“Not a lot of change!” says vehicle history expert Cartell.ie – unless you are a commercial vehicle owner. Minister Michael Noonan did not touch motor taxation rates for the private vehicle in Budget 2016. This is the third year in a row the Minister has left the rates as they were – meaning we are still operating off the rates applied in 2013.

One considerable change concerned the issue of commercial motor taxation rates. The Minister has capped the total amount payable at €900. This will greatly assist commercial vehicle owners as the economy gets back on track and brings our commercial taxation regime more in line with rates paid in Northern Ireland and the UK. The Minister said this was “causing distortions in the industry and increasing costs in the economy”. The highest commercial rate before the Budget stood at €5,195. The Minister also proposed a more simplified regime with just five commercial taxation bands.

The changes are temporary though as the Minister also announced a future change: a new regime will eventually replace the existing one by basing taxation on the Gross Design Vehicle Weight of the vehicle being taxed.

The Minister said:

Road tax for large goods vehicles in Ireland is too high by comparison with the regime applying in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. This is causing distortions in the haulage industry and increasing costs across the economy. So I am simplifying the rates of commercial motor tax by replacing the 20 existing rates with just 5 rates of commercial motor tax, ranging from €92 to €900 with effect from the 1st of January 2016. Furthermore, over 28,500 commercial vehicles will benefit from these reductions. The most significant reductions are concentrated on the larger goods vehicles. The maximum rate of commercial motor tax will be €900 per annum, down from €5,195. This is an interim measure pending the replacement of the current commercial motor tax regime with a fairer basis for calculating commercial motor tax, which will be based on the Gross Design Vehicle Weight of the goods vehicles.”