DVLA Tax Charges: VED Bands, SORN, and Penalties

DVLA car tax, formally Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), is a mandatory annual charge on every vehicle registered for use on UK public roads. What you pay depends on when the car was first registered, its CO2 emissions, its fuel type, and its list price when new. If you don’t want to pay because the car isn’t being used, you have to tell the DVLA by filing a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). No gap is allowed between the two: the moment your tax lapses without a SORN in place, an £80 fine is generated automatically.

What You’ll Pay

The system splits into three eras based on when your car was first registered.

Cars registered before March 2001 are taxed purely on engine size. Anything at or below 1,549cc pays the lower rate; larger engines pay more. Emissions are irrelevant for these vehicles.

Cars registered between March 2001 and March 2017 sit in CO2 emission bands. The band was fixed at registration and follows the car for life.

Cars registered from April 2017 onward pay a one-off first-year rate tied to CO2 emissions, then drop to a flat standard rate of £200 a year for every petrol, diesel, and alternative fuel car.¹ Diesel cars that don’t meet the RDE2 testing standard pay a higher first-year rate than equivalent petrol models.

First-Year Rates by CO2 Emissions

These rates, effective from April 2026, apply once, when the car is first registered.¹ The second figure in each band is the non-RDE2 diesel rate.

0 g/km: £10
1–50 g/km: £115 or £135
51–75 g/km: £135 or £280
76–90 g/km: £280 or £365
91–100 g/km: £365 or £405
101–110 g/km: £405 or £455
111–130 g/km: £455 or £560
131–150 g/km: £560 or £1,410
151–170 g/km: £1,410 or £2,270
171–190 g/km: £2,270 or £3,420
191–225 g/km: £3,420 or £4,850
226–255 g/km: £4,850 or £5,690
Over 255 g/km: £5,690

The petrol/diesel gap widens sharply from 131 g/km onward. A diesel car at 131–150 g/km pays £1,410 in its first year against £560 for petrol, which can be enough on its own to change what fuel type makes sense for a new purchase.

The Expensive Car Supplement

Any petrol, diesel, or alternative fuel car with a list price above £40,000 at first registration pays an extra £440 a year on top of the standard rate, bringing the annual bill to £640.¹ The supplement runs for five years starting from the second year of registration. The trigger is the manufacturer’s published list price including options and accessories, not the price you negotiated at the dealer.

For zero-emission cars registered from April 2025 onward, the threshold is £50,000 rather than £40,000.¹ An electric car below that price pays only the £200 standard rate from year two.

Electric Cars Now Pay Too

The VED exemption for electric cars ended in April 2025. All new electric cars, vans, motorcycles, and tricycles now pay vehicle tax: £10 in the first year, then the £200 standard rate from year two.² If your electric car was previously taxed at £0, you’ll be charged when the current tax period expires. The only motor vehicles still fully exempt on propulsion grounds are heavy goods vehicles over 3,500kg that run on electricity.³

Who Pays Nothing

Some vehicles qualify for a £0 rate, but you still have to go through the tax process with the DVLA even when there’s nothing to pay.³ The main categories:

Historic vehicles built before 1 January 1985 (from April 2025). Cars registered before 8 January 1985 qualify if the build date is unknown. The cutoff moves forward by a year annually.⁴
One vehicle per person for drivers receiving certain disability benefits, plus vehicles used by organisations that transport disabled people.
Tractors, agricultural engines, and light agricultural vehicles used off-road.
Steam-powered vehicles.
Mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs limited to 8mph on the road and 4mph on footways.

SORN: The Alternative to Paying

If a car isn’t going to be used, you can file a SORN and stop paying tax. A vehicle under SORN must stay on private land, a driveway, or in a garage; it cannot be parked or driven on any public road.⁵ The only exception is driving to a pre-booked MOT. Breaking that rule can lead to prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500.

