Liammons:

I provided two links. The first link explains the UK government's position for temporary export (up to 12 months absence). The second link addresses permanent export.

The way that government website is constructed is a bit confusing, which is why you may not have noticed that I provided two different links that lead to two different pages. But, if you go to this link:

Taking a vehicle out of the UK - less than 12 months

and look at point 2, which has the header "For less than 12 months", you will see the policy about temporary export that I described above.

What I can gather from this is that for UK registered vehicles, the UK government clearly wants to collect the tax due if the vehicle is temporarily exported from the country, and they state that explicitly.

Michael

Sorry but posters like these deserve all they get when they are caught and the way technology is now working throughout the world it won't be long. They are also the cause of the costs of taking our vehicles abroad escalating and becoming undoable for us ordinary law abiding travellers.

Margaret

Margaret, 'posters like that'?

What logical reason is there to pay an excise duty for something that your not using? (the roads, when your not in the country). On pure blind principle, why would you do that. I've paid enough of my sweat and labor over to governments and got precious little in return. When I find an occasion where they can't actually break my arm to do it, I'll take it.
I was actually thinking of taking on another employee at the end of last year and I can't afford to do it, not because my business isn't viable, but because I pay so much tax and assorted other 'contributions'. If we all paid (a lot) less tax and people were left to fend for themselves a bit more, there would be less unemployed and less morbidly obese people!

Of course the government WANTS you to pay it, that's what governments do, collect tax.

But on this occasion, they can't enforce it.

By all means prosecute people who drive untaxed vehicles IN the country, though even that is a little bit moot because every time you drain your fuel tank and fill it, the government also gets its bottomless pockets filled up

Thankfully, I not longer reside in the UK. The next step is to get out of the damn EU permanently, and move to a country where the state doesn't control and tax your every movement.

Just sorn it. Spent 3 years on sorn with no tax mot or insurance, took out third party in each country spent 2 years on Aus rego no problems never asked for any docs only in India once.

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Hi Andy:

I wonder (just academically, I'm not passing any judgement or anything like that) if a motorcycle owner would expose themselves to a greater amount of legal jeopardy by making a false statutory declaration as opposed to simply doing nothing at all ('doing nothing at all' meaning taking the bike out of the country without filing a declaration and then letting the tax disk expire).

In other words, if a rider took a moto out of the country and did not file any form of statutory declaration once the tax disk expired, ignorance of the requirement to file the declaration could be presumed. But, if a false declaration is filed, that moves things into a whole different area that doesn't have anything to do with motorcycles, that being making false statutory declarations.

Just food for thought.

Michael

Doing nothing at all has the fine for not declaring SORN turning up shortly afterwards at your registered address. Ignoring that has the wheels of the justice system creaking into motion. Declaring it off British roads on line is certainly the lesser of two evils.

I'm no legal expert (to say the least) but as far as I can see there is no way of taking a vehicle abroad for more than 13 months and keeping all of the UK paperwork up to date. The only possible exception is using something registered pre 1960 that doesn't need an MOT and therefore could obtain its (free) tax disc on line but I suspect that's not a loophole many people will be exploiting.

Thats the point, a SORN (off road) declaration can by its very nature only be valid in the UK. It only refers to UK roads, therefore once your not in the UK thats the logical route to take.

Sorn or something similar doesn't even exist, nor is it a legal requirement in most countries, nor can it in any way be legally applicable in another country.

I don't really understand why people get so uptight about this.

My tax disk was often 'in the post' when I was young(er)! And poorer! As I am sure were many peoples on here.

Ok.. let say I'm using an Australian legally registered vehicle in the UK. What would you expect me to pay for that? What do you think are the rules for me using a vehicle on your roads?

Road tax?
MOT?

Nope... I've done that for Australia, so I 'have it' but for Australia. Under the agreement I don't need to have the UK equivalent as I have it for Australia. I've also got at least the minimum required insurance for Australia... Same rules for French, Germans etc etc.

The only additional thing I've got to have is the minimum insurance required for the UK (even if I try for more I'll probably not take it due to excessive costs) .. so I'm not paying for UK roads while using them, but paying for Australian roads while not using them.

