Irish duty
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THE IRISH Revenue Commissioners have moved against the practice of converting cars to vans to avoid paying import taxes.
Vans attract only 6.5 per cent duty while cars attract 23 per cent. The conversions can lead to savings of as much as 1R£2,000. The Revenue Commissioners plan to stamp out the practice by bringing more small car derived vans into the 23 per cent category.
However, the move has come under fire from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry which represents the main vehicle importers and dealers.
Its chief excecutive, Leo Keogh, claimed that this was just another revenue gathering exercise by the Irish Government and he estimated that the exchequer would benefit by as much as IRE5m.
This was denied by a spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners, Tom Duffy. "We don't visualise any extra revenue from the change," he said. "The system was being abused with vehicles that were quite clearly car derived being converted. The back seat was taken out and the rear windows were blacked out."
Mr Duffy insisted that commercial vehicles and vans which were clearly not car derived would not be affected. Only a very limited number of vehicles was involved, he said.
But importers such as Ford and Austin Rover market small vans based on the Fiesta and Metro, and this may lead to a problem of interpretation because of the tougher attitude of the Revenue Commissioners.