You can declare SORN online, by phone on 0300 123 4321, or by posting a V890 form to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AR. Using the 11-digit number from your V5C starts the SORN immediately. Using the 16-digit number from a V11 reminder starts it on the first day of the next month. A SORN lasts until you tax the vehicle again, and it does not carry across a sale, so a buyer needs to arrange their own tax or SORN straight away.

How to Pay

The quickest route is the GOV.UK vehicle tax service. You need one reference number to get started: the 11-digit number from your V5C logbook, the 16-digit number from a V11 reminder letter, or the 12-digit number from the green new keeper slip if you’ve just bought the car.⁶ Payment is by debit or credit card and the database updates almost immediately. No tax disc is issued; ANPR cameras check status automatically. Participating Post Office branches accept payments in person.

If your V5C is lost, form V62 gets you a replacement for £25 and lets you tax the car in the same application. Check that the name and address on the logbook are current first, because outdated details cause delays and can send any future refund cheque to the wrong address.

Direct Debit and Its Surcharge

Direct Debit spreads the cost but adds a charge if you don’t pay annually. Annual Direct Debit carries no surcharge. Six-monthly and monthly Direct Debit both add 5%. On the standard £200 rate, monthly payments total £210 across the year and six-monthly payment is £105 each time.¹

If a Direct Debit payment fails, the DVLA retries within four working days. A second failure cancels the Direct Debit and leaves the car untaxed, which triggers the £80 penalty and puts the vehicle at risk of clamping.⁷

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

The DVLA runs regular automated scans of its register to catch untaxed vehicles without a SORN.⁸ Enforcement escalates in stages.

Late Licensing Penalty

The first stage is an automatic Late Licensing Penalty letter. The fine is £80, reduced to £40 if you pay within 33 days.⁹ Paying at this stage is by far the cheapest way out.

Clamping and Impounding

An untaxed car spotted on a public road can be clamped where it sits or towed to an impound. The fees are fixed:

Clamp release: £100, payable within 24 hours of clamping.
Impound release: £200 once the vehicle has been removed.
Storage: £21 per day from the time the vehicle arrives at the pound.⁹

If you don’t tax the car before collecting it, you also have to pay a surety deposit of £160 for cars and motorcycles.¹⁰ A car left in an impound for a fortnight can easily cost over £500 to recover on top of the tax owed.

Court Prosecution

If earlier penalties are ignored, the DVLA can take the case to a magistrates’ court. The maximum court penalty is £1,000 or five times the tax owed, whichever is greater.⁹ Unpaid court fines can be passed to debt collection agencies.

Getting a Refund

You get a refund for any full calendar months of tax remaining when the DVLA is told your vehicle has been sold, scrapped at an authorised treatment facility, exported, or declared SORN.¹¹ The refund starts from the first day of the month after the DVLA receives the notification, so selling on the 2nd of the month rather than the 28th costs you a full month.

Refunds come by cheque to the name and address on the V5C, so update your details before you notify the DVLA of any change in status. Contact the DVLA if a refund hasn’t arrived after eight weeks. Remaining tax does not transfer with a sale: it’s automatically cancelled and refunded to the previous keeper, and the new owner has to tax the car in their own name before driving it.

1
GOV.UK. V149 – Rates of Vehicle Tax April 2026
2
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax for Electric, Zero and Low Emission Vehicles
3
GOV.UK. Vehicles Exempt from Vehicle Tax
4
GOV.UK. Historic (Classic) Vehicles – MOT and Vehicle Tax – Eligibility
5
GOV.UK. When You Need to Make a SORN
6
GOV.UK. Tax Your Vehicle Without a Vehicle Tax Reminder
7
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Direct Debit Payments – If a Direct Debit Payment Fails
8
GOV.UK. Vehicle Enforcement Policy
9
Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. DVLA Enforcement of Vehicle Tax, Registration and Insurance Offences
10
GOV.UK. Get a Clamped or Impounded Vehicle Released
11
GOV.UK. Cancel Your Vehicle Tax and Get a Refund