Moving from Ireland to Europe: Car Export, Tax, Ferry

What does the Irish end of a move to another European country involve?

Five Irish-side points can be read on official and operator pages: what Revenue repays on a car you take out of the country, what it expects of you as a taxpayer, how a freight ferry from Dublin checks in a lorry, what a pet needs, and which Irish papers work in other EU countries. The household goods are the gap, because the rules a load meets on arrival belong to the country you move to.

We found no Irish official page on sending household goods from Ireland to an EU country, and we have not read one destination country’s customs or registration rules here, so those points are unconfirmed. The country list near the foot of the page links the guide for each country where this site has one.

The same Irish steps apply to a move to Britain, which has its own guide, Ireland to the UK, and the move into Ireland is in moving to Ireland from Europe.

Our part is the introduction to a partner removal company. The company, not this site, confirms that it serves your route, inspects the load and gives the quotation, and the questions near the foot of the page are for it.

What does Revenue repay on a car you take out of Ireland to another EU country?

Revenue’s VRT Export Repayment Scheme (opens in a new window) lets the registered owner of an Irish car claim back the residual Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) when the car leaves for good. For a move to another EU country the condition that matters sits at the receiving end: the claim must include “Proof of the new registration number from another European Union (EU) Member State”.

The full conditions, the documents for the examination and the CO2 rule are set out in our Ireland to the UK guide, which reads the same pages for a car bound for Britain.

The order.
The car goes to a National Car Testing Service (NCTS) centre for an export examination first, and Revenue says “The vehicle must then be exported within 30 days”. A private owner claims on form VRTER2. A business uses form VRTER1 for a car removed to another EU country. Revenue adds that the 30-day limit is for the export of the car, not for sending in the claim.
The proof from the receiving end.
Revenue says proof of removal “should ideally be in the form of a Foreign Registration Certificate”. Where the car has not been registered abroad, separate evidence that it has left the State is needed. Claims go to the Central Repayments Office, and each export examination appointment carries an NCTS fee.
What comes back.
The residual VRT, less an administration fee of €100, and never more than the VRT first paid. A car with an Open Market Selling Price under €2,000 does not qualify. Revenue’s own example, a car registered in 2021 with an Open Market Selling Price of €6,137 and residual VRT of €1,688, repays €1,588.
Tell the Department of Transport.
“On permanently removing the vehicle from the State, the owner must notify the Department of Transport”.
If the car comes back.
A car that has had the repayment is classed as unregistered, and Revenue says it must be presented for registration within 30 days, VRT is payable again and a new Irish number is issued. “It is an offence to display the original number on such a vehicle”.

Which registration deadline and which tax the destination country applies is that country’s rule. Your Europe (opens in a new window) says only that you “may need to register it in your new country”, and we have not read any one country’s page here.

What do you tell Revenue when you leave Ireland to work in Europe?

Revenue’s leaving-Ireland pages turn on one question: whether you stay tax resident in Ireland. If you go abroad to work and stay resident, Revenue says you pay Irish tax on your total worldwide income. If you become non-resident, the steps are a change of address, ending a job with Revenue and, where they apply, split-year treatment or a refund.

For someone who stays resident, Revenue’s page on going abroad to work (opens in a new window) says you are entitled to full tax credits. It lists three reliefs you may claim, Transborder Workers’ Relief, Seafarers’ Allowance and the Foreign Earnings Deduction, and says tax paid in the other country may be relieved under a Double Taxation Agreement. Where Ireland has no such agreement with the country, “you must pay Irish tax on your foreign income after you have paid the foreign tax”.

A different rule covers an Irish employer: “If you are working abroad for an Irish employer, you may be exempt from Irish tax”. Revenue’s page on leaving Ireland (opens in a new window) recommends updating your contact details in myAccount or the Revenue Online Service if you may become non-resident, and says it is your employer’s job to end your employment with Revenue when you leave a job. Split-year treatment is for employment income only. The steps for it, and for a refund after part-year work, are set out in our Ireland to the UK guide, because they do not depend on the country you go to.

