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EU wades into VRT row
18.05.09
THE EU Commission has
said the requirement for Irish residents to pay
Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) within 24 hours of
importing a car from the North is “impossible or
excessively difficult to comply with”.
In response to a query from Fine Gael MEP Jim
Higgins, European Commissioner for Taxation and
Customs, Laslo Kovacs, said: “the requirement to
register a vehicle within 24 hours should be
considered to be a period that is so short that it
makes it impossible or excessively difficult to
comply with the requirements imposed.” |
Jim Higgins criticised
Revenue officials for “pressurising people and
scaremongering on the issue of VRT”. He called on
Revenue officials to cease the practice of informing
people that registration must be completed within 24
hours and to give people a seven day timeframe.
“If they do not,” Higgins warned, “people would, it
seems, be |
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entitled to take the
Government to court in Europe and it would lead to
more unnecessary and costly legal costs for the
State.” A spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners
emphasised that Irish law requires vehicles to be
registered “not later than the next working day
after its arrival in the State”.
“However, Revenue, as an administrative arrangement,
allows up to seven days for registration,” the
spokesman added. “We have publicised this fact on
many occasions.”
Customs and Excise officials have been engaged in a
crackdown on VRT evasion in recent weeks, with a
number of vehicles being seized and warnings issued
in other cases. (Inishowen
Independent) |
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