NO extensions to the deadline for paying road tax are expected, which means all drivers should pay up by February 4 or face being fined by police who will begin their checks on February 5.
“I do not envisage any extension to the deadline,” head of the Road Transport Department, Sotiris Kolletas said yesterday. “I am against any extension anyway, as the public needs to make sure they pay their road tax within the allotted period without relying on last minute extensions,” he added.
Vehicles need to have a valid MOT certificate before a road tax disc can be renewed.
Those who do not intend to renew their road tax certificate are nonetheless legally required to let the road transport department know they will be withdrawing their car from circulation.
“Even members of the public who have not paid previous year’s road tax can pay it off online if they wish,” Kolletas said.
According to Kolletas, 695,000 vehicles are currently registered with 383,000 having renewed their road tax.
“About 45 per cent of road taxes have been renewed from the sum total of what we expected this year,” he said. “Each year approximately ten percent of vehicles do not renew their road tax,” he added. Income is down by 33 per cent so far this year according to Kolettas, with smaller car owners, who pay less road tax, having mostly renewed their road tax certificates with more expensive vehicle owners yet to pay up.
“Ninety nine per cent pay online through the ministry website via JCC or at their bank,” he said. Kolletas added that road tax could be paid on a six month or annual basis with the road transport department not set up yet to take monthly payments.
“JCC (the site through which the payments must be made) accepts all types of Visa and Mastercard for online payments, even those from other countries,” head of e-commerce and public sector Michalis Shaelos said.
“The only instances where a card may not be accepted is if it has had its internet use turned off by the card owner or the bank, or if the details inputted into our system are wrong,” he added.
Minister of Communications and Works Efthymios Flourentzos said a final decision on extensions would be made today or tomorrow.
Failing to renew road tax for three consecutive years turns the money owed into a civil debt, payable at court, and forces drivers to re-register.
Vehicle owners can renew their road tax online at any citizen’s service centre, banks or financial institutions, at the road transport department’s office or else online at: http://rtd.mcw.gov.cy
