Motor Industry

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 February 2024

Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Questions (232)

Matt Shanahan

Question:

232. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Finance if he is familiar with the practice of fraudulently registering vehicles within the state in order to reclaim monies under the VRT repayment scheme (details supplied); the number of vehicles fraudulently registered within the State in this way; what advances have been made in detecting these fraudulent registrations; how many prosecutions have taken place in this time period per year since 1997, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6259/24]

Written answers

Minister for Finance

I am advised by Revenue that a temporary £1,000 vehicle registration tax scrappage repayment scheme was introduced in the Finance Act, 1995. Under the scheme, a person who, between 1 July 1995 and 31 December 1996 (extended until 31 December 1997), scrapped a car which was ten years old or more, and at the same time bought and registered a new car, was eligible to claim a repayment of £1,000 VRT. The example provided by the Deputy under ‘details supplied’ relates to this scheme. A further temporary Scrappage Scheme was introduced from 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2010 (extended until 30 June 2011) with VRT reliefs of up to €1,500 available on qualifying vehicles.

Revenue has no information with regard to the practice of fraudulently registering vehicles within the State in order to reclaim monies under the VRT repayment scheme that operated in the 1990s. There are no recorded prosecutions in relation to that repayment scheme.

There are no VRT scrappage repayment schemes available in the State for cars at this present time.