but there were people there from 8am,” he said.
“They opened the doors earlier than usual to get people in out of the rain. It was well managed outside and security staff told us we’d be waiting at least an hour. I was queuing for about an hour and a half and once we got inside, we were dealt with quickly.
“But there were two queues outside and you wouldn’t know from standing outside which was the right queue to be in. It was only for people coming out who told us the shorter queue was for declaration of off-the-road vehicle.”
Conor Faughnan, AA Ireland’s director of consumer affairs, said the new taxing arrangements had been well flagged and would help modernise the state’s motor tax system.
But he said there is a responsibility on individual motor tax offices to treat each case with a degree of “common sense”.
“There should be an informal grace period of some sort to give people time to regularise their motor tax affairs,” he said. “I am given to understand that that will happen. We will be saved by common sense rather than by regulation.”
Postal applications postmarked on or before Sept 30 will be regarded as having been received by the deadline.
Despite the minister’s stance on the deadline, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association has again called for the deadline to be extended. Gabriel Gilmartin, ICSA president, said there is a “clear need” for the transition period to be extended given the sheer number of people turning up at motor tax offices.
“It is a significant change that is being made to the tax regime affecting very large numbers of motorists, so an extension until the end of October would be a sensible move,” he said.
* Why the loophole is being closed.
An analysis of garda- witnessed ‘off-the-road’ vehicle statements in the 12 months to the end of Jul 2012 showed that there were 539,000 declarations made during the period, with a value of over €110m.
Some €22m related to changes of vehicle ownership, with the majority of the remaining €88m being made for periods of between one and three months.
While in some cases declarations will be genuine, it is suspected there is widespread abuse, potentially costing up to €55m per annum.
