Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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497. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 497 of 11 November 2014, the costs of administering a single renewal notice and tax disc. [44827/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Motor tax can either be renewed in a local authority motor tax office or online at , which is maintained by the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), under the auspices of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

I am not in a position to provide the cost of administering a single tax disc as cost information is not measured in this manner. Similarly, I am not in a position to provide the cost of a single renewal notice as these notices are issued by the NVDF.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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498. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 497 of 11 November 2014, if his attention has been drawn to the fact that many persons cannot afford to pay their motor tax in a single lump sum and that they are then penalised with extra costs for paying the tax every three or six months; and the steps he will take to ensure a fairer system is put in place. [44828/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Motor tax is payable on an annual, half-yearly or quarterly basis. The rates applicable for the half-yearly and quarterly options are 55.5% and 28.25% of the annual charge, respectively. These relativities have remained generally consistent since the 1960s.

The differential takes account of the extra workload for staff in motor tax offices and the National Vehicle and Driver File and the resultant administrative costs and printing costs that arise, including the issuing of renewal notices. Each quarterly renewal of motor tax follows the same administrative procedures as the annual renewal process. Consequently, renewing on a quarterly basis generates four times the workload of an annual renewal for the equivalent period.

The estimated additional annual income from the increased charges for half-yearly and quarterly discs is in the region of €50m. A loss of income from this source would have a negative impact on the total collected via motor tax and would have to be borne elsewhere in the motor tax system or through the taxation system generally.

I have no plans currently to review the basis for paying motor tax on a half-yearly or quarterly basis.