Tax runs from calendar months now?

Gti

Ah, I think my confusion is from checking on the DVLA site if my car is taxed. It says tax due on 1st Jan. I had taken that to mean it expires on Jan 1st, rather than last day of the month.
Thanks for the help everyone.

AdrianC

Gti wrote: »

Ah, I think my confusion is from checking on the DVLA site if my car is taxed. It says tax due on 1st Jan. I had taken that to mean it expires on Jan 1st, rather than last day of the month.
Thanks for the help everyone.

Yep, your old tax expired on 31/12. So the tax was due to be paid from 1/1.

WellKnownSid

Gti wrote: »

I stand corrected then. It seems quite cheeky doing it this way, they should at least pro-rata the month.

In Spain it's done annually. If you own a car on January 1st, you are liable for the whole year - so the month thing is actually very good value.

Gti

WellKnownSid wrote: »

In Spain it's done annually. If you own a car on January 1st, you are liable for the whole year - so the month thing is actually very good value.

With everything being done digitally, what good reason is there for not running from date to date instead of calendar month? Car insurance (paid yearly) is run this way and is also mandatory.

dannyrst

Gti wrote: »

With everything being done digitally, what good reason is there for not running from date to date instead of calendar month? Car insurance (paid yearly) is run this way and is also mandatory.

Headline:

"Government spend £XXMillion of tax payers money on new system for car tax when the old one worked fine."

AdrianC

Gti wrote: »

With everything being done digitally, what good reason is there for not running from date to date instead of calendar month?

Quite simply, that the computer systems would have to be redeveloped to do that. And I doubt there's the budget or the appetite. It's only the last year that it's become an issue.

jimjames

Gti wrote: »

With everything being done digitally, what good reason is there for not running from date to date instead of calendar month? Car insurance (paid yearly) is run this way and is also mandatory.

Why not just pay it by DD? You then don't need to worry about it running out and it's always up to date. Marginally more expensive but still cheaper than a fine for driving untaxed.

force_ten

Gti wrote: »

With everything being done digitally, what good reason is there for not running from date to date instead of calendar month? Car insurance (paid yearly) is run this way and is also mandatory.

because it is a good money spinner for them,I sell you my car on the 14th of the month and the DVLA refund my road tax minus the current month so i lose two weeks tax, you tax the car on the 14th via new online system and your tax is back dated to the beginning of the month

so for the month the car was sold the car tax is paid twice, times this by the number of used cars sold every month and it is a nice little earner for them so they are not going to kill the cash cow by running from date to date

foxy-stoat

force_ten wrote: »

because it is a good money spinner for them,I sell you my car on the 14th of the month and the DVLA refund my road tax minus the current month so i lose two weeks tax, you tax the car on the 14th via new online system and your tax is back dated to the beginning of the month

so for the month the car was sold the car tax is paid twice, times this by the number of used cars sold every month and it is a nice little earner for them so they are not going to kill the cash cow by running from date to date

Or just buy and sell your car towards the end of the month and avoid wasting a couple of weeks worth or tax per vehicle......although if your taxing a "normalish" car (band G) the actual loss is around £15, which is probably more than the administration fee you will have to pay your insurance company.

motorguy

force_ten wrote: »

because it is a good money spinner for them,I sell you my car on the 14th of the month and the DVLA refund my road tax minus the current month so i lose two weeks tax, you tax the car on the 14th via new online system and your tax is back dated to the beginning of the month

so for the month the car was sold the car tax is paid twice, times this by the number of used cars sold every month and it is a nice little earner for them so they are not going to kill the cash cow by running from date to date

Bear in mind that this is a exercise in extracting tax revenue. If they changed to a day based system, they'd be down revenue, so they'd probably put tax rates up for everyone to compensate.