Motor tax in Ireland: rates, paying online, renewals and arrears

Motor tax is the yearly charge for using a vehicle on a public road. It is collected by the local authorities through the motor tax offices and through Motor Tax Online at motortax.ie, and the rates are set by the Oireachtas in the Finance Acts. This page gives the rates for private cars as the Acts state them, how to pay, what the PIN is, what late renewal costs and how to declare a car off the road. For the extra points that apply to a car being imported, see motor tax on an imported car.

Which table your car is on

There are three tables for private cars. Which one applies depends on when the car was first registered, anywhere, and on which test its CO2 figure was measured:

• First registered on or after 1 January 2021, anywhere: the WLTP table, on the car's WLTP CO2 figure.
• First registered between 1 July 2008 and 31 December 2020: the NEDC table if the CO2 figure is an NEDC one, which it is for most cars of those years; the WLTP table if the figure is a WLTP one. A used import of those years follows the same rule when it is registered here.
• First registered before 1 July 2008: by engine size.

An electric car pays €120 on every table. A car whose CO2 figure Revenue cannot confirm from its type-approval certificate or certificate of conformity, and is not satisfied about from any other document, pays the top rate of €2,400. That last rule is in both CO2 tables and matters most for cars imported from Japan, which have no EU certificate.

The WLTP table

Cars first registered from 1 January 2021, and older imports with a WLTP figure. Annual rates from section 35 of the Finance Act 2020.

The NEDC table

Cars first registered between 1 July 2008 and 31 December 2020 with an NEDC figure. Annual rates from the same section.

By engine size, for cars first registered before July 2008

Annual rates from section 4 of the Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Act 2013, unchanged since.

Paying on Motor Tax Online

Motor Tax Online, at motortax.ie, takes the first taxing of a car and every renewal. You need the registration number, a PIN, an email address and a debit or credit card. The disc is posted within four working days, and for a first taxing the new Vehicle Registration Certificate comes with it.

The PIN depends on the car:

• A car that has been taxed before: the last six digits of the Vehicle Registration Certificate number. The same PIN is printed on the renewal notice, form RF100B, which the Department of Transport posts before the disc expires.
• A brand-new or imported car being taxed for the first time: the last six characters of the chassis number, as printed on the RF100 form from the dealer or the NCTS centre.

A disc can be bought for three, six or twelve months. The twelve-month disc costs least over a year; the shorter ones carry a surcharge. Renewal is open any time in the month the current disc expires.

The motor tax office still takes payment in person or by post, on the renewal notice or on form RF100A, by card, cheque, bank draft or postal order, never cash by post. A commercial vehicle's first taxing in a new owner's name must be done at the office, which sets its tax category.

Arrears, if you are late

Tax is due from the first day of the month after the old disc expired. For every month the car was untaxed, the Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Act 2013 adds a charge on top of the tax itself: one-tenth of the annual rate for each month of arrears, rounded down to the whole euro. A part of a month counts as a month. The motor tax office will not issue a disc until the arrears are paid.

On a car in the €280 band, two months late costs €56 in arrears before the tax for the new period. The same Act ended declarations of non-use for a period that has already passed, so there is no way to clear arrears after the event by saying the car was off the road.

Declaring a car off the road

A car that will not be used in a public place can be declared off the road, which stops the tax for that period. The declaration is made in advance, online at motortax.ie or on form RF150 at the motor tax office:

• in the month the current disc expires, or the month the current declaration expires to extend it
• for a car just bought or imported, within 21 days of getting it
• for whole calendar months, at least 3 and at most 12 at a time

A car that is already untaxed with arrears owing cannot be declared off the road until the arrears are paid and the car taxed for at least three months.

Imported cars

The figure that decides the table is the CO2 figure Revenue records when the car is registered at the NCTS centre, and the first disc is bought online with the RF100 PIN as above. The import guide covers the one trap: a car whose CO2 figure cannot be confirmed pays €2,400 a year, which for a small Japanese import can outweigh the VRT over the years of ownership. See motor tax on an imported car, and the NCTS centre for the registration that comes first.

To see what a car would cost to land here, VRT and all, before the first disc is ever bought, use Camber's calculator.