If you let an Irish property while you are away, Revenue says you “will have to pay Irish tax on the rent you receive regardless of your residency status”.

What does the Dublin end of a ferry to France ask of a lorry?

Irish Ferries’ Dublin to Cherbourg freight service leaves from Dublin Ferryport, which its passenger site puts 2 miles from the centre of the city, with the Dublin Port Tunnel inside the port complex giving quick access to the M50 and M1. The route page (opens in a new window) gives the terminal address as Terminal Road North, Alexandra Road, Ferryport, Dublin 1, D01T2V9. It gives port operating hours of 04:30 to 02:15 daily, closed on 25 and 26 December.

For a booking, the freight FAQ says you can cancel or amend at any time before the scheduled departure, with no extra fees and a full refund, though a change of sailing or date depends on availability and cargo type. Hazardous goods and abnormal loads need prior approval. Which vehicles count as freight, and how the account works, is set out in our guide to moving to Ireland from Europe.

At Dublin, the route page tells accompanied freight to check in one hour ahead and unaccompanied freight two. The FAQ says “Driver accompanied vehicles should check in 1.5 hours before departure”. Dangerous cargo must be pre-booked and check in no later than 2 hours before the sailing. Irish Ferries does not say which of the two ordinary times governs, so plan to the longer one and ask the company to confirm it in writing.

The autumn 2026 schedule lists Dublin to Cherbourg departures at 1600, 1630 and 1830 with arrival the next day at 1130, 1230 or 1530, and the 2027 file adds 1730 departures and arrivals at 1300 and 1430. Both are marked “Subject to Change All times shown are local times”, and neither states a crossing time, so we give none. The autumn file (opens in a new window) and the 2027 file (opens in a new window) are the pages to read for your date.

The FAQ’s code list for freight reads, for the Irish side, “Ireland → Great Britain: PBN and GMR are required” and “Great Britain → France: GMR and ELO are required”. It prints no line for Ireland to France. It adds that customs codes apply to an empty vehicle as they do to a loaded one and that “Units cannot be shipped between the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Great Britain (GB) without valid customs codes as this is a legal requirement”. The Pre-Boarding Notification comes from Revenue and the Goods Movement Reference from HMRC or a customs agent. On passports, the FAQ says there are no changes for Dublin/Cherbourg, while Irish Ferries requires a valid passport on its Britain routes from 28 September 2026.

What does a pet need to leave Ireland for France?

Irish Ferries’ table for Ireland to France lists a microchip, a document and a rabies vaccination as required, and tapeworm treatment for dogs as not applicable on that leg. The company says a pet must be declared at booking, “A maximum of 5 pets is accepted on a single booking”, and that check-in with pets is two hours before departure.

The same page says the microchip must come before or at the same time as the rabies vaccination, and the vaccination must be given at least 21 days before arrival in the destination country. The document is an EU pet passport or a GB Animal Health Certificate. On the W.B. Yeats a pet stays in a pre-booked kennel, one pet to a kennel, and on the Isle of Inisheer it can stay in a pre-booked pet cabin, subject to availability.

The table covers France only. We did not read what Finland, Malta or Norway ask of a dog arriving from Ireland, and the Citizens Information list of places that exempt a dog from tapeworm treatment concerns arrival in Ireland, not departure. The same vet-and-passport routine applies on the way in, as our guide to moving to Ireland from Europe sets out.

Which Irish papers and entitlements work in other EU countries?

Citizens Information’s pages on leaving Ireland say an Irish licence is accepted in any EU country while it is current, a European Health Insurance Card covers travel to the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and your Irish social insurance record can count towards benefits in the country you move to. The points below come from three of its pages and one on working in the EU.

