V149 - Vehicle Tax Rates Official Document

'Tax it or lose it'. Don't forget, the UK government makes it pretty clear, taxing your vehicle is a legal requirement.

The following official V149 document gives you the up-to-date vehicle tax rates as from 1st of April 2020.

V149 - Vehicle tax rates (all types of vehicles)

Why do I need to tax my car?

Taxing your vehicle is a legal requirement to put your car on the road in the UK.

If you are caught driving an untaxed car, you’ll get hit with a £50 non-endorsable fixed penalty notice by DVLA – but if the police catch you, they can fine you up to £1,000 on the spot.

Understand why to tax your car in details with our ultimate guide through vehicle car tax in the UK.

How much is car tax?

You may be hoping that this question has a simple answer. Unfortunately, the amount of tax that needs to be paid depends on quite a few different factors, including:

• C02 emissions;
• The date the car was registered;
• The date whether the car is new (ie you’re paying its first year of tax);
• The original list price of the car.

So there’s no simple online UK car tax calculator – you’ll need to go through a few steps to find the right tax rate. 

The first thing you need to know is when your car was first registered. That will tell you which method of taxation is used.

Cars registration date	Explanation	Tax amount
Cars registered after 31/03/2017	First year tax based on CO2 emissions	Future years £140 if car cost less than £40,000 (£130 for cleaner fuels) £450 if car cost more than £40,000Electric cars: zero, unless they cost over £40,000 (£310 tax)
Older cars – as long as they were registered after 1 March 2001	Organized into tax bands from A to M, depending on the rate of C02 emissions	Cars in band A: £0 Cars in band M: £570
Cars registered before March 2001	Road tax is calculated according to the size of the engine	Engine up to 1.49 litres : £155 Engine bigger than 1.5 litres: £255

Get to know more on how car tax is calculated with our guide.