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Car registrations and taxes in EU countries

Temporary stays
If you stay in another EU country for less than 6 months, you do not have to register your car or pay any taxes there – it will remain registered in your previous country of residence.
If you are staying in another EU country for less than 6 months and have not registered your car, you may not legally lend or rent your car to a resident of that country. A resident of that country may only drive your car if you are in the car with them.
You may, however, lend your car to visiting friends or family – provided they are not resident in your new country.
If you are staying in another country for more than 6 months, you must register your car there.
Stays over 6 months
If you move to another EU country and take your car with you, you will need to register it and pay any relevant taxes in the new country.
You must register your car within 6 months. Before leaving, you should check with the authorities of your new country when the 6-month period starts – from the moment you leave your home country or from the moment you arrive in your new country. You should also ask what documents will be requested as evidence.
In some countries you may be eligible for a tax exemption on your vehicle registration when you move from another EU country, if you meet the relevant conditions and deadlines. Before moving to your new country, contact the national authorities.
Exceptions to compulsory registration after 6 months
Students
If you are staying in another country only in order to study, you can drive your car without having to register it or pay taxes there – for as long as you are enrolled in an educational establishment in that country.
Cross-border workers
You are a cross-border worker (employed or self-employed) if you work on one side of a national border but live on the other, and return home at least once a week.
If you use your own vehicle to commute regularly from your country of residence to the country where you work, you have to register it and pay the relevant taxes in the country where you live – but not in the country where you work.
If you drive a company car (registered in the country where you work), you may use it for private purposes in the country where you live without having to register it there. You would then be driving with foreign plates in the country where you live. This may cause concern for the local police, who have to check that people under their jurisdiction have paid national vehicle registration taxes.
If you have problems, you can always contact our law office.
Self-employed cross-border workers
If you are a self-employed person living in country A and working in country B, you may use your company car in country A without having to register it there only if:
the car was bought in your company’s name
you use it in country A mainly for your work and only occasionally for private purposes
your company is legally based in another country.
Please note that a company car must be bought in your company’s name. If you drive a car bought in your own name, you must register it in the country where you live.

If you have problems, you can always contact our law office.