Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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505. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will consider changing the application of motor tax from the first of the month to the precise date of purchase, to facilitate those who purchase vehicles in the middle of the month, in order that they are not liable for tax from the first of the month when they did not own the car; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1352/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Motor tax is payable annually, half-yearly or quarterly on the basis of whole calendar months.

Changing the commencement date of motor tax from the first of the month to a system where a vehicle is taxed based on the date of registration or date of change of ownership, effectively an individual date for every vehicle in the fleet, would require both legislative changes and significant technical adjustments to the National Vehicle and Driver File. The legislative changes would have to be applied not only to applications for motor tax, but also to the provisions relating to declarations of non-use, which currently are also made in calendar months.

In terms of the technical adjustments to the National Vehicle and Driver File, as well as adjustments to provide for motor tax to commence on dates other than the first of the month, there would have to be significant changes to the print runs for renewal notices for motor tax. These are currently issued as a single print run at the beginning of the calendar month of the last month of motor tax to allow motorists to tax their vehicles up to a month in advance of the expiry date of motor tax. Some 200,000 paper notices are issued in a single print run each month, along with 2,000,000 electronic notices. Individualised motor tax commencements would require continuous print runs in order to ensure that motorists are given equal time to tax their vehicles ahead of the individualised expiry time for motor tax; such an approach would be considerably less efficient than the current system. Furthermore, significant technical adjustments to stakeholder interfaces, such as with the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána, would also be required.

On the basis of the significant additional costs that would be likely to accrue, I have no plans to move a way from the current system of issuing tax discs on the basis of calendar months.