Customs dossier · UK & NI imports

Your car import duty calculator — the full landed cost in one pass

A car import duty calculator estimates the customs duty, the 23% VAT and the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) you will owe when you bring a vehicle into Ireland — most often from the UK — so you can see the total landed cost in euros before you commit to the seller.

Get the sequence right and you avoid the classic double surprise: a duty bill and a VAT bill waiting at the port. Start with where the car was built, and the rest of the arithmetic follows in a fixed order — the worksheet below runs it for you.

Duty: 0% or 10% only
23% VAT + VRT included
Free — 2026 Revenue rates
GB, NI & third-country cars

Worksheet A — Import duty estimate Start with where the car is coming from

0% / 10% the only two duty rates 23% VAT on price + duty €4,674 origin swing on one Volvo 3 charges, one total

How Much Is Car Import Duty in Ireland?

The customs duty on imported cars in Ireland is either 0% or 10% of the vehicle's customs value: 0% if the car was manufactured in the UK, and 10% if it was built anywhere else and bought in Great Britain. There is no sliding scale by price — only these two rates, set by the Revenue Commissioners. Before the calculator can hand you a figure, you need to know which of the two applies to your car, so start with the rate itself.

The rate rests entirely on origin, not on a value band. A car built in a third country — anywhere outside the United Kingdom and the European Union — lands at the full rate. The table below sets out each scenario and what still stacks on top.

Where the car was built	Customs duty	Also due
Built in the UK (proven)	0%	23% VAT + VRT
Built in the EU, bought in GB	0% if preferential origin proven, else 10%	23% VAT + VRT
Built in a third country (e.g. Sweden, Germany, Japan), bought in GB	10%	23% VAT + VRT
Bought in Northern Ireland	Different regime — see §06, Great Britain vs Northern Ireland

Even at zero duty, the charges are not over. Ireland levies 23% VAT on the import value and then adds VRT on registration. The three charges are separate and they stack — clearing customs duty does not clear the car (Revenue.ie, "VAT and Customs Duty", 2026).

Calculate Import Car Tax in Five Steps

To calculate import car tax, take the purchase price, add customs duty (zero or ten percent), apply 23% VAT to that combined figure, then add VRT to reach the total landed cost in euros. Once you know your duty rate and the car's origin, the maths follows a fixed order:

Set the customs value — the purchase price plus shipping and insurance to Ireland.
Apply customs duty at either zero or ten percent of that customs value.
Apply 23% VAT to (customs value + duty).
Add VRT, based on the OMSP and the car's CO2/NOx emissions.
Sum everything for the total landed cost in euros, then book a VRT inspection at an NCTS centre to complete registration.

Where the calculator saves you time: the car import tax calculator Ireland drivers rely on runs those five steps for you and handles the hardest line to guess — the VRT. It turns a spreadsheet into a single estimate.

Worked Example — 2021 Volvo XC60 B4 Diesel Bought in London

A 2021 Volvo XC60 B4 diesel bought in London is manufactured in Sweden, so it attracts 10% customs duty — but the same purchase of a UK-built car would attract 0%, and the two chains below sit side by side. Numbers land harder than rules, so here is one real car costed both ways.

Scenario A — the Volvo as it is (10% duty, made in Sweden)

Purchase price (converted)	€38,000
Customs duty (10%)	€3,800
VAT 23% on €41,800	€9,614
VRT (indicative)	€6,000
Total landed	≈ €57,414

Scenario B — if the same car were UK-built (0% duty)

Purchase price (converted)	€38,000
Customs duty (0%)	€0
VAT 23% on €38,000	€8,740
VRT (indicative)	€6,000
Total landed	≈ €52,740

Same car, same seller, same trip — origin alone swings the bill by roughly €4,674. Figures are illustrative and rounded; the real VRT depends on the OMSP Revenue retains for the B4 diesel (Revenue.ie, 2026).

Country of Origin: Where the Car Was Built, Not Where You Bought It

Customs duty is decided by the country of origin — the place the car was manufactured — so a BMW built in Munich pays 10% even if you buy it from a dealer in Manchester. Those two duty rates hinge on this single detail that trips up most importers, so it is worth pinning down what "origin" actually means before you fall for a bargain listing.

