This article is from page 2 of the 2013-09-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
CLARE people seeking to tax thei r cars face long queues at Clare County Council this week, as the deadline for the end of “gapping” looms next Monday.
The local authority has recorded a 50 per cent increase in numbers us ing the tax office since July and are expecting very high volumes over the past seven days.
From September 30, motorists will no longer be able to retrospectively declare their cars “off the road” and will instead be liable for the full cost of their car tax, since it was last taxed.
When this process, which is known as gapping, comes to an end next week, motorists will have to declare their car off the road in advance – or face paying thei r motor tax in full.
“The complexities of the new legislation has caused some confusion amongst members of the public which has led to a significant increase in the numbers of people attending the County’s primary Motor Tax Office on the New Road in Ennis,” said Fiona Mooney of the Motor Tax Department Office.
“The surge in applications has caused waiting times in the Motor Tax Office to increase and has led to a backlog in processing postal applications. Customers can avoid or shorten queues in a number of ways, including opting to renew the tax on thei r vehicles online, a service that is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week at www. motortax.ie.
“Anyone who doesn’t have their PIN number, can click ‘PIN retrieval’ on the website and take it from there. Customers wanting to lodge completed off the road declarations, where they are not taxing the vehicle, can simply drop them into the motor tax post box at the motor tax office at Aras an Contae. They don’t need to wait in the queue.”
The council’s motor tax depar tment advises that anyone wanting to tax a vehicle that has been off the road, to complete a RF100A form and have it signed and stamped at a Garda station.
If members of the public have a car which is is cur rently off the road, and will continue to be off the road after September 30, the must complete both a RF100A and a RF150 form. The RF 150 does not need to be signed and stamped at a Garda station.
More detailed are available at the Motor Tax Office or from www. clarecoco.ie.