EV tax

poetjb

I’ve just renewed my road tax on my EV 
Effective from 1 April 2025
I was charged £0
i called DVLA as I was expecting new charge of £190
was told that as I was renewing before 1 April I would get a further year free!!! Amazing !!!

Ayr_Rage

Where have you been?

Martin Lewis has been advising EV owners to do this for weeks even if the tax is not yet due!

Iceweasel

Amazing that you didn't know?

born_again

BTW, it's not a EV tax. It's simply VED 👍Same as other cars have to pay.

At least it will be April soon & there will not be another on the subject 🤣🤦‍♀️

Grumpy_chap

poetjb said:

I’ve just renewed my road tax on my EV 
Effective from 1 April 2025
I was charged £0
i called DVLA as I was expecting new charge of £190
was told that as I was renewing before 1 April I would get a further year free!!! Amazing !!!

That seems to be an extra free month more than I understood was possible.

I renewed my VED so it runs from 1st March and will expire 28th February.
Can I renew it again (for free) and get an extra month?

facade

poetjb said:

I’ve just renewed my road tax on my EV 
Effective from 1 April 2025
I was charged £0
i called DVLA as I was expecting new charge of £190
was told that as I was renewing before 1 April I would get a further year free!!! Amazing !!!

Interesting!

I've never had tax due on 1st April, so I assumed, like you, that if the tax started on 1st April it would be charged at the post 31st March rate, no matter when you paid.

But if you "pay" for the tax in advance of 1st April you still pay the current rate.

I assume that this must have always been the case for tax starting 1st April, it can be purchased in advance at the "old" rate.

facade

Grumpy_chap said:

poetjb said:

I’ve just renewed my road tax on my EV 
Effective from 1 April 2025
I was charged £0
i called DVLA as I was expecting new charge of £190
was told that as I was renewing before 1 April I would get a further year free!!! Amazing !!!

That seems to be an extra free month more than I understood was possible.

I renewed my VED so it runs from 1st March and will expire 28th February.
Can I renew it again (for free) and get an extra month?

No, if you renew again before 31st March it will start on 1st March, so run out 28 February.

If you renew in April you will cancel your existing tax and have to pay £195 for a year starting 1st April 2025.

The OP is saying that their tax was due on 1st April, but they "paid" in advance and were charged the current rate.

I'm surprised HMRC haven't closed this loophole, but I guess it makes no difference, you'll still pay for a year at £195 if you renew before 31st March next time, you won't ever gain an advantage, only defer the payment.

You will only "win" when you give up being the RK of a car altogether because your final tax payment will be made at the previous year's rate.

EricMears

If you had renewed it in April last year it would fall due on 1st April this year and if you wait till then it would cost you the £195 facade mentions but since they always send out a reminder 2 to 3 weeks early,  you could renew it immediately (or any time up to 31st March for another year.  If only we had a 'Tardis' available 

But in spite of realising that last year I still decided to renew in March just in case they changed the rules and charged the April rate to early renewers. I'm not devastated by the unnecessary loss of one month's free tax.

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EricMears said:

<snip>  

 If only we had a 'Tardis' available 
<snip>

If I had a Tardis, I'd have a collection of 1950s,60s&70s cars that would make Jay Leno green with envy, every one showroom fresh, in the massive air conditioned garage of my Country estate - I believe that historic vehicles are still zero VED too!

(With all my matured investments, and the bitcoin, Micheal Platt would look like a pauper in comparison to me)

Grumpy_chap

EricMears said:

If you had renewed it in April last year it would fall due on 1st April this year and if you wait till then it would cost you the £195 facade mentions but since they always send out a reminder 2 to 3 weeks early,  you could renew it immediately (or any time up to 31st March for another year.  If only we had a 'Tardis' available 

But in spite of realising that last year I still decided to renew in March just in case they changed the rules and charged the April rate to early renewers. I'm not devastated by the unnecessary loss of one month's free tax.

Thanks
I did renew last March, as I thought that was the latest I could renew to force the annual renewal coming around to be naturally ahead of the new rate from April 1st.
That was all prompted by this thread as I did not realise otherwise, and there were various comments at that time as to whether the rules would be tightened to prevent it.

paulstevo

Just a quick question about this,as I didnt want to start a new thread.
Im in a 22 plate Audi Etron and its 3 years old in August . Having read about the VED i have proceeded to visit Gov website and attempt this. It will let me proceed with the message of"Your vehicle will be taxed from 01 March 2025 Are you aware that your vehicle's current tax is not due to expire until 01 August 2025?
However, if you have been told to tax by DVLA, please continue with the transaction.
Am i ok to do this albeit I will forefeit 5 months of existing exemption?
Not too sure with vehicle still under the 3 years ?