SORN and re-tax

geizkragen

With VED going up in April would it be wise to SORN if one's vehicle was affected and re-tax before 1st April?

Are there any Dos and DON'Ts ?

thanks 

COI: 2004 Merc SL 350 - Band L [I believe]

TooManyPoints

Simply work out how much you might gain and if it's worth the bother, do it.

facade

If one month's tax now costs less than the increase post-April then yes, you can SORN it and re-tax at the current rate, thus getting 11 months at the current rate, and putting paying the increase off until next March.

IMPORTANT: the car can't be on the road or a public car park at all, not even parked, whilst it is SORN.

Procedure:

Park the car up and SORN it online (I believe this has to be during office hours, but it may have changed)

Either wait 3 working days and then tax it online, or the next day onwards, toddle down to a "Post Office that issues vehicle tax", which may mean a very long journey, and tax it with the form.

Obviously, you have to buy 12months tax, as a monthly direct debit will simply increase on 1st April.

This is the only way now to get 11 more months free tax on an EV or other zero VED vehicle that renews on 1st April, as trying to tax it now will simply be a (chargeable) renewal.

The only downsides are:

1) you can't use the car whilst it is SORN, so you either wait 3 working days or have to go to a main Post Office.

2) you lose a month's VED as March has to be paid for twice.

3) if you have months of paid tax left, it takes about a week for the refund cheque to arrive.

I've thought about doing this on my ICE car (tax due May 1st, so I always renew at the "new" higher rate), the time to do it was a couple of years ago when inflation was way over 10% (and I missed out)  so double paying a month was less than the increase.

I'd always be renewing at last year's rate, so that initial saving would carry through for the life of the car.

uknick

Why SORN it?  Can't you do what many pure EV drivers are doing and just retax it in March?  I know they're doing it because they're going from £0 to £195 and will save £195 for the coming year.  But, is not the principle the same? 

Ectophile

Loads of EV drivers (myself included) have been renewing their road tax early to beat the rise.

You don't even have to SORN the vehicle.  Go to the tax renewal web site*.  Tell it you don't have the reminder.  It will then ask what you do have.  You should have the V5.  Enter the details off the V5, and carry on taxing the car as normal.

* Make sure it's the real gov.uk site, not some scammers.

facade

You can't re-tax a zero-VED vehicle now if the tax is due 1st April, as it will simply renew at the new* rate. It has to have the current tax cancelled by SORNing then taxed anew before 1st April.

The time to do it if it was due 1st April was in February, then again in March. (Or in the first 3 days of March, before the renewal window opened)

* Or does it renew tax that starts 1st April at the current zero rate if you "buy" it in advance of 1st April? I've never had an April registered car (mine is May) to find out, but it seems somewhat remiss of HMRC if you can pay the tax in advance and pay less.