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There is a lot of confusion about cancelling the car tax and getting a refund. However, in this article, we have provided you with a complete guideline from how to get a car tax refund to what should you do if you do not receive your car tax refund. By the end of this article, all your queries related to cancelling the car tax will probably be solved. Let us directly dive into the procedure for cancelling car tax and getting a car tax refund.
How to cancel car tax?
In the UK, all registered vehicles are required to pay a car tax. It is also known as VED (Vehicle Excise Duty). The amount of car tax charged is dependent on the original cost of your car along with how eco-friendly is your car. These two factors together play an important part in determining the amount that would be charged on your car. Moreover, it also depends on the change in governmental policies.
However, in certain situations, for instance, theft of a car, selling or transferring of car, or if you have decided to take your car off-road and several other reasons where you might be eligible to cancel your car tax. It means that you can avoid paying any tax on your vehicle. Hence, if you have unused car tax months, you can cancel the car tax and receive a car tax refund.
Here are a few steps by which you can easily cancel your car tax.
- You need to contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and update him about the valid reasons for cancelling your car tax.
- The DVLA will automatically proceed with the further procedure of car tax cancellation.
- After successfully cancelling the car tax wait for the refund cheque of your car tax.
How to contact the DVLA?
Contacting the DVLA is a simple procedure, you can contact it directly through its website. The website will direct you to its car tax cancelling page where you can proceed with the further steps. Also, you can get an in-person service regarding the cancelling of car tax through the same DVLA website. They have a dedicated page for a webchat service. The DVLA could also be contacted through its email service which is provided on the DVLA website.
You can also contact the DVLA through its phone (0300 790 6802)
The DVLA can be contacted by its email service (hhtps://live.email-dvla.service.gov.uk/w2c/en-gb/decisions)
You can also contact the DVLA by post. The address has been mentioned below.
Vehicle Customer Services
DVLA
Swansea
SA99 1AL.
It can take up to four weeks to get a response from the DVLA.
What might be the reasons for cancelling car tax?
There might be numerous causes for cancelling your car tax. For cancelling the tax to get back a refund, you need to update the DVLA of a valid reason for cancelling your car tax. The only cases where you are eligible to cancel the car tax have been listed below.
- You have sold your car.
- You have transferred your car to someone else.
- Your car has been stolen.
- You have declared your car as SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification).
- Your car has been reprobated by the car insurance company.
- Your car has been exported to a foreign country.
- Your car has been registered as a tax-exempt vehicle.
- Your car has been scrapped.
Any one of the above-mentioned reasons must be reported to the DVLA in order to claim the car tax refund. All other reasons other than this are invalid. If you are caught driving the car on-road without paying the car tax you will be charged a penalty. It is usually $80 which reduces to half if pay the penalty within a period of 28 days. The vehicles are easily caught up by a new technology featuring number-late recognition cameras which can easily detect if the tax has been paid for that vehicle. If not, you will be fined.
How much refund you can get on cancelling car tax?
If you have faced any of the above-mentioned reasons before your car tax runs out, you can easily get your car tax cancelled and get a refund. The car tax will automatically be cancelled by the DVLA if you pay the car tax through Direct Debit. However, if you have already paid the car tax for the coming months, you will get a car tax refund for the remaining car tax months that are left unused.
The unused car tax months are calculated on the basis of the date when the DVLA receives the information.
How much time does it take to receive your car tax refund?
It usually takes six weeks to get a car tax refund through a refund cheque via post from the date of cancellation of car tax. You may wait up to eight weeks. However, if you do not receive your refund cheque even after eight weeks, you need to contact the DVLA.
What to do if you do not receive the refund on cancelling car tax?
Sometimes, you might face the issue of not being able to receive the car tax refund. At times, the payment can become late. However, if more than 8 weeks have passed since the date of car tax cancellation and you still did not receive the refund, you can contact the DVLA again. You can contact the DVLA through several ways including phone, email, or post.
Conclusion
Car tax is to be paid by every vehicle registered in the UK. However, in certain situations, you might require to cancel the car tax. After the successful cancellation of car tax, you are eligible for getting a car tax refund There is a lot of confusion regarding the cancellation of car tax. We hope that you find this article helpful and all of your queries and doubts regarding the cancellation of car tax and getting a refund have been solved through this article.