Who taxes the car?

UberTiger

UberTiger

UberTiger

Soldato
Joined
1 Nov 2008
Posts
4,470
I’ve just sold a car, but I didn’t realise the tax expired a few days ago.

They’re coming to collect it tomorrow.

Who needs to pay for the tax?

I was going to send the buyer the V5 number so he could tax it, but then I though, maybe that would mean once the change of ownership goes through I’ll get the tax refund.

Do I have to tax it, even though it’s been off the road the last few days just to get it live again, and then get a refund of the whole year less 4 days?
 
If you've not declared it SORN then "technically" you should have it taxed which then would be refunded when the V5 change goes though and the buyer taxed it, you'd lose the whole months worth not just 4 days though.

In reality are they going to chase up a couple of days lapse unless you've got it parked in public and are unlucky enough for the DVLA to be doing checks, unlikely.
 
I'm just confused about what happens then when I inform the DVLA the car is sold.

I think you can use this tool it inform the DVLA instead of mailing off the new keeper supplement.

It needs to be taxed tomorrow so he can drive it home.

If he pays the tax to get it legal, then I fill in this form, would that not trigger an automatic refund?

EDIT: I think I've got it now, there's a separate code in the new keeper slip that the new owner can use to tax the car.

So just to confirm, I can give the new owner the document ref. number in part 6 of the logbook - the new keeper slip.

They can tax it today using that.

Then I fill in the online form at the start of this post tomorrow when they get here to inform the DVLA that it's sold, right?
 
Last edited:
You're making this more complex than it needs to be, you fill in the online form tomorrow to change the keeper, they then use the new keeper slip to tax it tomorrow after you've done that.

If they tax it today while it's still under your name they'll lose a months worth of tax tomorrow when you change keeper and need to pay again AFAIK.
 
Last edited:
UberTiger said:
I'm just confused about what happens then when I inform the DVLA the car is sold.

I think you can use this tool it inform the DVLA instead of mailing off the new keeper supplement.

It needs to be taxed tomorrow so he can drive it home.

If he pays the tax to get it legal, then I fill in this form, would that not trigger an automatic refund?

EDIT: I think I've got it now, there's a separate code in the new keeper slip that the new owner can use to tax the car.

So just to confirm, I can give the new owner the document ref. number in part 6 of the logbook - the new keeper slip.

They can tax it today using that.

Then I fill in the online form at the start of this post tomorrow when they get here to inform the DVLA that it's sold, right?
Click to expand...

Correct :)

IF the car was taxed when you sell it (I know its not) and you do the online thing to say no longer the owner, then you would be automatically refunded any FULL months of tax not used... so as tom_e has said, you would loose the bulk of this month since its so near the start.

Since its SORN, there is no refund... obviously :P So they come over, do the change of keeper online, you keep the rest of the v5 (and bin it), they get the new keeper suppliment and they can tax it with the reference on there.
 
sounds like a pathological case won't the dvla check it's existing tax status for sure, since its changing hands ... and issue a fine if it was untaxed - not sure I'd be betting on red.
 
Thanks all, sorted. I sent them a photo of the code on the new keeper slip, which they'll use to tax it, so it'll stay associated with them once the transfer of ownership goes through.

My confusion was not realising there were two different codes that could be used, the primary one on the front of the log book, and the second code on the new keeper supplement.
 
Last edited:
I'd get them to check it's still showing as taxed once you submit the change of registered keeper.

To completely avoid any chance of issues or them losing a months tax you should have just waited and you can actually fill their details in to tax it when you do the chance of keeper online.

I've got a feeling that the system will just cancel any tax related to that vehicle one the change is processed because why would a new owner be taxing a car you're still the registered keeper of.

I may be wrong and systems are smarter than I'm giving the DVLA credit for but you never know.
 
Last edited:
The thing is, if the car was taxed as normal. As the current owner, when I submit the new keeper form, there should be an automatic tax refund cheque to my address on the log book.

If the car has been recently taxed with the new keeper code, I presume the system would be smart enough to figure out:

C: 
process transfer of ownership (
 if ( taxed by old keeper V5 code)
   { send refund }
 else if ( taxed by new keeper supplement code )
   { keep car taxed and send no refund }
}

I think it would have to be that, as some people will use the online form for transferring ownership, some will post off the V5 with the new keeper details, which could take many days or even a week or two to process.
 
Last edited:
I bought a car three days ago, I turned up and we did it all online in about ten minutes.

The seller filled in the online version of the V5 transfer and gave me the appropriate slip.

I then went to the online tax site and taxed it. It really was as simple as that.

No need to post anything, no need to worry about stuff not turning up, literally less than ten minutes and the car had been transferred to me and I'd taxed it.
 
UberTiger said:
The thing is, if the car was taxed as normal. As the current owner, when I submit the new keeper form, there should be an automatic tax refund cheque to my address on the log book.

If the car has been recently taxed with the new keeper code, I presume the system would be smart enough to figure out:

C: 
process transfer of ownership (
 if ( taxed by old keeper V5 code)
   { send refund }
 else if ( taxed by new keeper supplement code )
   { keep car taxed and send no refund }
}

I think it would have to be that, as some people will use the online form for transferring ownership, some will post off the V5 with the new keeper details, which could take many days or even a week or two to process.
Click to expand...
That's how I'd hope it's setup but I might be as simple as who had it taxed the day before the registered keeper change is dated then cancel and refund to them.

Like I said the system may be smarter than I'm giving it credit for but you've done it a bit backwards so just something to be aware of
 
Well, he taxed it this morning using the new keeper code and is arriving in 10 minutes. Will fill in the online transfer form when he gets here and hope it all works out :D
 
Nearly had a big issue as when he went to pay by bank transfer his limit was only £2k, luckily his bank let him raise his limit a fair bit straight away within the app, which I was kind of surprised about.

All worked out in the end though!
 
UberTiger said:
Well, he taxed it this morning using the new keeper code and is arriving in 10 minutes. Will fill in the online transfer form when he gets here and hope it all works out :D
Click to expand...
Hmm. I wouldn’t have been too happy doing it that way round, hopefully it won’t be a problem.

My V5 arrived today, having done the transfer online on Wednesday afternoon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom