Revenue may have to refund slice of €750m VRT collection

THE Revenue Commissioners will have to refund a significant portion of the €750 million collected annually in Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) if a legal challenge on export rebates is successful, it has emerged.

The details were revealed in Department of Finance published papers of the Tax Strategy Group (TSG), an interdepartmental committee comprising senior officials and advisors from the Departments of Finance, Taoiseach, Enterprise Trade and Employment, Social Community and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners.

If the challenge is successful it will have the knock-on effect of providing an outlet for second-hand cars in Ireland which it is anticipated will have the net effect of increasing their value, making the purchase of new cars less expensive for existing car owners as trade-in values rise.