Importing a car from Japan

A car imported from Japan attracts four separate charges in Ireland: customs duty, import VAT at 23%, Vehicle Registration Tax, and the NOx levy. Since 1 February 2026 the duty on a Japanese-built car is zero. That change is worth thousands, and it depends entirely on one document.

What follows is the whole sequence in the order you meet it, including the parts that are administratively dull and financially expensive.

What actually gets charged, and by whom

The four charges are assessed by different people at different moments, which is why the total surprises people. Duty and VAT are settled with customs when the car enters the country. VRT and the NOx levy are settled at an NCTS centre afterwards, on a value Revenue decides rather than the one on your invoice.

The four charges on a Japanese import, and when each falls due

Charge	Based on	When
Customs duty	Customs value — 0% for Japanese-built cars with proof of origin, otherwise 10%	At import
Import VAT	23% of customs value plus any duty	At import
VRT	7% to 41% of Revenue's OMSP, set by CO2	At registration
NOx levy	€5, €15 then €25 per mg/km, by band	At registration

The sequence, start to finish

The February 2026 change, and what it does not cover

The EU and Japan have been unwinding the tariff on cars since their trade agreement took effect in 2019. The schedule finished on 1 February 2026, and the rate on a Japanese-manufactured car is now zero rather than the 10% that applied for most of the last decade.

Two conditions sit behind that number, and both catch people out.

The car must actually have been built in Japan. Origin means the place of manufacture, not the country you shipped it from and not the badge on the boot. A Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru or Suzuki assembled in Japan qualifies. A German-built car that spent its life in Tokyo does not, and pays the full 10% like any other third-country import.

The preferential rate also has to be claimed with a valid proof of origin from the exporter. You cannot certify your own car's origin. If that document is missing or wrong when the declaration is filed, the 10% applies regardless of where the car was made — and on a car with a customs value of €15,000 that is €1,500 lost to an absent piece of paper, plus the extra VAT it drags behind it.

Import VAT applies whatever the age of the car

This is the most persistent misunderstanding on the Japan route. Import VAT at 23% applies to a vehicle arriving from outside the EU no matter how old it is or how many kilometres it has covered.

The confusion comes from a genuine rule that people apply in the wrong place. Within the EU, a vehicle counts as new for VAT purposes if it is under six months old or has under 6,000km, and a used car moving between member states is not charged VAT again. That rule governs movements inside the single market. A car arriving from Japan is entering the customs territory from outside it, and VAT falls due at import on the whole customs value.

VRT is not based on what you paid

VRT is charged on the Open Market Selling Price: Revenue's own assessment of what your specific car would sell for in Ireland, arrived at after the NCTS centre inspects it. What you paid at auction does not enter into it. A car bought well in Japan does not produce a lower VRT bill; it produces a better margin for you between the two figures.

The rate is set by the CO2 figure, running across twenty bands from 7% of OMSP at the clean end to 41% at the dirty end, with a floor of €100. The NOx levy is calculated separately and added on: €5 per mg/km through the first band, €15 through the second and €25 through the third, capped at €600 for a petrol car and €4,850 for a diesel. Battery electric cars pay no NOx levy at all and, at the time of writing, attract VRT relief of up to €5,000 where the OMSP is under €40,000, tapering to nothing at €50,000.

One detail matters more on this route than any other. Japanese domestic market cars are not issued with a European Certificate of Conformity, so the CO2 and NOx figures have to be obtained from Japanese records before the registration appointment. Turn up without a NOx figure and Revenue applies the maximum for the fuel type. On a diesel that is €4,850 of avoidable tax.

What the Japan route is good at

Mileage that is genuinely low

Japanese cars cover far less ground than Irish ones. A ten-year-old car with 60,000km is unremarkable there and close to unfindable here at a sensible price. This is the single biggest structural advantage of the route, and it is not a marketing claim — it falls out of how the country drives.

You know the condition before you bid

Every car through a Japanese auction is graded by an independent inspector who records an overall grade, an interior grade and a condition map marking every dent, scratch and corrosion point on the body. Nothing in a British or Irish classified advertisement comes close. It is the reason buying a car you have never stood beside is a defensible thing to do on this route and a reckless one on most others.

