Budget announcement - VED Rolling Exemption 40 years

[danny tattersall]

In last year’s budget cars built before 1st January 1974 became exempt from road tax, and this year it was expected that cars built before 1st January 1975 were to become exempt. This was announced in the section 2.153 of the 2014 Budget - "The government will introduce a rolling 40 year VED exemption for classic vehicles from 1 April 2014" and Section 85 of the Finance Act 2014. However, for some reason it seems to have 'skipped' a year according to section 2.165 of today's 2015 Budget announcement - "As announced at Budget 2014, from 1 April 2016 a vehicle manufactured before 1 January 1976 will be exempt from paying VED. (Finance Bill 2015)".

In the big scheme of things paying circa £240 per year to tax my Mk1 Escort isn't a great deal of money. But, when you consider that I have only covered 300 miles in the last 2 years the cost per mile is quite considerable and I would rather spend the money elsewhere. I'm hoping that there will be an amendment to the Budget announcement but I won't be holding my breath.

Danny.

[TooMany2cvs]

That's because the 2014 budget covered pre-1/1/1975 cars becoming exempt in April 2015, by making it rolling-40, and brought pre-1/1/74 cars into historic from April 2014. 2013 budget extended the long-frozen 1/1/72 to 1/1/73 from April 2013.

All they've done now is say "And, yes, as we announced last year, pre-1/1/76 will still be zero from April 16."

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Wednesday 18th March 17:53

[droopsnoot]

Yes, it's not really rolling so much as jumping, in that each April 1st the cut-off date for exemption jumps forward by a year. No change from the last budget - pity, I was hoping they might sneak in a return to 25-year exemption.

[rambo19]

Should put back to what it was- 25 yrs old=tax exempt.

[droopsnoot]

danny tattersall said:

In the big scheme of things paying circa £240 per year to tax my Mk1 Escort isn't a great deal of money. But, when you consider that I have only covered 300 miles in the last 2 years the cost per mile is quite considerable and I would rather spend the money elsewhere. I'm hoping that there will be an amendment to the Budget announcement but I won't be holding my breath.

Danny.

So what year was your Mk1 Escort built? Wiki suggests production of the Mk1 ended in 1974, which should mean that at very worst case, your car becomes VED-exempt on April 1st of this year, when the cut-off date includes anything built before January 1st 1975.

[Humper]

Shame the lying s never stuck to their promise to re-introduce the rolling 25 year date

[danny tattersall]

Ah, thanks for all the responses it looks like I have interpreted the rules incorrectly. My Escort was registered in February 1975, but was built in September 1974 so should be eligible under the rolling 40 year exemption after all. It is a pity that the 25 year ruling isn't likely to be re-instated any time soon though considering how infrequently many of these cars are used.

All the best,

Danny.

[TooMany2cvs]

Humper said:

Shame the lying s never stuck to their promise to re-introduce the rolling 25 year date

I don't think there ever was such a promise. But I'm happy to be proved wrong...

[droopsnoot]

I don't recall a promise either - I recall a mention in one of the magazines while Labour were in power that if the Conservatives got back into power they'd consider re-introducing the rolling 25-year exemption. I think, though I'm not sure off the top of my head, that was prior to the "crunch".

OP, have you got the build date added to your V5? I am told this will make it easier to get the taxation class altered on April 1st. First job is to have the DVLA accept your proof of build date and add it to the V5, second job is to then convert it to historic class.

[TooMany2cvs]

droopsnoot said:

I don't recall a promise either - I recall a mention in one of the magazines while Labour were in power that if the Conservatives got back into power they'd consider re-introducing the rolling 25-year exemption. I think, though I'm not sure off the top of my head, that was prior to the "crunch".

Considering freezing it was one of the first things Labour did when they got in in '97...

I s'pose it could be said that they have "considered" re-introducing it, and decided to do so - albeit as a rolling-40, rather than a rolling-25.

TBH, having 1989 cars getting "historic" free VED feels a bit wrong, even though it means the sole remaining paid-for member of my fleet would be zero-VED next year.