To me this seems fairly clear:
Its a govt system. It really isn't
There was never an option until the 4th April
When you "tax" the car there are two fundementally different scenarios, One is you get a renewal letter in the month before the current tax expires with a 16 digit code and they ask you to renew - before your tax expires. If you tax expires on 31st March 2025 and you follow this route you will be taxing your car in march but for 1st April onwards which will cost money.
Agree with all but the last sentence. There have been many many times in the past where the rates have gone up mid month so taxing at the start of the month got you a different rate to taxing at the middle and end of the month.
There have also been other times when taxing for April during March gets you a different rate to taxing for April during April.
I worked in this area for some time and I cannot tell which way next year will go so I am pretty sure you have no reason to be as confident as you are.
When you "tax" the car there are two fundementally different scenarios, One is you get a renewal letter in the month before the current tax expires wuth a 16 digit code and they ask you to renew - before your tax expires. If you tax expires on 31st March 2025 and you follow this route you will be taxing your car in march but for 1st April onwards which will cost money.
The other option is to tax your vehicle in "from now" which makes the start date the first of the current month. You can not use the 16 digit code on the reminder, you need to use the V5C and not go for a typical renewal. The reason why they warn you is because if you actually pay money, you will already have paid for the current month and taxing it again will mean you pay for the current month again.
So.. for those that missed the window this year, if yu get a "renew your tax" in March 2025 and you just tax as normal you will pay. If you ignore the "renew your tax" letter, go onto the DVLA website and ask to tax the car from this month you should pay £0 as youre taxing the car from 1st March, not 1st of April
The difference between taxing using the V11 reminder and the V5c is not as big as you think. The thing that counts is your VED expiry date not how you renew.
if your VED expires at the end of the current month and you try to relicense. however you do it ( after the 5th of the month up until the end of the following month) the system will only offer you your renewal date as the start date of the licence. so with an expiry date of 31st March 2025 it does not matter if you do
V11 on March 6th
V5 on March 31st
V11 on April 10th
V5 on April 30
You will tax from April 1st, no exceptions, but historically you may not be paying the same on all of those dates.
If your VED is not due at the end of the current month ( or you have no VED or Are SORNED) then you will only be able to tax from the start of the current month. With only one exception for SORNED vehicles taxed in the last couple of days of the month. They are presented with the option to tax forward or back.
. The reason why they warn you is because if you actually pay money, you will already have paid for the current month and taxing it again will mean you pay for the current month again.
If you re-tax your car and there are remaining months left on your current licence you won't just lose the rest of the current month you will lose all future months you have paid for . DVLA will not automatically issue a refund if you do this though you can probably ring them up and ask them nicely for the remaining double taxed full months.
I don't believe for one minute that if you tax in March for a 1st April 2025 renewal you'll pay £0. That would effectively mean everybody who has car tax starting on 1st of April and who would renew in March as is the usual order of things, pay £0.
Your faith in the fairness and assumed logical behaviour of government taxation is very touching. Which seems doubly odd given that this entire discussion started around EVS. A system where by a La Ferrari pays the same VED as a hatchback that sold new for 28K but had a list price of £40K?
I guess we will see........