Why a diesel import can cost €4,850 in NOx levy, and how to avoid it

How the levy is worked out

Since 2020 every car registered in Ireland pays a nitrogen oxide levy alongside VRT, based on the certified NOx figure in milligrams per kilometre. The rate is tiered: €5 per mg/km for the first 40, €15 per mg/km from 41 to 80, and €25 per mg/km above 80. Those tiers are what the calculator applies and are being confirmed against Revenue’s current guidance before launch.

Worked examples: 12 mg/km, typical of a petrol hybrid, is €60. 40 mg/km is €200. 80 mg/km is €800. 100 mg/km is €1,300, because the last 20 mg/km cost €25 each.

The default when there is no evidence

If satisfactory NOx evidence cannot be provided at registration, Revenue does not estimate: it charges a flat default. For diesels that default is €4,850. For everything else it is €600.

That is the whole trap. A diesel with a certified figure of 70 mg/km owes €650. The same car with no figure on paper owes €4,850. The difference is bigger than the saving on most imports.

Why Japanese paperwork rarely has the figure

The Japanese export certificate records the car, not its European emissions certification. Cars that were also sold new in the EU have a Certificate of Conformity with CO2 and NOx figures, and those can usually be obtained for the equivalent European model. Japan-only models such as the Aqua or the Fit hybrid have no EU certificate at all.

Disclosure services fill the gap: for a fee they supply a CO2 and NOx figure in a form the NCTS accepts. Several exporters serving Ireland offer this as part of the sale, and Irish history-check companies provide it too. The calculator budgets a disclosure fee automatically whenever a figure is missing. Exactly which documents the NCTS accepts for which models is on our list to confirm in writing before launch.

What this means for diesels

A Euro 6 diesel with evidence typically lands somewhere between a few hundred and a thousand euro of levy. Without evidence it is €4,850, and the disclosure that would fix it is not always available for older or Japan-only diesels.

That is why this site’s worked scenarios are petrol and hybrid, and why we say no to a diesel unless the NOx figure is in hand before the bid. It is also why the calculator marks a diesel without NOx as an error rather than a warning.

Before you bid

In order:

1. Ask the exporter for the CO2 and NOx figures and the document they come from. If they cannot say, assume there is none.
2. Prefer models that were also sold new in the EU, where a Certificate of Conformity exists for the equivalent car.
3. For a Japan-only model, price the disclosure into the deal and order it before bidding, not after the car lands.
4. Run the calculator twice, with the NOx field filled and blank. The gap is the risk you are carrying.
5. If it is a diesel and the figure is not confirmed, walk away. There will be another car.