Ireland · VRT on trucks, vans & recovery rigs Updated for 2026 rates
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Commercial vehicle VRT · Ireland

VRT on a truck? It's a flat €200 over 3.5 tonnes

Vehicle Registration Tax doesn't work on a truck the way it does on a car. Once the gross weight passes 3.5 tonnes, the CO₂ tables disappear and Revenue charges a fixed €200 — whether the lorry is worth €15,000 or €60,000. At or below that line, a van pays 8% or 13.3% of its open market value, and the gap can run into thousands.

Use the calculator to price the whole move: enter a UK or NI plate to see the OMSP Revenue would apply, what a sub-3.5-tonne van would owe, and where customs duty and VAT land on top. Then read on for the categories, a two-weight worked example and the traps that catch importers.

Price my import See the maths
  • Flat €200 over 3.5 t
  • No CO₂ or NOx charge
  • Free — no signup
  • 2026 Revenue rates
€200Flat VRT, N2 & N3
3.5 tThe line that decides
13.3%Top van rate ≤3.5 t

Pick your route

How to Get a VRT Figure for Your Truck

For a lorry over 3.5 tonnes the tax itself is already settled — a flat €200 — so the real job is pricing everything around it and confirming which side of the threshold your vehicle sits on. Four routes, from instant to binding.

Route Where Speed Best for
Calculator on this pageTop of this page~2 minOMSP-based figures for vans ≤3.5 t, plus framing the full import bill from a UK or NI plate
Revenue's official VRT calculatorros.ie~2 minCars and N1 vans in the Revenue database — it returns no figure for N2/N3 trucks
SIMI guidance / Revenue VRT enquirysimi.ie · revenue.ieDaysConversions, recovery bodies and any chassis you can't classify yourself
NCTS inspection (Applus)ncts.ieBy appointmentThe final, binding figure confirmed at registration

Method 01

The Calculator at the Top of This Page

The estimator embedded above walks the whole import in one pass:

  1. Tell the form where the vehicle is coming from — Great Britain, Northern Ireland or elsewhere.
  2. Type the registration plate, or pick the make and model by hand if you haven't bought yet.
  3. The tool identifies the vehicle and returns the OMSP, with CO₂ and NOx figures wherever a percentage rate applies.
  4. Download the PDF report and keep it for the price negotiation and your NCTS appointment.

Anything over 3.5 tonnes already owes the fixed €200 — the calculator earns its keep on Category B vans taxed on value, and on sizing the customs and VAT lines around the VRT.

Method 02

Revenue's Official Calculator — and Its Blind Spot

The Revenue Commissioners' calculator on ros.ie is the authoritative source for anything taxed on OMSP — but it explicitly states that it does not cover large commercial vehicles. Feed it an N2 or N3 truck and nothing comes back. Don't read that gap as an error: because the rate is fixed, no valuation is needed, and your VRT is settled at €200. Reach for it instead when your vehicle sits at or below 3.5 tonnes and a percentage of value is in play.

Method 03

SIMI Guidance and Revenue's VRT Enquiry Service

Industry bodies such as the SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) publish plain-English guidance on the registration steps for commercial vehicles. For a recovery body, a tipper conversion or any chassis whose class you can't pin down from the paperwork, put the question to Revenue's VRT enquiry service in writing — you'll get an answer specific to your vehicle rather than a best guess, which matters when the 3.5-tonne line decides the whole bill.

Method 04

The NCTS Inspection — Where It Becomes Final

The VRT inspection is carried out by Applus Inspection Services on behalf of Revenue, and only at an NCTS (National Car Testing Service) centre, by appointment. The order matters: book the slot, present the truck for inspection, then register. Whatever estimate you arrived with, the figure confirmed at the counter is the one you pay — which for a truck on the right side of 3.5 tonnes should be exactly €200.

The answer

How Much Is VRT on a Truck?

For any truck classed as a large commercial vehicle (EU class N2 or N3), VRT is a flat €200 — the same figure whether the truck is worth €15,000 or €60,000, and whether it is a rigid, an artic or a two-axle recovery lorry. This is VRT Category C, and unlike cars it carries no CO₂ or NOx component: the value of the vehicle is irrelevant to the charge.

The fixed €200 covers a wide band of heavy vehicles, all of them outside the percentage-based system:

  • N2 goods vehicles (3.5–12 tonnes) and N3 goods vehicles (over 12 tonnes)
  • M2 and M3 buses and coaches
  • T1–T5 agricultural tractors
  • Any vehicle over 30 years old

Because the rate is fixed, Revenue's own calculator returns nothing for these vehicles — see Method 02 above. No valuation, no bands: cross 3.5 tonnes and the bill is €200, full stop.

Example — One 2020 Iveco Daily, Two Very Different Bills

The cleanest way to see what the 3.5-tonne line is worth is to follow a single model across it. A 3.5 t Iveco Daily 35S14 is Category B and pays a percentage of its value; a 5.2 t Daily 50C18 is Category C and pays just €200 — the exact moment the regime flips.

