How to get a Luxury Car Tax Refund

[Jason71]

As of the 1st of April 2020 the Luxury car tax on cars with a list price of >£40K is being removed for all new and existing EV's in perpetuity ( it will kick in again for new vehicles registered after 1st April 2025)
This means that if you have a qualifying EV and are already paying you can get a refund for the remaining full months of your current licence, at a rate of £26.66 per remaining month.
Details on how to do this are mentioned buried in earlier threads but I thought a clear guide would not go amiss

For the record this only applies to vehicles purchased since 6th April 2017 and not on their first licence. first licence is free so if you are still on your first licence ( like 99.9% of M3's) you can stop reading now.
You cannot get a refund for any previous licences. that money is gone. This applies only if you have a current licence on which you paid the £320 ( or more if monthly DD, or pro rata on a 6 month licence etc) and the end date of the licence is after 1st April 2020

INSTRUCTIONS
To maximise your refund on your current licence this is what you will need to do:
1) SORN your vehicle today as in BEFORE 1st of April. if you wait until tomorrow you will lose the refund for the whole of April
2) On or after the 1st of April relicense your vehicle. When you do the new licence will be free.

if you do the above then if you paid in full DVLA will send you a cheque for the remaining months at a rate of £26.66 per month. If you are paying by monthly DD then the payments will just stop. There will be no need for a refund.

THE CATCH
You cannot do 2 transactions online within 72 hours of each other ( the web site says 5 days but it's really only 3 normally if no bank holidays in between) so if you SORN you car today you will not be able to re-licence online until at least the 3rd of April ( maybe the 4th if you do it after 6pm). This means you will not legally be able drive it again until that time. Normally this would be a big issue for most people. right now maybe less so!

THE WORKAROUND
The above catch only applies if you try to do BOTH the transactions online. if you do one of them at the Post Office there is no restriction so you can SORN tonight online and licence at PO tomorrow ( or visa versa)
Note phoning up and doing one transaction via Voice response or the call centre will not work. It has to be the Post Office.

Finally
If you are paying by monthly DD you can simplify the process by just waiting until 1st of April and simply going online and re-licencing. you will lose the April money but it may be worth it for simplicity. This will only work if you are monthly DD
you cannot do this if you paid upfront either by DD or Cash since doing this will not generate a refund only stop future payments.

 

[ArunG]

I've been searching the Internet for solid advice on this. I paid the £320 at start of March. My only concern was I wanted to drive the car later this week and was worried about waiting 5 days before being able to put back onto the road. You have answered my queries. Thanks!

 

[markharro]

This is really helpful thanks. I have just done my SORN online now (I am paying by direct debit). Is there no chance at all re-licencing tomorrow online will work? If not, can you tell me what the post office procedure is ie can any post office do this; is there a form to fill in; will they be alert to the changes in that they will recognise that no tax will be due from tomorrow? Thanks.

 

[Jason71]

This is really helpful thanks. I have just done my SORN online now (I am paying by direct debit). Is there no chance at all re-licencing tomorrow online will work? If not, can you tell me what the post office procedure is ie can any post office do this; is there a form to fill in; will they be alert to the changes in that they will recognise that no tax will be due from tomorrow? Thanks.

If you did the SORN online then no there is no chance of taxing online tomorrow unless you lie and use the tax as a new keeper option but I would not recommend that unless you are desperate. it will work in the short term but may have knock on effect when no change of keeper arrives at DVLA later on. they might cancel the tax or something?

The PO get their rates direct from the DVLA in real time so they will not try to charge you
you just need your V5 document. you wont have an MOT yet I assume so that's not a problem ( they can check on line anyway not sure why the link below says you need it. may be contingency)
Buy Or Renew Your Vehicle Tax | Identity | Post Office®
bear in mind not all Post Offices issues tax disks you can check online if yours does: Branch Finder | Post Office

 

[Alset2go]

Thank you so much...Just done it by phone keypad for speed


I just paid tax in late March in full.

Janet and John method as using info above

1. Find your V5
2 Call 03001234321
3 Sorn your vehicle (Take it off the road)
4 Important to do today or you will lose April money
5 You will be refunded remainder of Car tax
6 After 3-5 days tax car again....Pocket refund.

THANK YOU SO MUCH @Jason71


Good health to all.

 

[Jason71]

Thank you so much...Just done it by phone keypad for speed


I just paid tax in late March in full.

Janet and John method as using info above

1. Find your V5
2 Call 03001234321
3 Sorn your vehicle (Take it off the road)
4 Important to do today or you will lose April money
5 You will be refunded remainder of Car tax
6 After 3-5 days tax car again....Pocket refund. to

THANK YOU SO MUCH @Jason71


Good health to all.

You're welcome.
As you can probably tell I've had a bit of practice navigating the maze that is the DVLA's processes. it's nice to be able to put it to good use for once

 

[ArunG]

Sorned last night.

Unable to re-tax online this morning, as expected.

Went to Post Office this morning. The lady said there was an "overlap", but was able to re-tax for £0.

Hopefully both transactions are separate and distinct and refund is on its way.

 

[GoTLSAGo]

Thanks for this - have been asking about this on the Tesla Owners UK FB group but no one is sure if they refund the 'luxury' part of the VED and there's lots of unhelpful comments!
I didn't SORN yesterday for fear of not being able to re-tax but i will do it now knowing I will lose April's money but still hopefully get a refund for the remaining months!

