Applying the Tax: Linking Your Vehicle to a VRT Category
Before Revenue can work out your Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), your vehicle needs to be matched to a VRT category. There are five: A, B, C, D and M.
VRT Category A — Passenger vehicles
Category A covers cars and minibuses (no more than eight passengers plus the driver). Some N1 vehicles with four or more seats also fall into A. For Category A, VRT is made of two parts: a CO₂‑based percentage of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) and a separate NOx levy.
CO₂ Conversion
If you only have an NEDC figure, it's converted to a WLTP‑equivalent for banding:
- •Diesel: (NEDC × 1.1405) + 12.858
- •Other fuels: (NEDC × 0.9227) + 34.554
Rates Range
From 1 January 2022 the Category A CO₂ rates range from 7% up to 41% of OMSP, with minimum euro amounts by band.
VRT Category B — N1 vans and motor caravans
Category B includes most small goods vehicles (European N1, usually three seats or fewer) and motor caravans.
From 1 July 2025 the rate is CO₂‑based:
- ≤120 g/km: 8% or €160 minimum
- >120 g/km: 13.3% or €266 minimum
VRT Category C — Larger commercials and older vehicles
Category C is a flat €200. It covers larger commercial vehicles (N2 and N3), agricultural tractors, buses (M2 and M3) and vehicles more than 30 years old at registration.
VRT Category D — Exempt vehicles
Category D vehicles do not pay VRT. This includes ambulances, refuse carts, road rollers, sweepers, fire engines and vehicles used exclusively for transporting road‑construction machinery.
VRT Category M — Motorcycles and e‑mopeds
Category M uses engine capacity (cc) to calculate the charge: €2 per cc up to 350cc and €1 per cc thereafter.
Age‑related reduction:
Quick tip for Irish buyers
For cars and SUVs (Category A), make sure you have WLTP CO₂ and NOx where possible. If it's an older import with NEDC only, the conversion will place you in the right band. You'll find these figures on the Certificate of Conformity or foreign reg certs like the UK V5C.