Consultation on motor tax for commercial vehicles

FTA Ireland is initiating a consultation with its Council members on motor tax for commercial vehicles.

The current basis of assessment (BOA) is unladen weight (KG), and ranges from €333pa for a 3,000kg vehicle to €5,195pa for vehicles over 20,000kg.

As the BOA represents the sum of unladen tractor and trailer weight, the material issues for members are:
1. The high absolute rates of motor tax, relative to our international competitors
2. The difficulty in ensuring vehicle combinations are adequately taxed, when picking up unaccompanied trailers.
3. The fact that DTTAS is now considering a “road charge” in addition to the current high rates of tax.

The introduction of the UK Road User Levy on April 1 has compounded these problems, making Irish operators relatively more expensive on UK roads than their UK counterparts, FTA Ireland says.

An FTA Ireland member is also considering a Supreme Court challenge to unladen vehicle weight as the BOA for commercial motor tax. Following representations from FTA Ireland to the Joint Oireachtas Transport Committee, and directly to the Transport Minister, FTA Ireland will shortly engage with DTTAS and the Department of the Environment on the issue of commercial vehicle motor tax.

While FTA Ireland has indicated to DTTAS and the Joint Oireachtas Transport Committee that commercial motor tax rates should be decreased, the trade association realises that this tax subhead brings in more than €100m per annum to the exchequer. “We must push to ensure that whatever changes are made to the motor tax regime, that they are fair, equitable, practical, and at worst, cost neutral for Irish hauliers,”a FTA Ireland spokesperson said.

The spokesperson continued: “We must also be in a position to state what our desired replacement for commercial vehicle road tax should be.”

FTA Ireland members are therefore asked to consider and give their views on possible mechanisms to tax commercial vehicles, and/or charge commercial vehicles for road use, such as:

1.       Maximum Authorised Mass/Gross Vehicle Weight (MAM/GVW)
2.       Axles
3.       Vehicle Euro Rating
4.       Vehicle CO2 output (not the same as Euro Rating)
5.       Other BOA
6.       A combination of two or more of the BOA above