Wednesday, March 1/2017

Notice in the paper that motor vehicle tax for the year is due by next Saturday. Late payment brings a fine of €10 plus 10% of amount due. After three years of non payment the vehicle is removed from the register and cannot legally be driven. The difficulty is that there is no visible sign that a vehicle is registered and the fee paid, such as a sticker on the licence plate or a disk, so that only a random check or investment in an accident would bring a delinquent owner to official attention - and apparently unpaid registrations are very common. Joke among UK expats living here: of course they won't send us back- we're the only ones paying our taxes.