What do I do with my tax disc now?
By now you should know that as of Wednesday 1st October 2014, the whilst you still have to pay vehicle tax, the tax disc will no longer be issued in the UK.
To help filter out all the messages that have been broadcast about this, we have recapped a few pointers to help you understand the new rules and why they have been put in place.
- As of Wednesday 1st October 2014, you are no longer required to display your tax disc in your vehicle, and the DVLA will discontinue issuing the paper disc.
- BUT you must tax your vehicle for 6 or 12 months at a time.
- You will still be issued a reminder letter from the DVLA to tax your vehicle, so you don’t forget.
- You will be able to tax your vehicle online, or at a post office.
- You can check if your vehicle is taxed at https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax
- As of the start of October, when you buy a car, you cannot buy the tax with it. The original owner of the vehicle can apply for a refund on their tax and the new owner must purchase the tax before driving the vehicle.
Why do we no longer need a tax disc?
Quite simply, as everything is now held on a central database there is no longer a need for the disc. The police and other authorities used to visually check tax discs to find vehicle tax offenders but now do this with registration checks against a computer database these days much like they do with insurance.
My tax doesn’t run out until next year, what do I do with my disk?
Whatever you want! If you want to keep it in the windscreen of your vehicle for years to come, then that is fine. If you want to remove it, your vehicle will remain taxed until its expiry and you can legally and happily continue with your life.