Iveco Daily 35S14 — Category B

Gross vehicle weight3.5 t
EU class / VRT categoryN1 / Category B
Illustrative OMSP€28,000
Rate (diesel, CO₂ above 120 g/km)13.3%
VRT = €28,000 × 13.3%€3,724

Iveco Daily 50C18 — Category C

Gross vehicle weight5.2 t
EU class / VRT categoryN2 / Category C
Illustrative OMSP€34,000 (higher spec, heavier chassis)
RateFlat charge — value ignored
VRT due€200

Reading the result: the 35S14's bill is roughly nineteen times the truck figure — and well above the €125 minimum that protects lower-value vans. Despite being worth more, the heavier 50C18 pays €200 flat: a saving of over €3,500 in VRT purely because it sits on the truck side of the 3.5-tonne line.

Background

VRT Categories and the 3.5-Tonne Threshold

Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) is the tax you pay when a vehicle is first registered in Ireland — and for trucks, the whole bill hinges on one number: 3.5 tonnes. Below it, a van is Category B and pays a percentage of its value; above it, a truck is Category C and pays the flat €200. Whether you call it a truck or a lorry makes no difference — only the weight does.

VRT Category EU class Vehicle type Weight threshold VRT rate
AM1Passenger cars—% of OMSP (CO₂/NOx)
BN1Light commercial van≤ 3.5 t8% or 13.3% of OMSP, min €125
CN2, N3, M2, M3, T1–T5Truck, bus, tractor> 3.5 tFlat €200
DSpecialFire engine, ambulance, adapted—Exempt

Category B: Light Commercial Vans up to 3.5 t (N1)

A light commercial vehicle at or under 3.5 tonnes (class N1, Category B) is not charged the flat rate. It is taxed on a percentage of its Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) — 8% or 13.3% depending on emissions — subject to the €125 minimum in the table above. On a €25,000 van that works out very differently from a fixed €200, which is exactly why the Iveco Daily example above is worth following.

Category C: Trucks over 3.5 t (N2/N3) and the €200 Flat Rate

Once the technically permissible maximum laden mass passes 3.5 tonnes, the vehicle becomes N2 or N3 and drops into Category C — a fixed €200. The same band also captures buses, coaches and agricultural tractors, but for goods operators the point is simple: cross 3.5 tonnes and the vehicle's value stops mattering entirely.

By model

VRT on Popular Trucks in Ireland

Where common Irish workhorses land once the category rules are applied. Two light N1 chassis are included to show the contrast: everything above 3.5 tonnes settles at the same €200, whatever the badge or the price tag.

Model Body type GVW EU class VRT category & charge
Iveco Daily 35S14Panel van / chassis cab3.5 tN1Category B — 13.3% of OMSP (min €125)
Renault Master RWD 3.5tDropside / Luton3.5 tN1Category B — 8% or 13.3% of OMSP
Iveco Daily 50C18Chassis cab / recovery5.2 tN2Category C — flat €200
Iveco Daily 70C18Chassis cab7.0 tN2Category C — flat €200
Fuso Canter 7C15Tipper / box7.5 tN2Category C — flat €200
Isuzu N75Tipper / dropside7.5 tN2Category C — flat €200
Hino 300 SeriesBox / beavertail7.5 tN2Category C — flat €200
Mercedes-Benz Atego 816Box / curtainsider7.5 tN2Category C — flat €200
MAN TGL 8.190Curtainsider / recovery7.49 tN2Category C — flat €200
DAF LF 180Rigid box7.5–12 tN2Category C — flat €200
Volvo FLRigid distribution12–18 tN2/N3Category C — flat €200
Scania P280Rigid / refuse chassis18–26 tN3Category C — flat €200
DAF XF 480Tractor unit>12 t (44 t GCW)N3Category C — flat €200

Figures are indicative for 2026 and depend on the exact type approval of the individual vehicle — always confirm with Revenue before committing to a purchase.

Avoid the tow bill

Five Traps That Catch Truck Importers

The flat rate makes truck VRT look foolproof, but most expensive surprises happen just either side of it — in the weight classification, the VAT rules and the customs paperwork. These five account for nearly all of them.

  1. 01

    Landing on the wrong side of 3.5 tonnes

    The costliest assumption is that any "commercial" gets the €200. A 3.5 t chassis is N1, Category B — taxed at 8% or 13.3% of OMSP. As the Iveco Daily example shows, the same badge can owe €3,724 or €200 depending on the plated weight. Check the type approval, not the brochure.

  2. 02

    Forgetting VAT on a nearly-new import

    A vehicle under 6 months old or under 6,000 km is a "new means of transport" — it attracts Irish VAT even when bought second-hand, on top of the €200 VRT. On a late-plate truck that single rule can add more than a hundred times the VRT itself.

