Cork used car importer wins latest round of vehicle tax legal battle

UCII first brought its legal action in 1995 but — because of issues over discovery of documents — it was not until 2012 that the case was heard in the High Court.

Revenue failed to provide an importer with details of how it determined the value of used cars for tax purposes. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA

The Court of Appeal has found that Revenue acted unlawfully in failing to provide a used car importer with details of how the open market selling price for used vehicles was determined for the purpose of calculating vehicle registration tax (VRT).

Mr Justice Brian Murray said that failure meant Used Car Importers of Ireland (UCII) could not find out whether the Revenue's system of valuing imported vehicles would, as a general rule, be very close to their actual value, thereby affecting the VRT calculation.