The badge on the boot does not decide it — the plant that made the car does. A quick brand read tells you which side of the line a car sits on:

Plant and brand examples	Likely duty
Nissan Qashqai (Sunderland) · Mini (Oxford) · Toyota Corolla (Burnaston) · Honda built at Swindon	0% — built in the UK
Most Volvo (Sweden/Belgium) · Audi & BMW (Germany) · Toyota models shipped from Japan · Skoda (Czechia)	10% — built outside the UK

The Statement on Origin: Your Proof for 0%

Zero duty is not automatic. The seller must supply a valid statement on origin confirming preferential UK origin. Without that paperwork, Revenue applies the full ten percent by default, whatever the brand.

Before you pay the seller: ask for the statement on origin in writing and check it names the vehicle by VIN. A Sunderland-built Qashqai with no statement is taxed exactly like a Swedish Volvo — the paperwork, not the plant alone, unlocks the 0% rate.

Five Mistakes That Inflate an Import Bill

Most nasty surprises at the port or the NCTS counter are not Revenue being unreasonable — they are lines the importer never budgeted. These five account for the bulk of them.

Believing the badge decides the duty. A BMW bought in Manchester is still a German-built car: 10%. Origin follows the factory, not the brand's home market or the dealer's address. Check where the specific model line is assembled before you trust a "British car" pitch.
Forgetting that VAT is charged on the duty too. The 23% VAT applies to the customs value plus the duty — so a 10% duty line quietly inflates the VAT line as well. On the Volvo example that compounding effect alone is €874 of the €4,674 gap.
Buying in Great Britain without a statement on origin. Zero duty must be proven, not assumed. If the seller cannot produce a valid statement on origin, Revenue defaults to 10% — even on a car that genuinely rolled out of Sunderland or Oxford.
Overlooking the "new means of transport" rule. Under 6 months old or under 6,000 km, the car always triggers Irish VAT — even if VAT was already paid abroad. Nearly-new bargains from GB dealers are the classic trap here.
Underestimating the VRT and the OMSP. VRT is charged on the Open Market Selling Price Revenue assigns — not on your invoice — and scales with CO2 and NOx. On a mid-size diesel it is routinely the second-largest line on the ledger, and it is due even when duty and VAT are both zero.

Four Ways to Cost Your Import

One route gives you the whole landed cost in a minute or two; the other three cover the official filings and the lines you may want to cross-check. Pick by what you need today.

Route	What it covers	Cost	Best for
Simulator on this page	Duty + VAT + VRT in one estimate	Free	Sizing up a car before you commit
Customs declaration via ROS	The binding duty & VAT figures	Free (taxes due)	The legal filing itself, before arrival
Revenue's official VRT calculator	The VRT line only	Free	Cross-checking OMSP and emissions bands
Customs agent / broker	Declaration filed for you	Agent fee	First-time importers and origin puzzles

1Route

The Simulator at the Top of This Page

Worksheet A runs the whole sequence in one form, built for the exact question this page answers: what will this car cost me landed in Ireland?

Tell it where the car is coming from — Great Britain, Northern Ireland or outside the UK — so the correct duty rate is applied from the first line.
Enter the UK or NI registration plate, or pick the make and model by hand if you're still comparing listings.
The simulator pulls the vehicle's OMSP, CO2 and NOx values to price the VRT line — the figure hardest to guess on your own.
It stacks the charges in the legal order: customs value, duty at 0% or 10%, 23% VAT on the combined figure, VRT on top.
Download the PDF report and keep it with the purchase paperwork — useful when you brief a customs agent or book the NCTS appointment.

2Route

The Customs Declaration Through ROS

The declaration lodged through the Revenue Online Service (ROS) is the legally binding version of the sums above. It must be filed before the vehicle arrives in the State, by you or by an agent acting for you, with the purchase invoice, proof of origin and shipping details attached. Revenue computes the duty and VAT from the declared customs value — this is where the statement on origin earns its keep, because it is the document that turns a default 10% into 0%.

3Route

Revenue's Official VRT Calculator

For the VRT line alone, Revenue's own calculator on ROS reads the valuations database directly: it returns the OMSP retained for your exact variant and the CO2/NOx charges that follow from it. It says nothing about customs duty or VAT — pair its output with steps 1-3 of the five-step method to rebuild the full landed cost by hand, or use it to sanity-check any estimate that looks off.

4Route

A Customs Agent or Broker

An agent files the ROS declaration for you, classifies the vehicle correctly and knows what Revenue accepts as proof of origin — worth the fee on a first import, a third-country car or any purchase where the origin paperwork is unclear. Agree the fee up front and hand over the invoice, the V5C and the statement on origin; the taxes themselves are unchanged, you are paying for the filing to be right the first time.

