Car Tax online more expensive

mimisss

I received a car tax reminder, to tax my car for a year £150 BUT when I came to tax it online it was coming up as £160.
Anyone knows why??

comeandgo

Car tax increased today.  Should have bought it yesterday.

njkmr

As said.
It goes up in April each year.

born_again

Opps, another April F....

daveyjp

comeandgo said:

Car tax increased today.  Should have bought it yesterday.

Wouldn't have made a difference as the amount is based on the tax due on the 1st of the month the tax is due to start, not when it is paid.  

Grey_Critic

***Wouldn't have made a difference as the amount is based on the tax due on the 1st of the month the tax is due to start, not when it is paid. ***

Interesting comment as according to Martin Lewis if you taxed an EV before they started on April 1st tou could get it for nothing

forgotmyname

Grey_Critic said:

***Wouldn't have made a difference as the amount is based on the tax due on the 1st of the month the tax is due to start, not when it is paid. ***

Interesting comment as according to Martin Lewis if you taxed an EV before they started on April 1st tou could get it for nothing

I have taxed vehicles after the budget announced an increase but before the DVLA increased the price, it was right on the
limit for taxing it early also so a short window to get in at the lower rate. Once purchased I have not heard of them chasing
for the difference.

If they announce an increase and you can get it early then it's usually worth doing.  Unlike the person filling can after can of petrol
in his cars boot, it puzzled me but clicked when I got home and the news mentioned the budget.  It didn't work for that guy
though because they knocked 2p a litre off the price that year.

ontheroad1970

forgotmyname said:

Grey_Critic said:

***Wouldn't have made a difference as the amount is based on the tax due on the 1st of the month the tax is due to start, not when it is paid. ***

Interesting comment as according to Martin Lewis if you taxed an EV before they started on April 1st tou could get it for nothing

I have taxed vehicles after the budget announced an increase but before the DVLA increased the price, it was right on the
limit for taxing it early also so a short window to get in at the lower rate. Once purchased I have not heard of them chasing
for the difference.

If they announce an increase and you can get it early then it's usually worth doing.  Unlike the person filling can after can of petrol
in his cars boot, it puzzled me but clicked when I got home and the news mentioned the budget.  It didn't work for that guy
though because they knocked 2p a litre off the price that year.

Though if that fuel station was like some, they probably still increased prices, assuming that people would simply blame the budget.  When a few years ago the government announced they would be reducing duty by 5p a litre, I noticed that many of the motorway service areas were 5p a litre more expensive at the start of that day then a day or two before.  Purely coincidental that the 5p discount took the price down to what it had been before the 5p increase.

Marvel1

It states on the reminder about the price may be different due to budget as it's printed before.

Kim_13

comeandgo said:

Car tax increased today.  Should have bought it yesterday.

Even if you bought it on March 31, it would still want £160 rather than £150 as the tax would be due to start on April 1, on which date £160 became the applicable rate. 

The discrepancy happens every year with reminders that state that tax expires on 31 March - why they cannot show the new rate is beyond me, as it's just misleading. The effective rate from April 1 is already known to them before the letter is sent.

The only way you'd pay the old rate would be if you were putting a vehicle on the road on March 31 (just bought, removing SORN) as tax would then be due from 1 March, when the rate was still (in this case) £150 - but that would be a false economy as it would equate to paying £12.50 for one day of March, to avoid an annual increase of £10.

The loophole would be to SORN the car on 29th February and then tax it (at a PO, as the online system is then unavailable for 5 days) on 1 March - no money lost and tax payable at the old rate. Given the hassle involved, it's unlikely to be worth doing it unless you don't need to use the car for a week and can then re-tax online. You'd also have to wait for the refund cheque for the unused month and pay that in (which might mean a branch visit depending on who you bank with.)

born_again

Grey_Critic said:

***Wouldn't have made a difference as the amount is based on the tax due on the 1st of the month the tax is due to start, not when it is paid. ***

Interesting comment as according to Martin Lewis if you taxed an EV before they started on April 1st tou could get it for nothing

If you look at the EV situation, they have to pay VED from April 2025. The fiddle is moving registration to March, means that car will not be due to ay VED till March 2026, instead of sometime in 2025. 

Of course DVLA, could simply say, tough. We are going to go by official date of purchase & registration & catch all these people out.
Time will tell.