 

[GoTLSAGo]

Sorned last night.

Unable to re-tax online this morning, as expected.

Went to Post Office this morning. The lady said there was an "overlap", but was able to re-tax for £0.

Hopefully both transactions are separate and distinct and refund is on its way.

Did the lady at the post office confirm if you would get a refund?

 

[ArunG]

Did the lady at the post office confirm if you would get a refund?

I didn't ask. My receipt showed a zero cost, and I'm assuming the SORN last night had already triggered the refund. My only concern being that I haven't been charged as I paid £320 last month which I may still be in credit with if that makes sense?

The only way that I will definitely find out is if/when the refund arrives...

 

[GoTLSAGo]

I didn't ask. My receipt showed a zero cost, and I'm assuming the SORN last night had already triggered the refund. My only concern being that I haven't been charged as I paid £320 last month which I may still be in credit with if that makes sense?

The only way that I will definitely find out is if/when the refund arrives...

Ok makes sense. The test is if the refund comes in. A lot of people on the FB group believe you won't get anything but the rules seem confusing so let us know when you hear anything on the refund please!

 

[Alset2go]

I sorned yesterday but will leave it a while before taxing again and see if that makes a difference as to whether or not the refund happens.

 

[Jason71]

Sorned last night.

Unable to re-tax online this morning, as expected.

Went to Post Office this morning. The lady said there was an "overlap", but was able to re-tax for £0.

Hopefully both transactions are separate and distinct and refund is on its way.

Did you SORN quite late? if so the reason for the "overlap" is that the PO system is still seeing the old licence since the SORN May not be visible to them yet hence it thinks your new licence overlaps with your old one and they have a duty to warn you of this. It will not affect the refund.

 

[Jason71]

Thanks for this - have been asking about this on the Tesla Owners UK FB group but no one is sure if they refund the 'luxury' part of the VED and there's lots of unhelpful comments!
I didn't SORN yesterday for fear of not being able to re-tax but i will do it now knowing I will lose April's money but still hopefully get a refund for the remaining months!

I'm not on FB but you can alway point people on there to here or cut and paste the above to there if it will help

 

[Jason71]

Ok makes sense. The test is if the refund comes in. A lot of people on the FB group believe you won't get anything but the rules seem confusing so let us know when you hear anything on the refund please!

The rule is pretty clear: You SORN and you get a refund for any remaining full months of tax: Register your vehicle as off the road (SORN)
The luxury car tax is not special it is just a part of the Vehicle excise duty and is subject to the refund the same as any other part. This is not me speculating that is something I know for a fact and from experience. I have seen refunds that include it in the past

Now is it possible that SORNing too late last night for the SORN to be fully processed before the new tax is purchased could confuse the DVLA's systems and somehow screw-up the refund? I'm not going to say that is impossible, though it's unlikely, but if that did happen then a call to the DVLA should be able to sort it out since the vehicle has met the legal criteria for a refund

 

[Jason71]

I sorned yesterday but will leave it a while before taxing again and see if that makes a difference as to whether or not the refund happens.

you can check the current status here: https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/
Once this says SORNED the process is fully complete. There is no reason to wait any longer once that updates though legally it makes no difference The SORN triggers the refund and what you do after that shouldn't make any difference.
If you can afford to wait a couple of days though you can save yourself a trip to the PO since you will be able to use the on-line system to tax it again in about 3 days
Just make sure it remains parked on private land for the duration.

 

[Alset2go]

you can check the current status here: https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/
Once this says SORNED the process is fully complete. There is no reason to wait any longer once that updates though legally it makes no difference The SORN triggers the refund and what you do after that shouldn't make any difference.
If you can afford to wait a couple of days though you can save yourself a trip to the PO since you will be able to use the on-line system to tax it again in about 3 days
Just make sure it remains parked on private land for the duration.

Thank you again for that link.
Looks like I am good to go.
I currently don’t need the car so will probably leave it as you say till I can re tax on line.

 

[ArunG]

Did you SORN quite late? if so the reason for the "overlap" is that the PO system is still seeing the old licence since the SORN May not be visible to them yet hence it thinks your new licence overlaps with your old one and they have a duty to warn you of this. It will not affect the refund.

Sorned at 1500 yesterday and re-taxed at 1030 this morning. Still showing as Sorned online at 1455 today, even though re-taxed. I am confident/hopeful that is DLVA system just being slow to update. I also have receipt of re-taxing if I'm stopped.

Am I to expect a cheque or refunded back to original credit card?

Once again, thanks for all advice Jason71.

 

[GoTLSAGo]

Per the DVLA website they should send a cheque and to contact them if nothing received within 6 WEEKS

 

[Jason71]

Sorned at 1500 yesterday and re-taxed at 1030 this morning. Still showing as Sorned online at 1455 today, even though re-taxed. I am confident/hopeful that is DLVA system just being slow to update. I also have receipt of re-taxing if I'm stopped.

Am I to expect a cheque or refunded back to original credit card?

Once again, thanks for all advice Jason71.

The Post Office transaction won't show up on the system until this evening or tomorrow morning. The Post Office does not send the transactions through to the DVLA until the end of the day.
Assuming you paid upfront i.e. not monthly Direct Debit then its an old school cheque in the mail. So I hope you haven't moved house and not told DVLA!