Driving licence.
“You can drive on your Irish driving licence in any EU country”, and you must be over 18 apart from in Austria, Hungary and the UK, where you can be 17. “You cannot drive on your Irish learner permit outside of the Republic of Ireland”. Some countries let you exchange the licence for a local one, and others need an international driving permit.
Health cover.
Citizens Information says that if you go to the EEA or Switzerland to travel or look for work you “should get the European Health Insurance Card”.
Passport.
Its documents page says that, “given Ireland is not a member of the Schengen Agreement, you will find that you are required to carry your passport when travelling to most other countries”.
Social insurance record.
“The U1 is called a portable document and it provides details of your Irish social insurance record”. Before leaving you can ask the Department of Social Protection for it on a form, and Citizens Information warns that issuing it can take some time. A request for the health-related form S041 “can only be made by the authority in the relevant EU member state”.
Looking for work.
A claimant of Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit or Jobseeker’s Benefit Self-Employed who has been paid for at least four weeks “may continue to get the payment from that same country for up to 13 weeks after you move to another member state”. “You must register within a week with the employment services of the country where you have gone to look for work”.
Certificates.
“Since 16 February 2019, EU citizens moving to another EU country no longer need to get a stamp to prove that their public documents are authentic”. Multilingual standard forms of birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates are available from the General Register Office (GRO) on request.

Which European countries does this page name, and where is the guide for each?

The rules a household meets on arrival belong to the destination. Where this site has a guide for a country, it is linked below, and most of those guides are written around a move from the UK, so use them for the local street and customs side. For the rest, this page names the country and says that nothing is sourced.

Western Europe:
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria have guides here. Monaco is named only.
Southern Europe:
Spain is covered by its own pair guide, Spain to Ireland. Italy, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Malta have guides. Andorra, Croatia, San Marino, Slovenia and Vatican City State are named only.
Northern Europe:
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Estonia have guides. Latvia, Lithuania, the Faroe Islands and Greenland are named only.
Central and eastern Europe:
the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania have guides. Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland are named only.
Britain and Northern Ireland:
the Ireland to the UK guide covers Great Britain and the Irish steps for a move to either.
Elsewhere in Europe, nothing sourced:
Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. Rules for entering them from Ireland are outside this page.

What should you ask a removal company before booking?

Has Revenue confirmed in writing what the load needs on leaving Ireland, and has the destination country confirmed what it needs on arrival?
Who presents the car at the National Car Testing Service, who claims the VRT repayment and who registers it abroad?
Which ferry service and check-in time will the lorry use at Dublin, and who files any customs codes?
Will a pet travel with you, and which papers does the destination country ask for?
Will you stay Irish tax resident or become non-resident, and has Revenue been told?

Questions about moving from Ireland to Europe

Can I get my VRT back when I take my car out of Ireland?

Possibly.

Revenue’s export repayment scheme repays the residual VRT, less a €100 fee, if the car passes an examination at the National Car Testing Service, leaves within 30 days and has a new EU registration to show. A car valued under €2,000 does not qualify.

Do I need to tell Revenue that I am leaving Ireland?

Revenue recommends updating your contact details in myAccount or the Revenue Online Service if you may become non-resident, and your employer ends your job with Revenue when you leave it.

Split-year treatment and refunds have their own steps.

Does my Irish driving licence work in other EU countries?

Citizens Information says you can drive on it in any EU country while it is current, if you are over 18, or 17 in Austria, Hungary and the UK.

An Irish learner permit is not valid outside the Republic.

Does a dog need tapeworm treatment to travel from Ireland to France?

Irish Ferries lists it as not applicable from Ireland to France, and required from France to Ireland.

A microchip, a document and a rabies vaccination are required both ways. We did not read the rules of any other country.

Is there an Irish official page on household goods leaving for an EU country?

We found none on 5 November 2026, so that point is unconfirmed.

Ask Revenue, and ask the destination country what it needs on arrival.

Which European countries does this page cover?

All EU states and the other European countries are named, with a link to the guide for each country where this site has one.

Moving the other way is in our guide to moving to Ireland from Europe.

What to send for a move from Ireland to Europe

Give us the Irish town you are leaving, the pick-up address with its access, the town and country you are moving to and your dates. Say if a car or a pet is travelling and whether you will stay Irish tax resident.

Send your move details

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