Buying a car in U.K. and bringing to Northern Ireland

JTSloan

Hi am about to buy a car from England and bring it back to Northern Ireland- Belfast . Is there any import or extra duty payable ? I can’t seem to get a straight answer some sites reference a levy of 20% on top of the Cost price and the nigov site has no information! Just don’t want to buy a car and get hit with a big bill ! Any help is much appreciated thanks

AdrianC

Of course there isn't.
NI is part of the UK, after all. (Currently)

You just drive it across, and change the keeper with DVLA in Swansea.

I suspect you're getting confused with importing to another country - the Republic, p'raps? That wouldn't have had any duty or VAT before new year, but will do now - any local registration fees and taxes are, of course, that country's prerogative.

Car_54

I suspect the OP isn't confused about another country, but about the complete dog's breakfast our government has made of implementing Brexit in NI.

AIUI goods moving from GB to NI are now subject to customs-type paperwork. The government "guidance" is far from clear whether this applies to personal possesions and cars.

The OP shouldn't have to pay anything, but he may have a few bureaucratic hoops to jump through.

Car_54

Also, he has to change the keeper and tax the car before he drives it anywhere.

JTSloan

Thanks for the comments I spoke with HMRC imports and exports department and then with the Car import export department both provided me with different answers. 1 said they were 99% certain there would be no charge the other department said that the charge was either 10% or 20% of the sale value ! So totally confused and not keen on getting a bill for several £xk.....

AdrianC

You aren't exporting or importing. NI and England are the same country - the UK.

zagubov

Do you have to change the registration plate after a time there?

Money_Grabber13579

There was some kind of VAT issue from the start of the year, where VAT was going to be chargeable on the full value of cars brought into NI rather than just the profit margin. I’ve no idea whether that only applied to car dealers importing into NI or if it has now been resolved.

AdrianC

zagubov said:

Do you have to change the registration plate after a time there?

No.

You can choose to change a GB for NI plate (or vice-versa), but you don't have to. GB and NI vehicles are all registered at Swansea now - the separate NI registry closed nearly a decade ago.

Herzlos

Presumably if you register the car to the NI address and change it to an NI plate, it'll just look like you're driving it home. You're not going to have to pay import duty every time you take the ferry surely?

neilmcl

AdrianC said:

You aren't exporting or importing. NI and England are the same country - the UK.

This isn't strictly true, NI remains part of the EU Customs Territory and as such cars being brought in from the rest of Great Britain will attract VAT and some form of customs formality, although I'm not sure if this just applies to car dealers in NI or individuals. The OP has a right to be confused as this information out there is very sparse.