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If you don't like this system .. then start being prepared to have to have your vehicle inspected, pay road tax etc into every country you travel to with your vehicle .. France, Spain. Andorra, Portugal, Italy etc... real put a hole in your holidays. And you'll probably need to pay in large chunks rather than what you use .. e.g. you want 3 weeks? Sorry minimum is 3 months payment

Message KISS - pay .. it is a small cost compared to the trip. If 'they' cannot adapt to your needs then do your best to work around them. Maybe you can pay the first 12 months then sorn it. Humm pre 1960? What if it was a 1960 with a few replaced bits (errr the old bits wore out so I've fitted so new replacements)? [A BSA gold star becomes a DR650]

Back when the old pre 1960 clunkers were new SORN may only have been a twinkle in a bureaucrats eye but there were plenty of other pitfalls to bring your trip to a juddering halt. You'd need a visa for Spain, a carnet for Calais (or its slightly cheaper sibling, the pink triptyque - whatever happened to those?) and an international driving licence for Holland. Any letters you sent from Spain or the old Yugoslavia could be censored. No MOT though - they only came in for 1960 but no Euro breakdown cover either - late 60's for that.

For a few reasons my bikes will be off the roads for a couple of months..... so I have let their taxes run out and sorned them, first was my k75 then my scoopy 50. For that latter I got the option to for the the sorn to automatically renew. Is the a new thing or is it because it is only a 50cc bike not a 750cc!

Actually a lot of countries apply various vignettes etc or 'eco taxes' for vehicles even in Europe such as Austria and Romania when temporarily imported(or just passing through) as a contribution to road tax. Don't forget that you pay tax every time you use a pump and fill up too if any of this makes you feel 'guilty' for some reason.

However this is descending into an argument about a technical legal issue that is more a matter of choice than anything else.
Can anyone provide a link to a story/newspaper article about someone who was prosecuted for driving a roadworthy foreign registered vehicle that was insured, but not taxed in its country of origin? And had also not exceeded any restrictions on duration of stay/residency pitfalls.
I highly doubt it.

To me, taxing a UK vehicle, when its not in the UK is akin to feeling guilty for drinking cheap wine in France and posting back a cheque to the UK revenue for the money they have lost by you not buying the wine in the UK.

If it makes you feel better, tax it. When your MOT runs out, after a maximum of 12 months, you won't be able to do that anymore so ship it home if you want, or organise your entire trip over when your MOT and tax are out. I don't think anyone is going to do that.

Lots of people travel for years at a time, what do you think they do?

Margaret, that is a very narrow minded opinion- do you really think all laws are totally thought through, and cater to all people, with no loopholes the politicians/govt agencies haven't thought of?

agreed.. My bike has been out of the country on Brit plates for nearly 2 years now.. 1st year on a carnet, and sorned on line, my take is that it is off the UK roads.. I'm not a law dodger, the moment i'd return to ride on UK roads i'd tax it straight away.

Now in NZ on Temporary Import Scheme, and when the vehicle is imported, the NZ authorities demand that the vehicle is inspected- a WOF-Warrant of Fitness- like an MOT, and REGO- like tax.

I'd like to see where the original poster read that a bike going to Ozzy needs to be taxed in it's home country...

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This topic has previously been discussed at

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ong-term-39472

Some good information there as well as the usual ill-informed woffle. Tony P's comments are worth reading for the correct information.

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

I think that Warin has provided the best and most accurate answer of all of us in his sentence cited above.

The 'agreement' that he refers to is the 1949 United Nations Convention on Road Traffic, which among other things established the system of white oval stickers that we use internationally to identify the country of registration of our vehicles.

Heck, we all should have twigged onto that earlier...

Michael

Hi,

I did London to Australia with UK Registered Vehicle in 2012. Im an aussie but my tax disc expired whilst I was travelling. Result they wouldnt let me temporary register it when i arrived in australia, and therefore wasnt insured. I got to my house in Adelaide, and luckily got a vehicle import approval otherwise i had two options. return it to uk where I no longer live, or destroy it... In reality i still havent got it on the road. once i got my import approval it kinda sat aroundd until just recently i got it inspected, got my list of things for compliance and its in the garage as we speak finishing things off.. should be on the road in a couple of weeks....

but yeh no matter how i explained they wouldn't let me register without a tax disc, even though i sorned it as i thought was right thing to do. i think as another poster said, in aus vehicle reg and tax is all in one which you have to maintain. all i could show them was my vehicle ownership papers and an expired tax disc.

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