Vehicle tax

You can pay your vehicle tax online at www.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can use DVLA’s automated phone service on 0300 123 4321 or visit certain post office branches.

The paper tax disc is now a thing of the past. You still have to pay your vehicle tax, but you no longer receive a paper disc to display in your windscreen.

When you buy a vehicle, the tax is no longer transferred with it; you need to pay the tax yourself before you can use the vehicle. You can do this online, by telephone or at the post office, using the New Keeper Supplement (V5C/2) part of the vehicle registration certificate (V5C).

DVLA will send you a renewal reminder through the post when your existing vehicle tax is about to run out.

When you sell a vehicle, you should tell DVLA. They’ll automatically send you a refund for any full calendar months left on your vehicle tax.

The registered keeper of a vehicle also needs to tell DVLA when the vehicle is off the road, or has been sold, transferred, scrapped or exported; otherwise they remain liable for taxing it. Once DVLA has been notified about a sale or transfer, or that the vehicle is off-road, it will issue an acknowledgement, which should be kept as proof that the vehicle record has been changed.

If you don’t relicense your vehicle

Keepers who fail to relicense their vehicle (or make a SORN) incur an automatic penalty. DVLA carries out a computer check each month to identify untaxed vehicles. It’s no longer necessary for the vehicle to be seen on a public road before a penalty is issued, but on-road enforcement will continue.

Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN)

If you don’t intend to use or keep the vehicle on a public road, you can make a SORN and then you won’t have to pay vehicle tax. Once you’ve made a SORN, it will remain valid until the vehicle is taxed, sold or scrapped.

You can make a SORN by

• applying online at www.gov.uk
• contacting DVLA on 0300 123 4321 or minicom 0300 790 6201
• filling in a SORN declaration form V890 and sending it to DVLA. These forms are available from licence-issuing post office branches or can be downloaded from www.gov.uk
• filling in the relevant section of your renewal reminder form V11 and taking it to a licence-issuing post office branch
• using form V14 Application for a refund of vehicle tax, if you’re also applying for a refund and the vehicle is to remain in your possession.

Remember, to keep a vehicle untaxed and off the road, the registered keeper MUST make a SORN. If you don’t and you ignore any subsequent reminders sent to you as the registered keeper, then you risk

• a fixed-penalty fine of £100
• court prosecution and a fine of up to £1000
• having the vehicle clamped, seized and destroyed.