Edge Cases: When the Standard Sums Don't Apply

Three situations rewrite the ledger before you even open the calculator. If any of them is yours, settle it first — it can remove entire lines from the bill, or add one back in.

Bought in Northern Ireland, not Great Britain
Moving to Ireland with your own car
Nearly new: under 6 months or 6,000 km

Great Britain vs Northern Ireland

The rate table in §02 leaves Northern Ireland out on purpose, because an NI purchase is less a duty question than a paperwork question. A car genuinely in use or in dealer stock in Northern Ireland generally crosses into the State with no customs duty and no declaration. What Revenue examines instead is the vehicle's VAT status and the evidence behind its time in NI: registration to a private NI owner, or proof it was properly held in stock by an NI dealer — not merely routed through the North from Great Britain to dodge the duty line. A used car whose VAT status was settled in NI usually attracts no further Irish VAT; a car moved from GB into NI shortly before the sale is treated as a GB import, duty and all. VRT is due either way — which is why two identical listings, one in Belfast and one in Birmingham, can carry landed costs thousands of euro apart.

Transfer of Residence Relief

If you are moving your normal residence to Ireland and you have owned and used the car for more than 6 months, Transfer of Residence relief can bring it in free of customs duty and VAT, with relief from VRT as well (Citizens Information, 2026). The conditions are strict: you must evidence the previous residence abroad and the car's personal use, and you cannot sell, hire out or lend the vehicle for 12 months after the relief is granted.

The "New Means of Transport" Rule

Age can override everything above. A vehicle under 6 months old or with under 6,000 km is a "new means of transport" for VAT purposes, and Irish VAT is always due on it — even if VAT was already paid abroad, and even on a Northern Ireland purchase that escapes customs duty (Revenue.ie, 2026). Where the rules allow, reclaim the foreign VAT from the seller; budget the Irish 23% regardless.

In Summary

Customs duty on a car imported into Ireland is 0% or 10% — decided by where the car was built, never by the badge or the forecourt. Then 23% VAT lands on the price plus the duty, and VRT stacks on top at registration: three separate charges, one landed total.

Follow the fixed order — customs value, duty, VAT on the combined figure, VRT — and insist on a statement on origin before paying any GB seller, or the 0% rate is lost by default. On one 2021 Volvo XC60, origin alone moved the bill by roughly €4,674.

Buying in Northern Ireland, moving your residence to Ireland, or importing a nearly-new car each rewrites the ledger — check §06 before you commit. Figures on this page are indicative; your customs declaration and the OMSP Revenue retains set the final bill. Last reviewed: July 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

The practical points that decide how smoothly an import goes — filing, payment, exchange rates and the cases the headline rates don't cover.

Who files the customs declaration and when?

The importer, or a customs agent acting for them, must lodge the declaration through the Revenue Online Service (ROS) before the vehicle arrives in the State. Have the purchase invoice, proof of origin and shipping details ready — Revenue calculates the duty and VAT from that declaration.

Where and when do I actually pay the duty and VAT?

Both are paid to Revenue when the customs declaration is processed, at the point of import — not at the NCTS centre. VRT is the only charge paid at registration, which must happen within 30 days of the car entering the State.

What exchange rate is used to convert a sterling price?

Revenue applies its own official monthly exchange rate, published on revenue.ie, for the month in which the declaration is lodged — not the rate your bank gave you on the day you paid the seller. Budget a small margin for the difference.

How much duty will I pay on a car imported from Japan?

A car shipped directly from Japan is a third-country import, so it attracts 10% customs duty on the customs value (price plus shipping and insurance), then 23% VAT on that combined figure, then VRT. The same applies to a Japanese-built car bought at a GB auction.

Do the same rates apply to a trailer or to spare parts?

No. Trailers and car parts are classified under their own commodity codes with their own duty rates, and VRT applies only to vehicles that must be registered. VAT at 23% is still due on most imports, so check the specific commodity code before you ship.

Does a motorhome follow the same calculation?

Duty and VAT follow the same origin logic, but the VRT line is different: motor caravans are charged VRT at 13.3% of the OMSP rather than the CO2-based rates that apply to cars, and Revenue values them individually.

Can I get the 10% duty refunded if I prove UK origin later?

Potentially. If you obtain a valid retrospective statement on origin from the seller or manufacturer, you can apply to Revenue for repayment of the duty through ROS, quoting the declaration reference and attaching the supporting documents.