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URGENT: Cancel your tax disc now.
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The government has just announced large increases in car tax.
These are effective from April 1st 2009.
In some cases the tax has more than doubled.
Depending on your car's CO2 and when your tax expires, you need to take one of the following actions:
1. Do nothing. Buy a new car tax disc when the current one expires, as usual.
2. Click on this link http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=directgov and buy a new tax disc, which will be backdated to March 1st and will last for 12 months. In March 2009 you will then buy another year's tax at the current much lower rates. When you have received your new tax disc, you can claim a refund for any unused months from your current tax.
3. If your car tax expires on August 31st 2008, in many cases you should buy a six-month tax disc then, and then a 12-month disc after that, again locking in the lower rates of VED.
4. If your car tax expires BEFORE August 31st 2008, you can buy a six-month tax disc when it expires. This will not be as much of a saving as re-taxing your car now and then claiming the refund, but it doesn't require any effort. Check the spreadsheet below for the relative savings between these two courses of action.
Please be aware that
(a) the rules on tax disc refunds are going to be changed, so you will want to act now
(b) if you are in an affected band, you need to buy your tax disc this month, because you want it to start from March 1st, not April 1st. If your tax is about to expire, instead of renewing it from April 1st, which is probably what you will be offered online, if you are affected, you may need to go to the post office instead, and get it to start from March 1st. Even though you lose a month's tax, the increases are in many cases far more than a month.
The affected car owners are:
161g-165g CO2 - £145/£175 (+£30/21%) Highest saving by retaxing: £15
These are effective from April 1st 2009.
In some cases the tax has more than doubled.
Depending on your car's CO2 and when your tax expires, you need to take one of the following actions:
1. Do nothing. Buy a new car tax disc when the current one expires, as usual.
2. Click on this link http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=directgov and buy a new tax disc, which will be backdated to March 1st and will last for 12 months. In March 2009 you will then buy another year's tax at the current much lower rates. When you have received your new tax disc, you can claim a refund for any unused months from your current tax.
3. If your car tax expires on August 31st 2008, in many cases you should buy a six-month tax disc then, and then a 12-month disc after that, again locking in the lower rates of VED.
4. If your car tax expires BEFORE August 31st 2008, you can buy a six-month tax disc when it expires. This will not be as much of a saving as re-taxing your car now and then claiming the refund, but it doesn't require any effort. Check the spreadsheet below for the relative savings between these two courses of action.
Please be aware that
(a) the rules on tax disc refunds are going to be changed, so you will want to act now
(b) if you are in an affected band, you need to buy your tax disc this month, because you want it to start from March 1st, not April 1st. If your tax is about to expire, instead of renewing it from April 1st, which is probably what you will be offered online, if you are affected, you may need to go to the post office instead, and get it to start from March 1st. Even though you lose a month's tax, the increases are in many cases far more than a month.
The affected car owners are:
161g-165g CO2 - £145/£175 (+£30/21%) Highest saving by retaxing: £15
171-180g CO2, £170/£205 (+£35/21%) Highest saving: £18
181-185g CO2, £170/£260 (+£90/53%) Best retax saving:£68
186g-200g, £210/£260 (+£50/24%) Best retax saving: £28
201g-225g, £210/£300 (+£90/43%) Best retax saving: £65
226g-255g, registered between 01/03/01 and 22/03/06, £210/£415 (+£205/98%) Best retax saving: £170
256g+, registered between 01/03/01 and 22/03/06, £210/£440(+£230/110%) Best retax saving: £193
256g+, registered since 22/03/06, £400/£440 (+£40/10%) Best retax saving: £3
Other cars than these do not need to take action.
To see exactly whether you should get a new tax disc now, please take a look at my spreadsheet
Find your car's CO2 along the left, and the expiry date of your tax along the top.
If there is a saving listed (black numbers), you can decide based on the saving whether to take action. If your car expires between April 30 2008, and July 31 2008, you can also check the August 31 2008 column. This gives the saving for buying a six-month disc (ignore the fact the column is headed August 31 - the saving is still the same provided your tax expires before then). This will be less than re-taxing now for 12 months, but you will not need to send off for a refund.
The cars with biggest savings are those between 181g-185g, 201g-225g, and 226g+ licensed between 2001 and March 2006. Other car owners will not save more than £30.
For my car, I have saved £57.50.
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Comments
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Seems waay too much hassle, also what do you do in between sending off the old one and getting the new one?0
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Hire a car or use public transport of course!
I don't think the OP has quite thought it through, especially as you'd lose a fair whack being halfway through a month.0 -
Hire a car or use public transport of course!
I don't think the OP has quite thought it through, especially as you'd lose a fair whack being halfway through a month.
Have you actually read my post?
I have factored that in. You lose 1 month's tax. This costs you 1/12 (8.3%) of the NEW tax rate, but the difference between the new and old rate is mostly far more than that.
I drive a Volvo S80 2.5T.
My car tax is currently £210. It is going up by £90 to £300.
My tax is expiring at the end of the month anyway, but I am going to the post office tomorrow to get taxed effective from the first of this month. That way I will save £90 next year. I only lose 1 month of tax. One month of tax is £25 at the new rate. Net saving £65.
10 minutes in the post office tomorrow saves me £65.
Brilliant.
I like saving money.0 -
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Seems waay too much hassle, also what do you do in between sending off the old one and getting the new one?
You buy the new one first of course. You just need to send the old one off, and you get a refund. Put it in the envelope, post to DVLA, receive cheque in the post.
Not hassle at all.
And if your tax is expiring February 28th 2009 (action now: do nothing), March 31st 2008 (action now: buy tax in post office without renewal notice, it will be back dated to March 1st, expiring Febryary 29th 2009), or August 31st 2008 (action then: buy six month tax disc), you don't even need to claim a refund.
If you fall into the bands suffering £90, £205, or £230 increases, you'd be crazy not to claim the refund if your tax is not expiring on one of these days. For other bands, you can decide whether the hassle justifies the effort (e.g., for £28 saving) or not.0 -
But why do it now? Why not just do it the month before the tax rises come into force and save a lot of needless fannying around? Makes no difference if you do it now or send off for a refund of the disc that's in the car at the end of February next year.0
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But why do it now? Why not just do it the month before the tax rises come into force and save a lot of needless fannying around? Makes no difference if you do it now or send off for a refund of the disc that's in the car at the end of February next year.
Because, as I posted in my original post,
"Budget 2008 announces that vehicle excise duty (VED) refunds will be restricted to the registered keeper of a vehicle and applicable only when a vehicle has: been stolen, destroyed, sold or otherwise disposed of; become eligible for a nil licence; been declared as statutorily off-the-road; or been permanently exported. This will help ensure that motorists cannot avoid paying a pre-announced rate of VED.
"
You won't be able to get a refund then.
Do it now, bird in the hand and all that.0 -
Mine expires end of September and i currently pay £210, going up to £260.
What's my best strategy?0 -
Mine expires end of September and i currently pay £210, going up to £260.
What's my best strategy?
Either:
You can:
* renew for 12 months, expiring September 2009, and then again after that till 09/10. Total cost = £470
* Buy 12 months now, and again in March 2009 = 2 * £210. Then pay for 7 months at new rate = £152 to take you up to same expiry. Claim refund of £105 now for unused tax. The cost is actually £467.
So not really worth doing anything.
I will try and come up with some more accurate numbers for the different bands and expiry dates. Certainly the February 28th 2009, and August 31 2008 expiries are going to be able to save, and so will those with whose tax is going up by £90 or more.0
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