New vehicle tax kerfuffle

[C.A.R.]

I thought I was pretty clued up on this whole electronic vehicle taxing system...

My Mrs was gifted her first car by her dad last august when she passed her driving test. Fine. We got her changed over on the insurance policy for the next 4 months. Renewal due just after Christmas.

It was during this time I was tasked with trying to find the best insurance policy and I realised that if she was the registered keeper the policy typically fell around £200.

After explaining this to her father we got the car signed over to my Mrs in late December. So far no problems.

Unbeknown to me she faffed around for a couple of weeks having not posted off the V5C - something she finally did last week. No problems with insurance, since she was in possession of the new keepers supplement.

Tax, however...

She taxed the vehicle herself in september - only £30 a year. She was completely oblivious to the fact the vehicle tax didn't transfer to the new keepe, which was obviously her.

Now we have received the new V5C today after another weeks delay it contains a letter urging you to check you are taxed. Curious; I thought I had better check for her.

Nope, not taxed.

I have taxed the car immediately this morning but received a notice that there may be an investigation into the 2/3 weeks which have passed since the date of new registered keeper and the renewal of tthe tax - ie that short time that the feckin' V5C sat in her glovebox before she posted it.

Is my Mrs likely to get into hot water over this? The whole system seems 'foolproof' - but this little flaw is brought about both by lack of information and lack of understanding on my Mrs part (and her dad, to be fair).

It was a good job I was able to sort this mess out, but I can also see exactly how it all happened.

Any advice much appreciated.

[Terminator X]

System is gamed for sending out fines imho so only a matter of time

TX.

[GoneAnon]

TBH, the DVLA neither know nor care who the "owner" is and everything I've seen about this super-dooper new system is clear that it is the change of "keeper" that triggers the need for new tax.

I would hope that there might be some leniency during this transitional period but I wouldn't count on it and if she gets a fine I'd just pay up and move on.

[C.A.R.]

I haven't yet mentioned the potential fine as she is pregnant and could do without the unnecessary stress.

Any ideas on potential costs we could be facing?

[The Turbonator]

Am I understanding this right? The car was taxed in September for a year in your Father-in-law's name but because not to your wife, that's what the DVLA are getting uppity about? So even though the car is taxed, you can still get a fine?

[Scuffers]

Not sure i understand the sequence here?

Did the tax actually run out or are you talking about it being refunded at V5 change?

[Mopar440]

The Turbonator said:

Am I understanding this right? The car was taxed in September for a year in your Father-in-law's name but because not to your wife, that's what the DVLA are getting uppity about? So even though the car is taxed, you can still get a fine?

As with the (literally) dozens of existing threads on this very subject, posted every second day, the existing road tax becomes null & void when there is a change of keeper. In the above case, the father-in-law gets a refund, the wife (the new keeper) has to tax the car.

[Nigel Worc's]

The new system is full of issues, I'm sure they'll gradually sort them out, here is mine from last week :

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Nigel Worc's on Saturday 24th January 12:56

[Jasandjules]

The Turbonator said:

Am I understanding this right? The car was taxed in September for a year in your Father-in-law's name but because not to your wife, that's what the DVLA are getting uppity about? So even though the car is taxed, you can still get a fine?

No, in order to generate revenue for them and stress for us, the change of keeper now nullifies the tax. That way every single vehicle purchase is likely to result in them getting two months extra tax. Isn't that nice?

[The Turbonator]

Jasandjules said:

The Turbonator said:

Am I understanding this right? The car was taxed in September for a year in your Father-in-law's name but because not to your wife, that's what the DVLA are getting uppity about? So even though the car is taxed, you can still get a fine?

No, in order to generate revenue for them and stress for us, the change of keeper now nullifies the tax. That way every single vehicle purchase is likely to result in them getting two months extra tax. Isn't that nice?

Does the old keeper get a refund automatically then?

[Scuffers]

Jasandjules said:

The Turbonator said:

Am I understanding this right? The car was taxed in September for a year in your Father-in-law's name but because not to your wife, that's what the DVLA are getting uppity about? So even though the car is taxed, you can still get a fine?

No, in order to generate revenue for them and stress for us, the change of keeper now nullifies the tax. That way every single vehicle purchase is likely to result in them getting two months extra tax. Isn't that nice?

This...

If you want to avoid paying the same month again, your V5 change date needs to be the last day of the month, and new tax from the 1st

[All that jazz]

Jasandjules said:

No, in order to generate revenue for them and stress for us, the change of keeper now nullifies the tax. That way every single vehicle purchase is likely to result in them getting two months extra tax. Isn't that nice?

To play DVLA at their own game then, would it be sensible to mark the change of keeper date on the V5 on the 1st of the next month, thus meaning that neither the buyer nor the seller lose out and the DVLA only get one lot of money?

[corozin]

Considering the bloody mess that DVLA have made of this - people are now just expected to know what the new system is - I would hope that there would be some latitude offered during the first year or so after implementation.

But as one of the posters above said, the new system seems gamed to generating fines so it's hard to tell. Fingers crossed for you & appeal strongly if they try it on.

[colonel c]

I like the sneaky way they introduced this. All the media was concerned with was the stupid paper discs.

[C.A.R.]

You are reading the situation correctly; as far as the system was concerned the vehicle was taxed between 20/12/14 and into the new year, which is why she wouldn't have been pulled over etc. However, since the above date is the one stated on the V5 (which wasn't subsequently sent off for a couple of weeks) they have nullified that period up to the 1/1/2015 which is when the current tax (which I paid for this morning) is valid from.

So they are looking for evidence of the vehicle being SORN from the above date until 1/1/15.

It's a total nightmare and the only way it could have been avoided would have been to tax the car the same day the V5C was filled out (20/12/14). Of course this isn't obvious from reading the V5C and it's not like we aren't all used to a completely reliable system which has been established for years and years...

[mannyo]

The Turbonator said:

Does the old keeper get a refund automatically then?

They do indeed, the process is automatic and the refund posted in the form of a cheque.

[GoneAnon]

I'm not sure it was sneaky - I managed to hear about it and comprehend the fairly simple premise that a new keeper has to buy his own tax, while the old keeper gets a refund of any unused whole months.

I do agree that it is a nice wee revenue earner for the Government to take two months tax every time a car changes hands (instead of just the onemonth payment they would have had previously) and would have thought the press and motoring organisations would have been pushing for proper per-day pro-rata refunds/tax in first month.

[Nigel Worc's]

GoneAnon said:

I'm not sure it was sneaky - I managed to hear about it and comprehend the fairly simple premise that a new keeper has to buy his own tax, while the old keeper gets a refund of any unused whole months.

I do agree that it is a nice wee revenue earner for the Government to take two months tax every time a car changes hands (instead of just the onemonth payment they would have had previously) and would have thought the press and motoring organisations would have been pushing for proper per-day pro-rata refunds/tax in first month.

Yet I have a motor mechanic friend who was nearly caught out, he thought that it only applied once the tax disc had run out, and the car went onto the "new system".

I convinced him to check it out to avoid him being fined.

[The Turbonator]

So if I buy new car which is already taxed, I have to then go buy tax for it anyway?

Looks like the phrase "tax and tested" will soon become extinct.

[Easternlight]

The Turbonator said:

Looks like the phrase "tax and tested" will soon become extinct.

It already is. Died on 1st October 2014