Last updated November 10, 2021
Car tax provides the government funds to maintain and improve our vast network of roads and motorways and pay contributions based on your car’s carbon emissions. Therefore, ensuring your car is taxed correctly is essential.
However, as car tax is usually paid in blocks of 6 or 12 months, it’s not uncommon for car owners to pay months in advance for coverage they don’t need. If this is a situation you’re currently in, you’ll be pleased to know that you can get a refund when you cancel your car tax, getting money back for any unused months.
In this guide, you’ll find out more about the DVLA car tax refund, as well as uncovering how you can follow the simple steps required to process your refund.
Refunds are commonly claimed when the taxed car has been sold or transferred to another owner, taken off the road and registered with a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), written off, scrapped or in rarer cases, stolen, exported or even registered as exempt from vehicle tax under classic car tax exemption or other similar criteria.
Take the following documents to your nearest post office branch:
If you don’t have any of these, you'll need to apply for a new V5C. Do this by completing a V62 form, which you can pick up at your Post Office. The cost is £25.
When you sell your scrap or used car, you can claim back any outstanding road tax by notifying the DVLA.
Your tax refund will be automatically triggered when either:
The DVLA will post a cheque to the registered keeper shown on the registration certificate (V5C) within six weeks. If you don’t receive a refund within this timeframe, contact the DVLA.
To cancel your road tax and claim a refund, you’ll need to contact the DVLA and inform them of your car’s change of status (providing it falls in-line with the eligible criteria listed above, under ‘how to refund car tax’). You can contact the DVLA by phone, email service or post, all of which are listed below. DVLA car tax refunds take up to 6 weeks to process, so be sure to allow adequate time before contacting them again regarding the application.
You can contact the DVLA by phone, email service or post, all of which are listed below. DVLA car tax refunds take up to 6 weeks to process, so be sure to allow adequate time before contacting them again regarding the application.
You can call the DVLA regarding vehicle tax enquiries on 0300 790 6802.
Phone line opening hours are listed as:
Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm
Saturday, 8am to 2pm
There are various call charges listed on their website, so be sure to take a look before making a call.
The DVLA email enquiry service isn’t as straight-forward as a simple email address, however their website’s enquiry process is thankfully still fairly simple.
Click here to access their enquiries page, and then simply select the options related to your car tax refund; that will take you to the relevant contact page, where you can send your email enquiry.
You can mail your enquiry to the DVLA at the following postal address; be sure to include details of your car’s change of status and your request for a car tax refund.