They can’t just change rules, and the tax on cars restarts on change of ownership and after being SORN’d so it’s not even practical. I’m not saying don’t do it, I just saying there’s no need to sow fear on the topic. Those of us who have been owning EVs for a number of years will remember a very similar situation occurred about 5 years ago and they didn’t try to stop it then, so they’ll know what’s going on, and if they wanted to block it they would have done it already
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Renew your EV Road Tax
- Thread starter RedMod3
- Start date
Jason71
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure if you try to re-tax your car tomorrow you will be offered the 1st of April as the only possible start date for the licence if using a V5
Licences always start from the first of the current month unless the VED is actually is due at the end of the month then they start from the start of the following month.
The Latter part of the rule may be dependant on the 5th of the month but pretty sure the first part is not.
Why would anyone ever have a need to buy a licence with a V5 for a month that had already finished? If I bought I car tomorrow and had to tax it from the 1st of March I would not be happy.
Pink Duck
Active Member
Try going on the DVLA renewal site today (1st April), selecting V5C Document Reference (not V11), then see for yourself what they offer.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
Pink Duck
Active Member
Jason71
Well-Known Member
That depends on your PoV. First off you had the whole of March 2025 to do it and secondly I just taxed both mine from the 1st of April which I believe I will be able to renew in March next year still at £0 i.e I don't believe the new rates will kick in for purchases made before the 1st of April even if the VED starts ON the 1st of April giving me 12 months extra free as opposed to the 11 months everyone else is planning on getting.
I guess we meet back here in about 340 days to see who was right
Before anyone says that is a big gamble for a small reward. It's not really since there is the get out of Jail Free card of SORN/relicense so its more a small gamble with the risk being a bit of extra work. And where is the fun if everyone does the same thing.
And no they won't "close the loophole" because it is not a loophole its how the system is set up to work and they won't change it to stop a few EV owners getting a one off saving of a few quid. In the great scheme of things we are a rounding error and not worth the hassle/cost.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
Very much an ex insider these days but I guess we will see.That’s how insiders job works
As I have mentioned previously there are two different ways DVLA has implemented this kind of thing in the past. Day of purchase or day of licence start.
I think it will be the based on the former but I will not be shocked if I am wrong. They are predictable unpredictable
To me this seems fairly clear:
There was never an option until the 4th April
When you "tax" the car there are two fundementally different scenarios, One is you get a renewal letter in the month before the current tax expires wuth a 16 digit code and they ask you to renew - before your tax expires. If you tax expires on 31st March 2025 and you follow this route you will be taxing your car in march but for 1st April onwards which will cost money.
The other option is to tax your vehicle in "from now" which makes the start date the first of the current month. You can not use the 16 digit code on the reminder, you need to use the V5C and not go for a typical renewal. The reason why they warn you is because if you actually pay money, you will already have paid for the current month and taxing it again will mean you pay for the current month again.
So.. for those that missed the window this year, if yu get a "renew your tax" in March 2025 and you just tax as normal you will pay. If you ignore the "renew your tax" letter, go onto the DVLA website and ask to tax the car from this month you should pay £0 as youre taxing the car from 1st March, not 1st of April
One option for the ultra cautious, once you renew your tax between now and next March, say your normal renewal is September, from September onwards you can renew the tax every month. Every month closer to March you get from your normal renewal you save about £15
I don't believe for one minute that if you tax in March for a 1st April 2025 renewal you'll pay £0. That would effectively mean everybody who has car tax starting on 1st of April and who would renew in March as is the usual order of things, pay £0.
There was never an option until the 4th April
When you "tax" the car there are two fundementally different scenarios, One is you get a renewal letter in the month before the current tax expires wuth a 16 digit code and they ask you to renew - before your tax expires. If you tax expires on 31st March 2025 and you follow this route you will be taxing your car in march but for 1st April onwards which will cost money.
The other option is to tax your vehicle in "from now" which makes the start date the first of the current month. You can not use the 16 digit code on the reminder, you need to use the V5C and not go for a typical renewal. The reason why they warn you is because if you actually pay money, you will already have paid for the current month and taxing it again will mean you pay for the current month again.
So.. for those that missed the window this year, if yu get a "renew your tax" in March 2025 and you just tax as normal you will pay. If you ignore the "renew your tax" letter, go onto the DVLA website and ask to tax the car from this month you should pay £0 as youre taxing the car from 1st March, not 1st of April
One option for the ultra cautious, once you renew your tax between now and next March, say your normal renewal is September, from September onwards you can renew the tax every month. Every month closer to March you get from your normal renewal you save about £15
I don't believe for one minute that if you tax in March for a 1st April 2025 renewal you'll pay £0. That would effectively mean everybody who has car tax starting on 1st of April and who would renew in March as is the usual order of things, pay £0.
