The query relates to the criteria for eligibility for exemption from the requirement to be registered with the Revenue Commissioners for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) purposes where a vehicle is temporarily brought into the State. I am informed by Revenue that it may grant a vehicle temporary exemption from the requirement to register a vehicle in the State for VRT if it is owned or registered abroad by a person established outside the State. In the case of an individual, he/she is established outside the State when he/she has his/her normal residence outside the State.
Normal residence, where referenced in Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 60/1993, is clearly defined within the S.I. as meaning the place where a person usually lives, that is where she/he lives for at least 185 days in each year because of personal and occupational ties, or, in the case of a person with no occupational ties, because of personal ties. However, the normal residence of a person whose occupational ties are in a different place from her/his personal ties and who consequently lives in turn in different places situated in two or more countries shall be regarded as being the place of her/his personal ties provided that such person returns to the place of her/his personal ties regularly. This proviso shall not apply where the person is living in a country in order to carry out a task of a duration of less than one year.
I am further informed by Revenue that the criteria for temporary exemption from the registration of vehicles as outlined in S.I. No. 60/1993 does not give any specific weighting to the presence of an individual in the State on any specific days of the month or year.
‘Ordinarily resident’ for tax purposes and ‘normal residence’ for VRT purposes are defined differently and treated differently. Tax residence status depends on the number of days a person is present in Ireland during a tax year.
Section 819 Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997 sets out the statutory residence test for tax purposes. It provides that an individual is resident in the State for tax purposes for a tax year if he or she is present in the State for:
- 183 days in that tax year, or
- 280 days between that tax year and the previous tax year, with a minimum of 30 days in each year.
An individual is regarded as being resident in the State for a day if he or she is present in the State at any time during the day. The fact that an individual may be present in the State on particular days is immaterial for the purposes of these tests. Instead, it is the total number of days that an individual is present in the State in a tax year that determines if he/she is resident or not for tax purposes for that year.
