Cypriots appear to be living up to their reputation for leaving things to the last minute, as 13 days before the deadline, the road tax for 45.6% of vehicles has still not been renewed.
According to Phileleftheros so far the road tax for only 54.4% of a total of 695,000 vehicles (excludes those that have been immobilised and those that are exempt) has been renewed.
This means 377,779 vehicles have had their road tax renewed. But for 317,221 vehicles it is still pending and owners face a €10 fine and a 10% surcharge unless they do so by the deadline of March 11.
Police meanwhile will be on the roads after that date and will book drivers who have not renewed their road tax. Patrol cars are equipped with ‘smart cameras’ which read number plates and car alert police if anything is pending for the vehicle or its owner.
The paper said that there was an increase in the number of vehicle owners who opt to pay by installments – either quarterly or twice yearly although the majority still prefer to pay once off for the entire year. About 16% opt to pay twice a year.
So far, authorities have netted a total of €44.7m from road tax renewals for 2019 of which 93% was paid by credit card or at banks. On average, the state generates €100m a year from road tax.
The paper added that there appears to be a record number of immobilised vehicles which up until yesterday stood at 104,000.
Read more
https://in-cyprus.com/road-tax-renewals-start-today/
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