Fined for not renewing car tax

Signaller

Admin - please move/delete, or advise if I've posted in the wrong place.
My ex partner received a penalty for not renewing her car tax recently. Due to her health issues she does not actually pay anything. It is the standard £80, reduced to £40 if paid early, and a further £11.25 arrears!!!
The only excuse she has is that she simply forgot to re-tax it.
She contacted DVLA who told her that the car has never been subject to £0 payment because of her disability. This is quite simply not true, as she taxed it last year with £0 payment and has proof from the Post Office where she taxed it. I understand that she may well have to pay the late renewal penalty (she has taxed it today the same way she did last year) but why are they asking for arrears when she is not liable to actually pay anything anyway.

Regards

Signaller

Stoke

Unfortunately, this has come up time and time again. Even if you pay £0, you have to renew that £0 tax.

Sorry to say, but bad luck

Signaller

Thank You @ Stoke for the superquick reply. I understand she should still have 'taxed' it, so will have to pay the late renewal penalty. But is she still liable for 'arrears' if the car is subject to £0 payment.

missile

Is it really worth arguing over £11.25?

DVLA may well refund the arrears as and when the VED car is renewed at zero rate.

Nobbie1967

Signaller wrote: »

Thank You @ Stoke for the superquick reply. I understand she should still have 'taxed' it, so will have to pay the late renewal penalty. But is she still liable for 'arrears' if the car is subject to £0 payment.

Maybe the discount to £0 is only effective if it is taxed on time? Failure to comply with the requirements of the discount may cancel void it?

Stoke

Signaller wrote: »

Thank You @ Stoke for the superquick reply. I understand she should still have 'taxed' it, so will have to pay the late renewal penalty. But is she still liable for 'arrears' if the car is subject to £0 payment.

I'm not sure. I don't have a lot of knowledge on this. It's something that I've complained about on here. The fact that £0 rate electric cars have to be taxed or drivers face a penalty seems like a great little money spinner for the Doovla.

That said, it does give the DVLA a way of tracking which vehicles are and aren't on the road, and that is probably their justification.

unforeseen

What would be the normal rate for the vehicle?.

It sounds like they have charged her the pro-rata rate for the vehicle because during that period she had not applied for the zero rate. The £0 rate only comes into effect when applied for. It is not automatic and I'm guessing non-backdateable.

sheramber

Her V5C should show she is exempt. Does it?

Signaller

Thank you all for your replies. She has a certificate from DWP showing her entitlement, as she has the high rate mobility element of DLA. She has been to the local post office today and taxed the car at £0 the same as she did last year. I will see her tomorrow and look at the V5C. Thanks again.

Regards
Signaller

System

Assuming that without the DLA certificate you actually have to pay something and its not £0 rated on its own then It is only £0 rated when covered by an exemption certificate. When its untaxed its not covered by that certificate so it would follow that the £11 was to cover the tax that would normally be due on that vehicle if it was being taxed normally without the disabled rate.

GunJack

Think we had to send the V5 off with a copy of the entitlement letter (Mrs G-J on high-rate PIP for mobility) and got new one back with tax-exempt Disabled classification noted on it. If OP's wife did it at the PO last time, the assistant should have told her she needed to send the V5 off to be changed.

Once DVLA have changed the V5, the reminders come through with a £0 to pay, but yes you still need to go through the process to "tax" it.