Pink Duck
Active Member
The 5th is only because the online V5C system changes behaviour from the 6th day of the month. Up to and including the 5th it allows the 1st month as start, beyond that it becomes the next month. Which is why reminder in mid-Feb and renewing online on 5th March permitted March–Feb for 1st March instead of 1st April annual renewal start, to avoid the £180/year from 1st April 2025 for longest, without risking change in DVLA approach.
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Given somebody has tried it and it hasn;t worked I think you're wrong
Ad for Jason, I think if he waits until next year he'll end up paying now as he's moved his tax renewal to the worst possible date.
Pink Duck
Active Member
I tried it myself (DVLA email dated 05/03/2024 09:15), which is why I know that’s true. It's also documented somewhere about five working days into month for DVLA tax licensing renewal (originates from time for new paper disc to arrive by post). It will also be the case this month, up until 6th April the offer will be Apr–Mar, from 6th April it will become May–Apr. Jason’s get-out approach by SORN is viable, but his theorised case can’t be confirmed as true until V11 reminder mid-March raised in discussion by others.
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Jason71
Well-Known Member
Its a govt system. It really isn't
Agree with all but the last sentence. There have been many many times in the past where the rates have gone up mid month so taxing at the start of the month got you a different rate to taxing at the middle and end of the month.
There have also been other times when taxing for April during March gets you a different rate to taxing for April during April.
I worked in this area for some time and I cannot tell which way next year will go so I am pretty sure you have no reason to be as confident as you are.
The difference between taxing using the V11 reminder and the V5c is not as big as you think. The thing that counts is your VED expiry date not how you renew.
if your VED expires at the end of the current month and you try to relicense. however you do it ( after the 5th of the month up until the end of the following month) the system will only offer you your renewal date as the start date of the licence. so with an expiry date of 31st March 2025 it does not matter if you do
V11 on March 6th
V5 on March 31st
V11 on April 10th
V5 on April 30
You will tax from April 1st, no exceptions, but historically you may not be paying the same on all of those dates.
If your VED is not due at the end of the current month ( or you have no VED or Are SORNED) then you will only be able to tax from the start of the current month. With only one exception for SORNED vehicles taxed in the last couple of days of the month. They are presented with the option to tax forward or back.
If you re-tax your car and there are remaining months left on your current licence you won't just lose the rest of the current month you will lose all future months you have paid for . DVLA will not automatically issue a refund if you do this though you can probably ring them up and ask them nicely for the remaining double taxed full months.
Your faith in the fairness and assumed logical behaviour of government taxation is very touching. Which seems doubly odd given that this entire discussion started around EVS. A system where by a La Ferrari pays the same VED as a hatchback that sold new for 28K but had a list price of £40K?
I guess we will see........
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It seems to be a race for the "free" 11 months or 12 months now
I Just done as always with is give up whilst you're ahead... My car was boughtt in March so nothing to do there but ive renewed both my kids cars and the Mrs yesterday. The leaf is no bother as it's a 2015 car.... one in the hand is better than two in the bush and all that
I Just done as always with is give up whilst you're ahead... My car was boughtt in March so nothing to do there but ive renewed both my kids cars and the Mrs yesterday. The leaf is no bother as it's a 2015 car.... one in the hand is better than two in the bush and all that
Pink Duck
Active Member
The V11z is the new version of DVLA’s V11 for vehicles attracting a ‘zero’ rate of tax. If renewed online in advance of its arrival then safe to ignore.
Jonnymack74
Member
I read online that for London types they will also pay the "congestion" charge after Dec 2025 - Well all them smokers have died off so they need to recoup that tax and all the fuel duty they will lose with the move to electric
The lost fuel duty recovery plan is already underway - its called smart meters and Smart EV chargers, A little play with the code and every Kwhr that goes into an EV will be charged 20% VAT rather than the domestic 5%, plus I suspect an additional charge as a new "fuel Duty" can be levied electronically too, so these plus the VED from 2025 should allow MPs to have a bit bigger trough to get stuck into. Oh how they will gorge.
phil4
Member
Smart meters no chance. They're a buggy pile of rubbish. They can't even cope with sending usage data reliably, nor know what the price is at a given time. I doubt they can do anything remotely complex like spotting loads.
Smart Chargers however are more likely, and far easier. The problem there is there are plenty of granny and "non smart" chargers around at the moment, and people can easily switch to those.
Instead, usage on the road, a large handout to your mates to set it up and run it, and you've got a solution, and made your mates billions.
That's assuming they bother. Many other taxes they could dream up or increase to replace fuel tax.
Jason71
Well-Known Member
Trying to separate out domestic charging for an EV from other domestic usage is a fools errand.
There is no way to reliably know what is going into an EV unless you measure it in the EV given you can plug into any 13amp socket and or via Solar panels / battery
I think you have been reading the Daily Mail again. Road pricing in some form is much more likely.
