Importing an engine, gearbox or half-cut from Japan to Ireland: duty, VAT and no VRT

No VRT, no NCTS, two taxes

Vehicle Registration Tax applies to vehicles. An engine on a pallet, a gearbox in a crate, a set of wheels or a front cut with the engine still in it is not a vehicle, so there is no VRT, no NOx levy and no NCTS appointment. What there is instead is an ordinary customs import: duty at the rate for the tariff heading, and import VAT at 23% on the customs value plus the duty. The parts calculator does that arithmetic for an engine, a gearbox, panels, wheels, mixed parts or a half-cut.

The customs value is what you paid plus the seller’s fees, the freight and the insurance to the point of entry, the same construction as for a car. A cheap engine with expensive air freight is dutied and taxed on the freight too.

The duty rates

The usual third-country rates are 2.7% for a complete spark-ignition engine (heading 8407) and 3% to 4.5% for most parts under heading 8708, including gearboxes, differentials, body panels, bumpers, wheels, suspension and brakes; tyres under heading 4011 are 4.5%. Under the EU–Japan agreement goods of Japanese origin are entitled to the preferential rate, which for cars and car parts reached 0% by February 2026, provided the exporter puts a Statement on Origin on the invoice. A Nissan engine made in Japan is of Japanese origin; a used one still is. Ask for the statement.

A customs broker is confirming the exact current rates for used parts and the treatment of half-cuts before the service opens (V23). The calculator uses 2.7% for engines and 4.5% for everything else at the third-country rate, and 0% with a statement, and says so on the estimate.

Half-cuts and front cuts

A half-cut is the front half of a car, cut behind the front seats with the engine, gearbox, loom, ECU, radiator, subframe and suspension in place; a front cut stops at the bulkhead. They are how the world’s tuning shops buy complete, matched drivetrains cheaply, and Japan exports thousands. At customs they are declared as parts, dutied and taxed as parts, and pay no VRT.

What they can never be is a car. A shell assembled from a half-cut and a rear clip has no type approval and no registration, and putting it on an Irish road would require individual vehicle approval and full registration from scratch, which for a home-built saloon is not a realistic route. Buy a half-cut for the engine and the parts, not for a plan to build a car.

Getting the declaration right

The broker needs a commercial invoice that describes each item with its tariff heading, quantity and value, a packing list, the transport document and, for the 0% rate, the Statement on Origin on the invoice. A single line reading “car parts, ¥400,000” invites a query, a physical examination and the highest plausible rate. An engine, a gearbox and a set of wheels are three lines.

Second-hand parts are valued at what you paid. If the price looks implausibly low for what arrives, customs can substitute a value; keep the auction or shop listing, the payment record and the messages with the seller. Proxy buyers and yards that ship abroad know this and produce proper paperwork; private sellers on the Japanese auction sites do not, which is one reason to use a proxy.

1. One invoice line per kind of part, with a description a customs officer can classify
2. The Statement on Origin on the invoice for the 0% rate
3. A packing list that matches what is in the crate or the container
4. The listing, the payment record and the seller’s messages, in case the value is questioned
5. A broker acting as your direct representative, as for a car

Shipping options and what goes wrong

An engine or a gearbox ships crated by consolidated sea freight, a few weeks and a few hundred euro, or by air for a lot more; a half-cut needs a container, alone or shared with a car. Everything must be drained, cleaned and declared, because an engine full of oil is dangerous goods to a forwarder. The calculator’s default freight figures are placeholders by kind and can be overwritten with a quote.

The failures are predictable: an engine that arrives without the ECU, the loom, the turbo or the manifolds that the listing implied; an engine number that does not match the paperwork; a half-cut from a snow prefecture with a rotten subframe; a gearbox described as “working when removed” by someone who never saw it run. The protection is the same as for a car: the listing photographs, the seller’s record, a proxy who inspects, and a description in writing of exactly what is included.