Car Tax 6 months overdue!

garythehutch

Hi all

I may or may not have dropped a bollock. Today I was sitting at work and I thought to myself "bloody hell, I haven't paid my car tax in a while". I went online and it turned out my car tax had expired on 1st December 2016! Oops. This made sense because I got a years tax when I bought the car from a dealer in December 2015.

So anyway, as I work away I got my Dad to go and get my log book to give me the reference number so I could set up a direct debit. I've done that immediately. All ok.

However, it did give a message to say:

"Your vehicle will be taxed from 01 June 2017 This vehicle's previous tax/SORN expired on: 01 December 2016. This means the vehicle has not been taxed since this date.
You can apply for vehicle tax from today's date, with a tax start date of the first of this month, however, please note that it is an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle that is untaxed and does not have SORN in force. DVLA's enforcement section may be in contact with you regarding this gap in tax.

Now, the address on the form is my old address. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced I called the DVLA to advise them of a change to my address. I don't think I would be able to prove this.

What's the best/worse case scenario? Has anyone actually had a similar experience?

docmatt

I'd just keep quiet. It's taxed now. :D

wgl2014

Update your address on your v5 for a start.

Then wait and see what arrives in the post!

Aylesbury_Duck

garythehutch wrote: »

Hi all

I may or may not have dropped a bollock. Today I was sitting at work and I thought to myself "bloody hell, I haven't paid my car tax in a while". I went online and it turned out my car tax had expired on 1st December 2016! Oops. This made sense because I got a years tax when I bought the car from a dealer in December 2015.

So anyway, as I work away I got my Dad to go and get my log book to give me the reference number so I could set up a direct debit. I've done that immediately. All ok.

However, it did give a message to say:

"Your vehicle will be taxed from 01 June 2017 This vehicle's previous tax/SORN expired on: 01 December 2016. This means the vehicle has not been taxed since this date.
You can apply for vehicle tax from today's date, with a tax start date of the first of this month, however, please note that it is an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle that is untaxed and does not have SORN in force. DVLA's enforcement section may be in contact with you regarding this gap in tax.

Now, the address on the form is my old address. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced I called the DVLA to advise them of a change to my address. I don't think I would be able to prove this.

What's the best/worse case scenario? Has anyone actually had a similar experience?

Best case is that you're not contacted about it.

Worst case is that they investigate the gap, you can't show that you didn't SORN it for that period, and you will be charged for the untaxed period and possibly fined.

Your choice really. The address situation isn't relevant to the tax because you shouldn't rely on the postal reminder to tax your car. It is relevant in that your car is currently registered to the wrong address, so get that sorted asap.

garythehutch

Yeah, I am going to ring them first thing and ask why my address wasn't updated.

pappa_golf

I called the DVLA to advise them of a change to my address.


can you do that? thought it was online or by posting thee v5 off?

garythehutch

pappa_golf wrote: »

I called the DVLA to advise them of a change to my address.


can you do that? thought it was online or by posting thee v5 off?

I'm sure I remember calling the Swansea office and telling them. The reason I say that is because I'm an IT contractor and remember thinking it was ironic calling the DVLA when a recruiter had just recently called me to tell me about a project going at the DVLA.

Aylesbury_Duck

garythehutch wrote: »

I'm sure I remember calling the Swansea office and telling them. The reason I say that is because I'm an IT contractor and remember thinking it was ironic calling the DVLA when a recruiter had just recently called me to tell me about a project going at the DVLA.

What's ironic about that? Or do you mean coincidental?

garythehutch

I mean coincidential. That's one of my pet peeves too, it's been a long day.

Aylesbury_Duck

You need less hassles in life and fewer stress then...

garythehutch

This is getting worse. I called the DVLA, sure enough they have my old address and sure enough they told me to send a form in... I'll do this at the weekend when I get back from work.

She said that due to the tax gap, not only will I be fined, but the case has went to court. Not only has it went to court, but it's been settled. I was seen on the road on 11th January without tax (accurate) and the case was just settled in May. I'm amazed it's been settled without me knowing.

This is the first I've heard of such things! Obviously I am not only worried about what needs to be done to remedy this, but I'm also worried that it has affected my credit rating.