Transfer a vehicle to a family member mid month

ConsumerWarrior

The process of transferring a vehicle mid-road-tax month makes the Chancellor very rich, both parties have to pay a wastage that wont be refunded especially if there is no desire to SORN and use straight away at point of transfer.

I'm giving my car to a family member mid-month so think I'll delay notifying DLVA till 1st of the next month...but if I do that, will they consider the 1st as being a full month I have to pay for because effectively I had the vehicle on 1st day of month and so had registered ownership for that month (which sounds very likely knowing our government).

Would it be best to notify DVLA on last day of prev month which means I would still get refund for tax beyond the 1st of next month and family person just needs to pay for tax from the 1st?

Rip off Britain?

facade

Transfer the car to them online on the 31st, and they tax it online on the 1st.

There might be some insurance problem if they want to use it before the 1st though, as insurers usually ask a question like "does the vehicle belong to you and is it registered in your name".

Agree it is a rip-off, in the 21st century there is no reason not to calculate the short month and adjust the new VED payment and old VED refund accordingly- but it has been rather done to death on here since it was introduced late 2014.

frankflowers

ConsumerWarrior said:

The process of transferring a vehicle mid-road-tax month makes the Chancellor very rich, both parties have to pay a wastage that wont be refunded especially if there is no desire to SORN and use straight away at point of transfer.

I'm giving my car to a family member mid-month so think I'll delay notifying DLVA till 1st of the next month...but if I do that, will they consider the 1st as being a full month I have to pay for because effectively I had the vehicle on 1st day of month and so had registered ownership for that month (which sounds very likely knowing our government).

Would it be best to notify DVLA on last day of prev month which means I would still get refund for tax beyond the 1st of next month and family person just needs to pay for tax from the 1st?

Rip off Britain?

Its hardly a rip off and has been around as long as i can remember - you always had to tax a car from when you got it, and always could only reclaim full months.

Would you rather everyones tax was put up to facilitate the few who change their cars and "lose" a few pounds in tax?

I also would love to know where you get the impression the chancellor / this country is "very rich".  Quite the reverse and we need all the tax revenue we can - and expect a lot more going forward.

It has always been "workable" to an extent though if you really wish to avoid it - complete the online form on the last day of the month and they can tax the car from the 1st day of the next month.

Simples.  No need for outrage.

frankflowers

facade said:

Transfer the car to them online on the 31st, and they tax it online on the 1st.

There might be some insurance problem if they want to use it before the 1st though, as insurers usually ask a question like "does the vehicle belong to you and is it registered in your name".

Agree it is a rip-off, in the 21st century there is no reason not to calculate the short month and adjust the new VED payment and old VED refund accordingly- but it has been rather done to death on here since it was introduced late 2014.

It has always been the case - you only ever got full months back, and you also taxed in full months, so it wasnt introduced in 2014.

uknick

frankflowers said:

facade said:

Transfer the car to them online on the 31st, and they tax it online on the 1st.

There might be some insurance problem if they want to use it before the 1st though, as insurers usually ask a question like "does the vehicle belong to you and is it registered in your name".

Agree it is a rip-off, in the 21st century there is no reason not to calculate the short month and adjust the new VED payment and old VED refund accordingly- but it has been rather done to death on here since it was introduced late 2014.

It has always been the case - you only ever got full months back, and you also taxed in full months, so it wasnt introduced in 2014.

But, prior to 2014 you could sell the car and transfer any remaining tax to the new owner.  Now you can't as change of ownership forces a change in the tax status.  I do agree it was only ever full remaining months you could cash in.

TooManyPoints

Yes, you previously could sell the car "taxed" and the new owner would not have to pay until it expired. The seller could reflect this in his asking price.

Unless the SORN process is used, transferring a car will always involve paying one month's tax twice. The seller will not get a refund on the current month as he's already used part of it and the buyer will have to tax it from the first of that month to use the car immediately.

Transfer the car to them online on the 31st, and they tax it online on the 1st.

If that's done the old keeper will not get a refund for the current month and the new keeper will be expected to tax it from the first of that month (since he was the RK - however briefly - during that month). The way round it is to SORN it on 31st and transfer it on the 1st. The old keeper will not get a refund but the new keeper can un-SORN it by taxing it from the 1st. To comply with the SORN the car will have to be kept off the road between the two actions.

diystarter7

In the scheme of things, what is a few quid?

Zandoni

frankflowers said:

ConsumerWarrior said:

The process of transferring a vehicle mid-road-tax month makes the Chancellor very rich, both parties have to pay a wastage that wont be refunded especially if there is no desire to SORN and use straight away at point of transfer.

I'm giving my car to a family member mid-month so think I'll delay notifying DLVA till 1st of the next month...but if I do that, will they consider the 1st as being a full month I have to pay for because effectively I had the vehicle on 1st day of month and so had registered ownership for that month (which sounds very likely knowing our government).

Would it be best to notify DVLA on last day of prev month which means I would still get refund for tax beyond the 1st of next month and family person just needs to pay for tax from the 1st?

Rip off Britain?

Its hardly a rip off and has been around as long as i can remember - you always had to tax a car from when you got it, and always could only reclaim full months.

Would you rather everyones tax was put up to facilitate the few who change their cars and "lose" a few pounds in tax?

I also would love to know where you get the impression the chancellor / this country is "very rich".  Quite the reverse and we need all the tax revenue we can - and expect a lot more going forward.

It has always been "workable" to an extent though if you really wish to avoid it - complete the online form on the last day of the month and they can tax the car from the 1st day of the next month.

Simples.  No need for outrage.

I’d expect our tax system to be fair, I’d also expect that road tax was actually spent on the roads.

Herzlos

diystarter7 said:

In the scheme of things, what is a few quid?

If that. OP - much much VED are you paying anyway? If it's £30/year then you're only saving £2.59, and at £155/year it's only £12.90.

At some point,whilst it's marginally unfair to tax/refund in whole months when they would work it out daily just as easily, sometimes it's worth asking if it's even worth the hassle.

facade

Herzlos said:

diystarter7 said:

In the scheme of things, what is a few quid?

If that. OP - much much VED are you paying anyway? If it's £30/year then you're only saving £2.59, and at £155/year it's only £12.90.

At some point,whilst it's marginally unfair to tax/refund in whole months when they would work it out daily just as easily, sometimes it's worth asking if it's even worth the hassle.

For an individual, likely not. For the Treasury, when 7 million second hand cars change hands a year, if half of them have to "double tax" for a month it is well worth it

GrumpyDil

TooManyPoints said:

Yes, you previously could sell the car "taxed" and the new owner would not have to pay until it expired. The seller could reflect this in his asking price.

Unless the SORN process is used, transferring a car will always involve paying one month's tax twice. The seller will not get a refund on the current month as he's already used part of it and the buyer will have to tax it from the first of that month to use the car immediately.

Transfer the car to them online on the 31st, and they tax it online on the 1st.

If that's done the old keeper will not get a refund for the current month and the new keeper will be expected to tax it from the first of that month (since he was the RK - however briefly - during that month). The way round it is to SORN it on 31st and transfer it on the 1st. The old keeper will not get a refund but the new keeper can un-SORN it by taxing it from the 1st. To comply with the SORN the car will have to be kept off the road between the two actions.

We did exactly this at the end of February. Transferred ownership online early evening on 28th Feb and taxed from 1st March. Had to do tax over the phone as the DVLA systems had already processed the new V5 meaning the new keeper supplement could not be used to tax the car but didn't have any issues with it.