Another car tax question (selling)

cruz99

I have agreed to sell my van. The handover date is January 31st

How do we go about it so neither of us gets stiffed for a full months tax just for a day?

Do I date the V5 the 31st and he then applies for tax the day after?

Retrogamer

cruz99 wrote: »

How do we go about it so neither of us gets stiffed for a full months tax just for a day?

You can't.

BeenThroughItAll

Retrogamer wrote: »

You can't.

You could, in theory:


Seller sells car at end of month and submits online/telephone SORN request before the end of said month, gaining a refund of full months' tax including the next month.


Buyer picks up car on 1st of the month and taxes online or by phone, paying for VED from the 1st of that month.

Joe_Horner

You date the cange of ownership for the 1st and he immediately taxes it using the new owner slip number, starting on the 1st. Make sure that you send off the V5 so he can't continue with it in your name and it's all good.

If by some incredible bad luck he has an accident on the way home, or is pulled and needs to show his ownership, then you got the days mixed up when filling out the form.

If you date the sale for the 31st then he'll be liable for January's tax but you won't get a refund because it's not a full month remaining.

Retrogamer

As far as i'm aware from other threads on here and other motoring forums (i'm happy to be corrected)

If you declare change of ownership on 31st, they won't refund you because it's end of the month but as they became the registered keeper on that date, they are also eligible to pay tax for that full month.

And vice versa.

If you do it on the 1st of a month so the new keeper has the full month, because the change of ownership was done on the 1st, it means (even if it's not the full day) you were still the registered keeper for part of that day and thus eligible to pay the tax for that full month

Retrogamer

This is the thread here where the issue is explained better

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5147899

Edit: Just noticed the bit with BeenThroughTtAll's advise near the end.

BeenThroughItAll

Retrogamer wrote: »

As far as i'm aware from other threads on here and other motoring forums (i'm happy to be corrected)

If you declare change of ownership on 31st, they won't refund you because it's end of the month but as they became the registered keeper on that date, they are also eligible to pay tax for that full month.

And vice versa.

If you do it on the 1st of a month so the new keeper has the full month, because the change of ownership was done on the 1st, it means (even if it's not the full day) you were still the registered keeper for part of that day and thus eligible to pay the tax for that full month

You don't declare change of keeper on 31st. You sell the car, get deposit, put car on SORN. You then get automatically refunded for the next month plus any other remaining months.

When buyer picks up car on 1st, you send off V5 declaring change of keeper - but because the car was SORN'd there's no tax implication on you, only the new keeper has to tax the car.


That's what the rules say, in any case. Whether it will actually work, I can't be sure.


Whenever I've sold a car in the past, I've always only filled in the V5 and returned when the buyer ACTUALLY picks it up - until that time, I remain the keeper just in case they don't bother to return.

cruz99

Thanks for all the replies.

My situation is I am delivering the vehicle to the new owner this Saturday the 31st and he is paying for my shortish train journey home.

So in order for the robbing barstewards at the exchequer not to rodger one of us for a months tax for nothing am I right (from the advice above) that this is how I go about it?

1. Drive car to new owner on the 31st
2. Declare Sorn there and then by phone
3. Fill in V5 dated 1st February
4. New owner taxes vehicle on 1st February

BeenThroughItAll

cruz99 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

My situation is I am delivering the vehicle to the new owner this Saturday the 31st and he is paying for my shortish train journey home.

So in order for the robbing barstewards at the exchequer not to rodger one of us for a months tax for nothing am I right (from the advice above) that this is how I go about it?

1. Drive car to new owner on the 31st
2. Declare Sorn there and then by phone
3. Fill in V5 dated 1st February
4. New owner taxes vehicle on 1st February

In theory, that should work, but you've got DVLA's systems to content with so don't hold your breath.


Assume you're going to lose a month's worth of VED refund then if you don't it'll be a pleasant surprise.

forgotmyname

What if the DVLA site goes down on Saturday?

BeenThroughItAll

forgotmyname wrote: »

What if the DVLA site goes down on Saturday?

Then you're knackered, but their phone lines are normally open. I'd recommend doing it via phone anyway if you're nip-tuck on refund dates.