Specification and supply

Japanese domestic trim levels tend to be generous, and the hybrid supply in particular is deep, well maintained and cheap relative to the same car here. Cars from most of the country have also not spent their winters on heavily salted roads, which shows underneath — though the auction sheet, not the region, is what actually tells you.

Zero duty, for now

The 0% rate on Japanese-built cars is a real advantage over Great Britain, where most cars still attract 10%. It is a trade agreement rather than a law of nature, so it is worth treating as a current condition rather than a permanent one.

What the Japan route is bad at

It is slow

Three months from bid to plates is normal. If you need a car this month, this is the wrong route and no amount of paying extra changes the sailing schedule.

You commit before you touch the car

The auction sheet is good, but it is not the same as sitting in the car. For most buyers on most cars that trade is worth making. For a buyer who needs to feel a car before committing, it will never be comfortable.

The paperwork carries real money

Proof of origin decides a 10% swing. The NOx figure decides up to €4,850. Neither is difficult, but both have to be handled before the relevant deadline by someone who knows they exist.

Currency and freight move underneath you

The gap between the winning bid and the car landing is weeks long, and both the exchange rate and the freight rate can move in it. Anyone quoting you a fixed all-in figure at the moment of bidding is either carrying that risk themselves or has not thought about it.

What we do

We buy at Japanese auction on your behalf and then handle shipping, customs, VAT, VRT and Irish registration, so the two tax points above are ours to manage rather than yours to discover. The origin documentation and the emissions figures are part of that, not an extra.

If three months is too long, the cars in our current stock are already here or already on the water, and our Early Reserve arrangement lets you hold one before it lands. If the car you want is not in Japan at all, sourcing covers other markets, including Great Britain.

The other two routes into Irish plates are covered in their own pieces: Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Common questions

Do I pay customs duty on a car imported from Japan to Ireland?

Since 1 February 2026 the customs duty on a car manufactured in Japan is zero, under the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Japan. The rate is not automatic: it has to be claimed with a valid proof of origin from the exporter. Without that document Revenue applies the standard third-country rate of 10% of the customs value. A car sold in Japan but built somewhere else, such as a German-built saloon, does not qualify at any rate and pays the 10%.

Does import VAT apply to a used car brought in from Japan?

Yes. Import VAT at 23% applies to vehicles arriving from outside the EU regardless of the age or mileage of the car. It is charged on the customs value, which is the price paid plus transport and insurance to the point of entry, plus any customs duty. The six-month and 6,000km test that people sometimes cite is the rule for deciding whether a vehicle moving between EU member states counts as new, and it has no bearing on a shipment arriving from Japan.

How is VRT calculated on a Japanese import?

VRT is charged on the Open Market Selling Price, which is Revenue's assessment of what the car would sell for in Ireland, not the price paid in Japan. The rate is set by the car's CO2 figure across twenty bands running from 7% to 41% of that value, with a minimum of 100 euro. A separate NOx levy is added on top, charged per milligram per kilometre at 5, 15 and then 25 euro a step, capped at 600 euro for petrol and 4,850 euro for diesel. Battery electric cars pay no NOx levy.

What happens if the NOx figure is missing at the NCTS appointment?

Revenue applies the maximum levy for the fuel type. On a diesel that is 4,850 euro, charged on top of the CO2 element of VRT. Japanese domestic market cars are not issued with a European Certificate of Conformity, so the CO2 and NOx figures have to be obtained separately before the appointment rather than assumed. This is the single most expensive piece of missing paperwork on the Japan route and it is entirely avoidable.

How long does it take to get a car from a Japanese auction onto Irish plates?

Around three months is realistic. Sea freight alone is typically four to six weeks depending on the route and sailing schedule, with the auction, export documentation, customs entry at this end and the NCTS registration appointment adding time either side. Weather, port congestion and sailing frequency all move the figure, so any single number quoted with confidence should be treated with suspicion.