  3. 03

    Overlooking the 130% conversion rule

    If a van is converted so that its technically permissible laden mass changes, Revenue can reclassify it. Where the added capability exceeds 130% of the original, it may be treated as a different category — potentially moving the vehicle off the flat rate you budgeted for.

  4. 04

    Assuming customs duty is always nil

    Duty on a UK truck is 0% only if the vehicle passes the UK–EU origin test. Fail it and the rate is 10% up to 3.5 tonnes and 22% above — on a truck, more than a hundred €200s. If the lorry was originally manufactured in or exported from the EU, returned goods relief can remove the duty entirely.

  5. 05

    Budgeting €200 and nothing else

    VRT is rarely the biggest line on a truck import. VAT at 23% on the customs value, any duty, and the EMC tyre levy usually decide the real bill — price all four charges before agreeing a price with the seller, not after.

Beyond the €200

The Full Cost of Importing a Truck From the UK

Once you know your truck is Category C, the VRT is settled — but three other charges land at registration, and they usually dwarf it:

  • Customs duty — 0% with proven UK–EU origin; otherwise 10% up to 3.5 t and 22% above it
  • VAT at 23% — charged on the customs value of the imported truck, on top of any duty
  • VRT €200 — the Category C flat rate, paid at the NCTS registration appointment
  • EMC charge — the environmental levy on tyres, applied at registration since September 2022

The sequence is fixed: clear customs, book the NCTS slot, present the truck for the Applus inspection, then register. Vehicles that never pay any of it exist too — Category D covers fire engines, ambulances, refuse trucks and certain adapted vehicles, which register at a nil VRT charge (the FAQ below covers how the exemption is claimed).

Real-world scenario — a tow-truck operator, Co. Louth (2026): Declan imported a 4.6 t flatbed recovery lorry from Northern Ireland with proven UK origin. Customs duty came to 0%, VAT at 23% applied to the customs value, and the VRT was a flat €200. His biggest surprise was the VAT line — not the VRT he had been dreading.

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

The edge cases that come up once the flat €200 is understood — exemptions, refunds, deadlines and the vehicles the category table doesn't mention.

Which trucks are exempt from VRT, and how do I claim the exemption?

Category D is wider than the fire engines and ambulances everyone cites: refuse trucks and certain adapted vehicles also register at a nil charge. The exemption is not applied automatically — it is claimed when the vehicle is presented at the NCTS centre, where Revenue confirms it meets the Category D definition from its documentation. If your truck has been converted or adapted, bring evidence of the work to the inspection.

Do I pay VAT when importing a nearly-new truck?

Yes. A truck that qualifies as a new means of transport — under 6 months old or with fewer than 6,000 km on the clock — attracts Irish VAT even when bought second-hand, and that lands on top of the €200 VRT.

Can I reclaim VRT if I export the truck later?

In part, yes. The Export Repayment Scheme allows a partial VRT refund when a qualifying vehicle is permanently removed from the State, subject to an inspection and a valuation before it leaves.

Is annual motor tax on a truck the same thing as VRT?

No. VRT is a once-off charge paid when the truck is first registered in Ireland. Motor tax is the separate yearly cost of keeping it on the road, and for goods vehicles it is based on unladen weight rather than CO₂. Paying the €200 VRT does not cover it.

How long do I have to register a truck after bringing it into Ireland?

You are expected to book an NCTS appointment within 7 days of the truck arriving in the State and to complete registration within 30 days. Miss the window and Revenue can apply penalties on top of the VRT due, so have the customs paperwork ready before the vehicle lands.

Do trailers and semi-trailers pay VRT?

No. VRT applies to mechanically propelled vehicles, so a drawbar trailer or semi-trailer is never registered for VRT — only the truck or tractor unit pulling it pays the Category C €200. Trailers carry their own separate licensing and roadworthiness obligations instead.

What VRT does a truck more than 30 years old pay?

A flat €200. Any vehicle over 30 years old at registration falls into Category C regardless of what it is, so a vintage lorry pays the same fixed charge as a modern artic — its collector value is irrelevant to the VRT.

In Summary

For a truck over 3.5 tonnes — class N2 or N3 — VRT in Ireland is a flat €200. No CO₂ band, no NOx levy, no valuation: the charge is the same for a €60,000 artic as for a €15,000 rigid, and the same band covers buses, coaches, tractors and anything over 30 years old.

The number to watch is 3.5 tonnes. At or below it, a van is Category B and pays 8% or 13.3% of its OMSP (minimum €125) — the same Iveco Daily badge can owe €3,724 or €200 depending on the plated weight. Above it, value stops mattering.

On a UK import, treat the €200 as the small print: customs duty (0%, 10% or 22% depending on origin), VAT at 23% on the customs value and the EMC tyre levy usually decide the real bill. Book the NCTS inspection, present the truck, then register — in that order.