Northern Ireland residents will be well aware that car ownership is a bit different compared to the rest of the UK. Northern Ireland has its own system for granting driving licences, MOT testing and numberplates on Northern Irish registered vehicles follow a different format to numberplates issued in other parts of the United Kingdom. However, when it comes to road fund licence, more commonly called “car tax”, the system is broadly similar, and managed for Northern Ireland’s drivers by the DVLA in Swansea. There are some key differences however, which is why it’s important to know the system whether you have lived in Northern Ireland your whole life, or have recently moved.
When first introduced in the 1920s, the money raised by Road Fund Licence was ring-fenced, and could only be used to maintain and build more roads. This idea that road fund licence could only be used for road maintenance finished in 1936, but there is still a common misconception that the government uses the money generated by road fund licence receipts for building new roads – it just goes into the general pot of taxation which the government can use how it pleases. The new system is known as Vehicle Excise Duty officially, and tax is paid by the vast majority of the UK’s motorists. Until 2014, the Driver and Vehicle Agency, based in Coleraine, was responsible for the administration of car tax in Northern Ireland, but since then it has been managed UK-wide by the DVLA in Swansea, Wales.
Nearly all motorists driving on UK roads need to pay car tax. There are a few niche exceptions for vehicles which are more than 40 years old, or for cars which are used exclusively by disabled people who receive certain government benefits. The easiest way to check your car tax liability is to go online. This is not a complicated thing to do, and you won’t have to sign up for an account or pay anything to do so. All you need is the registration number of the car. It doesn’t even have to be your car or van; anyone can check the tax and MOT status od any vehicle, for any reason. After you enter the registration number of the car you wish to check, the results page will show the make and model of the car linked to that registration number, and its colour. It will then show whether the car is currently taxed, and if so, when that tax runs out. You will also be able to look at whether the car has a current MOT, and also click through to see the results of previous MOT tests. This is very useful if you are thinking of buying a car, and want to have a look to see whether it has sailed through previous MOT tests, or what it has failed for.
Although the website will confirm whether a car is taxed or not, and tell you when that tax expires, it won’t tell you how much the car tax costs. This is where things start to get a little complex, as the calculation of how much car tax you pay is based on the emissions level of the vehicle in most cases. There is a sliding scale of payments, with the most polluting vehicles paying the most, and small electric vehicles paying nothing at all. There are websites which will allow you again to enter you registration number and find out what group the car is in for tax. These sites work on Northern Ireland registrations in the same way as other formats of registration. If you are thinking about buying a brand new car from a dealer which has yet to be registered, the trader should be able to show you the figures about emissions, and tell you the levels of car tax which you can expect to pay.
Most people find it easiest to pay their car tax online, as this can be done at any time of the day or night. There is also still the option of going to the Post Office to pay your car tax over the counter if you prefer to do so. Most Northern Ireland drivers choose to pay their car tax in one lump sum to cover the whole year. There is also the option to make two payments six months apart, or even pay monthly be direct debits, although it will cost 5% more over the course of the year to do this. Many drivers might think though it’s a price worth paying to spread the cost.
Drivers of electric vehicles, or drivers who have a disability which means they are exempt from paying car tax have to proactively apply for that exemption. This means going online every year, ticking the box to say that your vehicle is exempt from car tax and giving the reason. When it comes to electric vehicles this is straightforward, as the DVLA will be able to match up the information in its database with the exemption you are claiming. If you are claiming an exemption from road tax for another reason, you will be asked to provide more information.
Drivers who aren’t going to use their car on the road for an extended period can apply for a statutory off road notification, or SORN. This is designed to be used when your car needs repairs over many months, or perhaps when it’s a vehicle you only use at a certain time of year. Northern Ireland’s laws around SORN are the same as the rest of the UK. SORN vehicles must be kept completely off the road, either in a garage or on private land. Once you wish to use the vehicle again, you just need to go back online and pay the road tax again to be legally allowed to use it on the road again.