Road tax question

[catso]

My Son is selling his car, it is currently taxed until March 2015. I understand that the new rules regarding tax not being transferable come into force on 1st October but whilst the deal is (almost) done the buyer is not collecting the car until Sunday.

My question is; is a paper tax disc still valid until expiry, have the DVLA allowed a period of 'grace' so that currently taxed vehicles can remain so until expiry of the disc or does the new system apply and the tax needs to be refunded and bought again?

[Roo]

The new system applies.

Buyer can arrange tax using the new keeper supplement and your son will get an automatic refund.

[catso]

OK, so if the date of transfer on the V5 document was today (30/09) would the tax be transferable or does the paperwork need to be with DVLA before Oct?

BTW, I did try to call the DVLA but the recorded message says that all 270 lines are busy!, I guess they're getting a lot of calls today...

Edited by catso on Tuesday 30th September 10:04

[SS2.]

If the date of keeper change (on the V5) was entered as 30.09.2014, then the new rules would not apply and the VED would remain valid until March 2015.

[catso]

SS2. said:

If the date of keeper change (on the V5) was entered as 30.09.2014, then the new rules would not apply and the VED would remain valid until March 2015.

This what I was thinking, however if for some reason the buyer changes their mind before collection (sees the car and decides it's crap) this would mean if my Son then stops the the tax (declares SORN?) he would not get October's tax refunded whereas if it was done today he would?

The buyer would still need to pay tax from 01/10, meaning the tax wouldn't need to be paid twice for October.

Is this correct?

[SS2.]

If the buyer walked and the vehicle hadn't been declared SORN, then your son wouldn't be refunded for October's tax.

If he declared SORN now, October's tax would be refunded.

The SORN would be automatically cancelled once the vehicle was re-taxed - either by your son, or a new buyer.

Has the prospective buyer been told that any remaining tax would be included within the sale ?

[catso]

SS2. said:

Has the prospective buyer been told that any remaining tax would be included within the sale ?

Car was sold on ebay and advertised as 5 months tax remaining, sale ended yesterday so the tax is still valid if deal completed today.

However the buyer says they can't get over until Sunday and whilst the car is as described, they haven't actually seen it and so could decide on Sunday that it's not for them, leaving my Son a month's tax out of pocket if it he SORN's it then.

So unless the deal can be done (or at least dated) today, I'm thinking it is best to SORN now and then get the new buyer to tax it on collection with us giving them the value of the refund towards the new tax?

A months tax isn't a huge loss (I don't know if we'd get actual cost back i.e 5/12ths of £130, or if there's an 'admin' fee) but there's a risk he could lose it for the sake of doing the paperwork today or Sunday...

[ging84]

if he takes ownership today, or signs the paperwork to say he did, the tax remains transferable, the tax disk will cease to have any effect tomorrow, but the tax will not be cancelled when the dvla process the paperwork (provided they stick to what they told me over the phone)
if he takes ownership tomorrow and signs to say that he did, the dvla will cancel the tax when the process the v5, officially in this situation the vehicle is untax, but no one is going to know that for a good couple of weeks, a person who lives on the edge and does things like not reverse parking and not holding the hand rail, might consider not taxing it till they get the new log book which might be next month
Also i wonder what hill happen when the new keeper goes to tax it online before the dvla have had a chance to refund the tax, especially on the month the tax is due to be renewed, as currently it let you do that before the month is up without losing a month, if they continue to do that they are going to need some sort of button for people to tick saying hi i am a new keeper please cancel this tax from now without giving a refund so i can pay for this month too

[Speed Badger]

I was under the impression that tax is non-transferable from October 1st? By which I mean if you bought car today and the registered keeper had just put 12 months tax on, then come October 1st they would be refunded the unused portion (to the nearest full month) and the new owner would have to tax it from October.

Is this not the case then?

[catso]

Just spoken with the DVLA, they confirm that from the date of transfer the tax will be refunded (less the current month!) and new owner will need to retax before use.

For us to get a refund for October would now be unlikely as we would need to use the (to be extinct tomorrow) V14 refund form which, when they receive it a refund will be issued. Obviously even if I send it today they won't receive before October so it would be unlikely that we would be refunded the October tax anyway.

So the only way to avoid the loss of a month and, more importantly all the faffing about with refunds/retax is to do the deal today.

So much for an improved system...

[rewc]

catso said:

Just spoken with the DVLA, they confirm that from the date of transfer the tax will be refunded (less the current month!) and new owner will need to retax before use.

For us to get a refund for October would now be unlikely as we would need to use the (to be extinct tomorrow) V14 refund form which, when they receive it a refund will be issued. Obviously even if I send it today they won't receive before October so it would be unlikely that we would be refunded the October tax anyway.

So the only way to avoid the loss of a month and, more importantly all the faffing about with refunds/retax is to do the deal today.

So much for an improved system...

Be careful that the new owner will not expect the equivalent of 5 months tax cut from the selling price if the deal is done after today.

[anonymous-user]

Speed Badger said:

I was under the impression that tax is non-transferable from October 1st? By which I mean if you bought car today and the registered keeper had just put 12 months tax on, then come October 1st they would be refunded the unused portion (to the nearest full month) and the new owner would have to tax it from October.

Is this not the case then?

Today is still September. Sell a taxed car today and the tax goes with the car. Sell a taxed car tomorrow and the tax does not go with the car. The new rules do not have retrospective effect.

[supersport]

Simply fill in the form and put today's date on it and not Saturdays.

[catso]

rewc said:

Be careful that the new owner will not expect the equivalent of 5 months tax cut from the selling price if the deal is done after today.

Spoke to the buyer, explained all this and they are now coming to get the car today. Much easier for all concerned and no loss of a month's tax along with the inevitable dispute of who pays for it etc.

They'll have to view the car in the dark which they probably would rather not do but prefer this to dealing with the DVLA on a Sunday afternoon.

As long as the DVLA don't then cancel the tax anyway as they will receive the V5 in October...