Van tax, formally Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), costs most drivers £360 a year for a van registered on or after 1 March 2001 with a revenue weight of 3,500kg or less. Older vans, certain Euro 4 and Euro 5 models, and electric vans follow different rules, but the flat £360 covers the vast majority of light goods vehicles on UK roads.
How Much Is Van Tax
Most vans sit in tax class TC39, which covers light goods vehicles up to 3,500kg gross weight. Unlike cars, VED for vans in this class isn’t tiered by CO2 emissions. It’s a single flat annual rate of £360 for a 12-month payment, regardless of how much the van pollutes.1GOV.UK. Rates of Vehicle Tax for Cars, Motorcycles, Light Goods Vehicles and Private Light Goods Vehicles April 2026
A narrow band of vans qualifies for a reduced rate of £140 a year under tax class TC36. That covers Euro 4 vans registered between 1 March 2003 and 31 December 2006, and Euro 5 vans registered between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010.2GOV.UK. Other Vehicle Tax Rates Fall outside those registration windows and you’re back on the £360 standard rate.
Older Vans and Electric Vans
Vans first registered before 1 March 2001 are taxed on engine size. Engines of 1,549cc or under cost £230 a year; anything larger costs £375.3GOV.UK. Cars and Light Goods Vehicles Registered Before 1 March 2001
Electric vans are no longer exempt. From 1 April 2025, zero-emission vans moved to the standard light goods vehicle rate and now pay the same £360 as a diesel or petrol van in TC39.4GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax for Electric, Zero and Low Emission Vehicles Owners who bought electric partly for the free VED will feel the change; the exemption is gone.
How to Pay Your Van Tax
You tax your van online using one of three reference numbers. Most people use the 11-digit number on their V5C logbook. If a V11 reminder has arrived in the post, the 16-digit number on that works too.5GOV.UK. Tax Your Vehicle Without a Vehicle Tax Reminder If you’ve just bought the van and the V5C hasn’t been reissued in your name, use the 12-digit number on the green new keeper slip (V5C/2).6GOV.UK. Tax Your Vehicle
The system checks for a valid MOT and insurance before it lets you pay. Once payment clears, the DVLA record updates almost straight away and you can drive.
You can pay for 12 months up front, 6 months, or monthly by Direct Debit. Paying the full year in one go costs £360 with no extra charge. Choosing six-monthly or monthly Direct Debit adds a 5% surcharge, taking the annual total for monthly payers to around £378. It’s easy to miss that surcharge when you set up the mandate. If online isn’t for you, any Post Office branch offering vehicle licensing can process the tax in person.7GOV.UK. Vehicle Tax Direct Debit Payments
Penalties if Your Van Is Untaxed
Letting the tax lapse without declaring the van off-road triggers an automated £80 late licensing penalty. Pay within 33 days and it halves to £40.
Get caught driving an untaxed van and DVLA issues an out-of-court settlement of £30 plus one and a half times the tax due. Refuse and it goes to a magistrates’ court, where the fine climbs to £1,000 or five times the tax, whichever is greater. Driving a van you’ve SORN’d raises the out-of-court figure to £30 plus double the outstanding tax, with a £2,500 court ceiling. The van can be clamped or impounded either way.
Taking Your Van Off the Road With a SORN
If the van is going to sit unused, a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) stops the VED clock. You can file one online, by phone, or by post, and it lasts indefinitely without renewal.8GOV.UK. When You Need to Make a SORN: Overview Before driving again, you’ll need to tax it, along with a valid MOT and insurance.
A SORN’d van has to be kept on private land. Leaving one parked on a public road while under SORN is an offence carrying fines of up to £2,500. Vans quietly sitting on a residential street catch owners out here.
Refunds When You Sell or Scrap
Tax doesn’t transfer with the van. When you tell DVLA the vehicle has changed hands, they cancel the tax automatically and send a refund cheque for any full months remaining. The refund runs from the date DVLA is notified, not from the date you handed the keys over, so tell them promptly.9GOV.UK. Cancel Your Vehicle Tax and Get a Refund
Direct Debits stop automatically. The cheque is issued to the name and address on the V5C, so update those details before selling if anything has changed. The 5% Direct Debit surcharge and any card fees aren’t refunded.9GOV.UK. Cancel Your Vehicle Tax and Get a Refund If eight weeks pass with no cheque, contact DVLA. The new owner has to tax the van in their own name before driving it.
Company Van Benefit in Kind
VED is the tax on the van itself. If your employer provides a van and you use it privately, a separate benefit-in-kind (BIK) charge applies to you as the driver. The threshold is whether private use is more than “insignificant.” A quick stop for shopping on the way home from a job is generally fine. Regular personal use, including commuting to a fixed workplace, isn’t.10GOV.UK. Cars and Vans Available for Private Use – When a Benefit Charge Is Incurred (480: Chapter 11)
For 2026-27, the van benefit charge is a flat £4,170. You pay income tax on that at your marginal rate, so £834 for a basic-rate taxpayer and £1,668 for a higher-rate taxpayer. Employer-provided fuel for private journeys adds a further £798 to your taxable income.11GOV.UK. Increase to Van Benefit Charge and Fuel Benefit Charges for Cars and Vans The charge doesn’t vary with the van’s value or how much fuel you actually burn.
Electric company vans are the exception worth knowing about. The van benefit charge for a zero-emission van is nil, so there’s no taxable benefit for private use even after the VED exemption ended.11GOV.UK. Increase to Van Benefit Charge and Fuel Benefit Charges for Cars and Vans
Double Cab Pickups Are No Longer Vans
From 6 April 2025, HMRC stopped treating most double cab pickups as vans for benefit-in-kind purposes. The old rule looked at payload; the new test asks whether the vehicle is primarily suited to carrying goods. Because most double cabs are equally suited to passengers, they’re now taxed as cars, which usually means a higher BIK bill.12GOV.UK. Employment Income Manual: Car Benefit – Double Cab Pickups 6 April 2025 Onwards
Transitional rules apply where the employer bought, leased, or ordered the pickup before 6 April 2025: it can still be treated as a van until the vehicle is disposed of, the lease ends, or 5 April 2029, whichever comes first.12GOV.UK. Employment Income Manual: Car Benefit – Double Cab Pickups 6 April 2025 Onwards The change is a BIK matter only. VED for a double cab still follows the vehicle’s weight class.