DVLA charging for a whole months tax...

[st13phil]

Same for the charging twice thing....nothings changed in at least 40 years......except you don't get a nice paper disc anymore!!!

That's true if you're trading vehicles and cashing in the VED, but wasn't true for private sales as the VED used to be transferrable.

The amount of admin that would be caused by refunding/collecting partial months would be enormous

I take it you've never written computer code?

 

[Doodle]

The only ones to blame for this are DVLA management, who worked out that they could continue to shaft motorists by implementing a deliberately obtuse system. As Phil pointed out, it's no more difficult to calculate to the day than to the month.

 

[markjay]

My guess is that it started as an administrative issue, i.e. the tax disk displayed month and year and so it wasn't possible to charge for part of the month, and having each tax disk end on a different date of the month would make it very difficult for the police to see with a quick glance if the car was taxed or not.

It's not really an issue any more in this day and age, police ANPR can check automatically if a car is taxed just like it checks if the car is insured and has a valid MOT. But I guess that, like the QWERY keyboard, it stuck... (that, and the fact that the DVLA will be losing income if they changed the system now).

 

[AMGeed]

I sold my E63 last Sept 1st and paid the road fund monthly.
I got no refund for September and the new owner had to pay for September as well.
On reflection, I should have cancelled the DD on the last day of August and chanced giving a test drive on the 1st without the duty paid.

It's legalised robbery and the system stinks. The government knew very well the extra income they would gain by adopting the system of not passing on the licence to the next owner.

 

[Fastcar155]

Hi , on a similar topic the government suggest that they save £25,000,000 by scrapping the road fund disc.

I would suggest that the scrapping of the tax disc have cost the Exchequer millions in lost revenue and forget about any saving.

 

[markjay]

Hi , on a similar topic the government suggest that they save £25,000,000 by scrapping the road fund disc.

I would suggest that the scrapping of the tax disc have cost the Exchequer millions in lost revenue and forget about any saving.

DVLA disputes £400m revenue loss following abolition of tax disc

Freedom of information request reveals huge drop in vehicle excise duty but agency calls the figure ‘misleading’

www.theguardian.com

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Maybe they mean ‘loss’ like they actually misplaced it and simply can’t find it. After speaking to various people that work there it’s entirely possible

 

[Fastcar155]

DVLA disputes £400m revenue loss following abolition of tax disc

Freedom of information request reveals huge drop in vehicle excise duty but agency calls the figure ‘misleading’

www.theguardian.com

Hi , thanks for the infomation

 

[st13phil]

My guess is that it started as an administrative issue, i.e. the tax disk displayed month and year and so it wasn't possible to charge for part of the month, and having each tax disk end on a different date of the month would make it very difficult for the police to see with a quick glance if the car was taxed or not.

^ This.

But ever since the tax disk was done away with they could easily have moved to prorated charges for the month of purchase and of disposal. It was a deliberate decision not to so as to maximise revenues.

 

[markjay]

^ This.

But ever since the tax disk was done away with they could easily have moved to prorated charges for the month of purchase and of disposal. It was a deliberate decision not to so as to maximise revenues.

Agreed, VED these days can be managed no different to how they do with MOT, there's a start date and an end date.

 

[fabes]

'cause they can - simples!

However, in this modern age it is ridiculous.
Just look at how honestly quick and efficient the DVLA are at issuing log books (3 days last week), online change of ownership, actually paying the tax and the still excellent MOT history info

It must generate a tidy sum for them per month, seven figures (?) as each month each car sold is double taxed!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The reason they took the direct debit payment is because your car was taxed for three days in July, and tax is charged by the complete month, so 1 month was payable.

As your direct debit was set to six-monthly, they had to take the payment at the six-month rate and then pro-rata refund you for the unused period of 5 complete months.

As suggested it’s possible to calculate a prorated refund by day - or even second - however the chargeable period we all signed up to when we bought the road tax was monthly.

It’s been the case for 30 years at least, so whilst it could be done differently it hasn’t been done differently, so I can’t imagine a different outcome from complaining.

Many on this thread aren’t happy with per month charges, and I predict the same or or even greater reaction when the pendulum swings the other way to per mile charges.

 

[AMGeed]

Many on this thread aren’t happy with per month charges, and I predict the same or or even greater reaction when the pendulum swings the other way to per mile charges.

No complaint from me................yet Who knows what the cost per mile will be?
If its added to fuel, what will EV drivers pay? So many questions
But its a fairer system where the drivers who use the road most pay the most.
But knowing the government much research will be done to ensure scrapping VED and replacing it with pay per mile won't lose the treasury any income at all.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

I got a refund in full £192 from Natwest.

I WIN.

 

[markjay]

I got a refund in full £192 from Natwest.

I WIN.

You need to be careful here - the Direct Debit guarantee indeed allows you to reverse payments taken, but this does not mean you don't own the money to the DVLA. In essence reversing a Direct Debit charge puts you in the same situation as someone who paid for goods or services with a cheque that bounced back. You still owe the money and the DVLA will chase it *

* Assuming that I understood correctly what you did here.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Thanks for the heads up, it’s a good point

The car will probably be SORN’d until October as I have a couple of other cars that I’ll be using.

By the way, they never cancelled my direct debit despite saying they would several times- I had to get NatWest to do it. They also did not automatically refund me as is supposed to happen, I had to chase and waste many days/hours. So I think they’re on ropey ground and I’m happy to follow up on and fight back on this.

I was also told that NatWest will speak to the DVLA and if they don’t agree with the refund, they would investigate and it’s take 14 days. So I would have expected the DVLA to object at that point.

Will let you know if I get any correspondence from them, or if I have any unexpected issues trying to re-tax the vehicle in the future.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

What would have happened if my direct debit date was 15th of the month, and I cancelled it via my bank before that, say on the 5th.

That sounds like a common scenario that some people here have probably done.

I’d bet nothing happens, or do they chase everyone? Anyone know?

 

[Will]

Do you not agree that you owe for the tax used in July?

As said, you may well have cancelled/refunded the DD but that doesn’t mean you’ve got away with it.

Did you cash the refund cheque?…be careful!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

What would have happened if my direct debit date was 15th of the month, and I cancelled it via my bank before that, say on the 5th.

That sounds like a common scenario that some people here have probably done.

I’d bet nothing happens, or do they chase everyone? Anyone know?

Logically, the DVLA may choose not to pursue it further as it will inevitably cost more to do than they ultimately recover, but such matters don’t always follow logic.

But the same would be true for anyone that gets caught using their car without paying their road tax - it would always cost more to pursue than they recover, they do

Whether you get away with it or not, road tax is payable for the whole month of July even though you only chose to use it for 3 days, so they are entitled to pursue you.

Everyone else buying, selling or SORNing a car has had to pay for the full month whether they used it for the whole month or not, so what makes this scenario different?

 

[Germgh0st]

I take it you've never written computer code?

Actually yes - have done for over 30 years. That's how I know how much of an administrative issue it would cause and how much more it would cost.