How to Complete and Submit the V10 Vehicle Tax Form (UK): Payment and Costs

The V10 vehicle tax form is the DVLA’s paper application for taxing a vehicle at a Post Office counter, used when you cannot tax online or by phone because you never received a V11 reminder, the vehicle’s tax class is changing, there has been a break in taxing, or the vehicle currently has a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) in place.¹ You can download it from GOV.UK or pick up a blank copy at a participating Post Office, but you always submit it in person. Since physical tax discs were abolished on 1 October 2014, the V10 updates the DVLA’s digital record rather than producing anything for your windscreen.²

When You Need the V10

Most drivers tax online using the 16-digit reference on a V11 reminder letter, email, or text. The V10 is for the situations where that route is not available to you:¹

You never received a V11 reminder, so you have no reference number for the online or phone service.
Your vehicle’s tax class is changing, for example a reclassification to historic or disabled.
The vehicle has been untaxed for a period and was not covered by a SORN.
The vehicle currently has a SORN and you want to put it back on the road.

One boundary worth flagging. If you have just bought the vehicle and hold the green V5C/2 new keeper slip, you can tax online using that slip and do not need the V10.³ If you are a new keeper with neither the slip nor a V5C in your name, you must apply for a replacement V5C by post before you can tax the vehicle at all. The V10 does not substitute for that step.

What to Bring to the Post Office

Being turned away at the counter for a missing document is the most common snag. Gather everything before you go:

Your V5C registration certificate (log book). If you only have a V5C/2 new keeper slip, that is acceptable. If you have neither, order a replacement V5C first, which costs £25 by post.⁴
A valid MOT. The clerk checks this electronically, and your vehicle must have a current MOT recorded on or before the date your tax starts. If the vehicle is exempt from MOT testing, bring a completed V112 declaration of exemption.⁵
In Northern Ireland only, a paper copy of your valid motor insurance certificate. In England, Scotland, and Wales insurance is checked electronically and no paper is needed.
Payment. Cash, debit card, or credit card are accepted at the counter. Direct Debit is not always available for V10 applications at the Post Office; it is more reliably set up through the online service.

How to Fill In the Form

The V10 is short. Download it as a PDF from the GOV.UK publications page, or pick up a blank at a participating branch.¹ You will need to enter:

The vehicle registration mark, exactly as it appears on the V5C.
Make and model, matched to the V5C so the clerk has nothing to flag.
Tax class. This determines your rate. Common classes include private light goods (PLG), disabled, and historic. If you are changing class, which is one of the reasons many people are on the V10 in the first place, select the new class here.
Keeper name and address, matching the V5C. If you have moved, update your V5C with the DVLA before submitting the V10.

If the vehicle does not require an MOT or goods vehicle test certificate, the form directs you to also complete a V112 declaration of exemption. Bring that with you.

Submitting the Form at the Counter

Not every Post Office branch handles vehicle licensing. Use the branch finder at postoffice.co.uk and filter for vehicle tax to locate one near you.⁶ Take your completed V10, your V5C or V5C/2, and any supporting documents from the checklist above.

The clerk verifies MOT status through the DVLA’s electronic system, confirms that the details on the form match the V5C, and takes payment. Once the transaction goes through, the DVLA’s digital register is updated to show the vehicle as taxed and the clerk issues a receipt. Keep that receipt. The digital record updates quickly, but the receipt is your proof of payment during the gap before the record fully synchronises with the ANPR enforcement cameras on the road network.

Payment Options and Surcharges

At the counter you can pay for 12 months or 6 months at a time. A single 6-month payment costs more than half the annual rate: for a car on the £200 standard rate, six months is £110, a 10% premium over paying annually.⁷

If you want to spread payments further, Direct Debit offers annual, 6-monthly, or monthly instalments. Annual Direct Debit carries no surcharge. Monthly and 6-monthly Direct Debit each carry a 5% surcharge over the annual rate.⁸ For a car at the £200 standard rate, that works out at £210 across 12 monthly instalments or £105 for each 6-month block.⁹ Direct Debit is more reliably set up online than at the Post Office counter.

How Much Will It Cost

Vehicle Excise Duty depends on when the car was first registered, its CO₂ emissions, and its fuel type. From 1 April 2026, most cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 move to a flat standard rate of £200 per year from their second year onwards. Zero-emission cars registered on or after 1 April 2025 also pay the £200 standard rate from their second year.¹⁰

First-year rates for cars registered on or after 1 April 2026 are graduated by CO₂ emissions, from £10 for a zero-emission car up to £5,690 for a car emitting over 255 g/km.⁹ Picking the wrong tax class on the V10 means paying the wrong amount, and the DVLA will need to correct it after the fact.

An expensive car supplement applies for five years from the second year of tax if the car’s list price was above £40,000 when new (£50,000 for electric and zero-emission vehicles). A car in that window pays £640 per year: the £200 standard rate plus the £440 supplement.¹⁰⁹

Taxing a Historic Vehicle

From 1 April 2026, vehicles built before 1 January 1986 qualify for the historic vehicle tax exemption, which drops the annual rate to £0. If you do not know the build date but the vehicle was first registered before 8 January 1986, you can still apply.¹¹ The threshold rolls forward by one year each April.

You still have to tax the vehicle even though the rate is zero. Driving a historic vehicle without taxing it is treated the same as driving any other untaxed car.¹² The V10 is the normal route, because you are changing tax class to historic, which is one of the four situations the form is designed for.

Penalties for Driving Untaxed

The DVLA enforces tax through automatic number plate recognition cameras on roadside infrastructure and patrol vehicles. Penalties escalate in a set sequence:¹³

An automated late licensing penalty of £80, reduced to £40 if paid within 33 days.
An out-of-court settlement if you are caught using an untaxed vehicle on the road: £30 plus one and a half times the outstanding tax. If the vehicle has a SORN in force and is driven on a public road anyway, the calculation is £30 plus double the outstanding tax.
Court prosecution if the settlement goes unpaid: £1,000 or five times the tax owed, whichever is greater. For a vehicle driven in breach of a SORN, the maximum court fine is £2,500.
Clamping or impounding of the vehicle at any stage, with release fees on top of the penalty.¹⁴

The cheapest outcome is always to tax the vehicle on time, or to file a SORN if it is not going on the road.

1
GOV.UK. Apply for Vehicle Tax (Form V10)
2
GOV.UK. Direct Debit and Abolition of the Tax Disc
3
GOV.UK. Tax Your Vehicle Without a Vehicle Tax Reminder
4
GOV.UK. Register Your Vehicle as Off the Road (SORN)
5
GOV.UK. Declaration of Exemption From MOT (V112)
6
Post Office. Branch Finder
7
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Rates – Cars Registered on or After 1 April 2017
8
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Direct Debit Payments
9
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Rates of Vehicle Tax for Cars, Motorcycles, Light Goods Vehicles and Private Light Goods Vehicles – April 2026
10
GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax for Electric, Zero and Low Emission Vehicles
11
GOV.UK. MOT and Vehicle Tax – Historic Vehicle Tax Exemption
12
GOV.UK. Tax Your Vehicle
13
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. DVLA Enforcement of Vehicle Tax, Registration and Insurance Offences – Section: Enforcement of Vehicle Tax Offences
14
GOV.UK. Pay a DVLA Fine