Vehicle Tax when abroad

RoaminRog

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Next year we are planning to spend three months in the foreign, but I wasn’t sure how we could tax our bus, if we had no access to the Reminder Form.
I wrote to DVLA and put the problem to them, and this is the reply,

Thank you for your enquiry received on 16/4/2019.
Your case reference number is xxxxxxxxx


We appreciate that you have taken the time to contact us in relation to this matter.?

You are able to tax the vehicle online by using the 11 digit document reference number located on your V5C Registration Certificate.

Your V11 Tax Reminder would not be needed.

I trust this is of assistance to you.

Hope this may be of help to others.
 
Surely the easiest way is to set up a direct debit which rolls over from year to year. I appreciate that there is a small additional charge for paying this way, but if you are in the habit of sorning over the winter, then just cancel the debit when completing the relevant form.

I have just uprated my van from 3500 to 3850kg. It was easy to simply cancel the debit and not have to chase a refund. Posted a cheque for the new rate and will change to debit in due course.

Davy
 
Surely the easiest way is to set up a direct debit which rolls over from year to year. I appreciate that there is a small additional charge for paying this way, but if you are in the habit of sorning over the winter, then just cancel the debit when completing the relevant form.

I have just uprated my van from 3500 to 3850kg. It was easy to simply cancel the debit and not have to chase a refund. Posted a cheque for the new rate and will change to debit in due course.

Davy
When my van was uprated to reinstate its 3850 kg OEM rating, I cancelled my direct debit but had to chase DVLA to get a refund for the PLG rate for the month in which my van changed from PLG to PHGV. They eventually sent me a 'payable order' that (because I had to drive 32 miles round trip to find a bank branch where I could deposit it) cost me almost as much to deposit as it was worth :(
 
When my van was uprated to reinstate its 3850 kg OEM rating, I cancelled my direct debit but had to chase DVLA to get a refund for the PLG rate for the month in which my van changed from PLG to PHGV. They eventually sent me a 'payable order' that (because I had to drive 32 miles round trip to find a bank branch where I could deposit it) cost me almost as much to deposit as it was worth :(
They usually say tax refunds are not possible for partial months - or did you end up double taxing for the month

To avoid this situation, once I had the new HGV rate shown on my V5C, at the end of that month I SORNed the van, then at the stat of the next month redid the tax again at the Post Office at the new rate. Cancelling and Starting again was a lot easier than Changing over a currently taxed vehicle I found (I tried that a few months earlier and found the actual procedure not as published)
 
It’s a strange thing, we always Tax the car by DD, but have never even thought about taxing the bus in this way before.
I suppose it makes sense because when you are away, not only don’t you have the Reminder Notice but you are not notified of the current rate either.
I guess it would be one less thing to worry about to use DD.
The intention of my OP was to inform anybody who didn’t realise that you don’t have to use the sixteen digit number that is on the V11 (Reminder) but you are able to use the eleven digit Document Reference Number on your V5C.
Thanks for all your input. R.
 
They usually say tax refunds are not possible for partial months - or did you end up double taxing for the month

To avoid this situation, once I had the new HGV rate shown on my V5C, at the end of that month I SORNed the van, then at the stat of the next month redid the tax again at the Post Office at the new rate. Cancelling and Starting again was a lot easier than Changing over a currently taxed vehicle I found (I tried that a few months earlier and found the actual procedure not as published)
It was a double-tax situation. The saga goes:

The dealer told me the van was rated at 3850kg when we agreed to buy it. However, on collection day, DVLA's online taxing system demanded PLG rates. On checking the V5 (which we didn't have sight of before), it had been downrated to 3500kg but the plates hadn't been updated. The dealer spun us a load of BS that we had to set up a direct debit and then contact the DVLA to have the OEM rating reinstated. When we tried, DVLA told us they needed an engineer's report. We demanded the dealer give us a full refund or sort it out -- they got SV Tech to provide the paperwork, which I sent off with the required forms, which DVLA promptly lost (they also lost the V5 the dealer had sent to register the van to me). I only found out they'd lost the documents when I phoned to ask why I hadn't heard from them. They were quite glib about it until I gave them the Royal Mail tracking number and invited them to verify the DVLA receipt for the docs. While on the phone, I sent then scans of everything by email, which their guy verbally acknowledged. They sent us a letter advising the van was now rated PHGV and said that we had to tax it at the new rate before he could issue the new V5. I phoned and they confirmed that we would be entitled to a refund of the tax paid at the PLG rate for the then current month as it would be taxed at the PHGV rate from the start of that month. I paid for the tax over the phone. A month later, and having heard nothing other than receiving the V5, I phoned and was advised to write to demand they open a case to investigate, which I did. Another two weeks passed and, having still heard nothing, I phoned again; eventually demanding to speak to a supervisor, who said they would 'expedite'. Just over a week later, I got a 'payable order' through the post.

I hate dealing with the DVLA!
 
It was a double-tax situation. The saga goes:

The dealer told me the van was rated at 3850kg when we agreed to buy it. However, on collection day, DVLA's online taxing system demanded PLG rates. On checking the V5 (which we didn't have sight of before), it had been downrated to 3500kg but the plates hadn't been updated. The dealer spun us a load of BS that we had to set up a direct debit and then contact the DVLA to have the OEM rating reinstated. When we tried, DVLA told us they needed an engineer's report. We demanded the dealer give us a full refund or sort it out -- they got SV Tech to provide the paperwork, which I sent off with the required forms, which DVLA promptly lost (they also lost the V5 the dealer had sent to register the van to me). I only found out they'd lost the documents when I phoned to ask why I hadn't heard from them. They were quite glib about it until I gave them the Royal Mail tracking number and invited them to verify the DVLA receipt for the docs. While on the phone, I sent then scans of everything by email, which their guy verbally acknowledged. They sent us a letter advising the van was now rated PHGV and said that we had to tax it at the new rate before he could issue the new V5. I phoned and they confirmed that we would be entitled to a refund of the tax paid at the PLG rate for the then current month as it would be taxed at the PHGV rate from the start of that month. I paid for the tax over the phone. A month later, and having heard nothing other than receiving the V5, I phoned and was advised to write to demand they open a case to investigate, which I did. Another two weeks passed and, having still heard nothing, I phoned again; eventually demanding to speak to a supervisor, who said they would 'expedite'. Just over a week later, I got a 'payable order' through the post.

I hate dealing with the DVLA!

Wow! I’m worn out just reading your post!
 
So long as you have your log book or a scan of it, easy to tax when abroad, better than when you had to display a disc
 
Thanks, that will be done before we go.
How about cancelling your tax on the last day of the month of the MOT, then starting again the first day of the next month (just go on-line and do a SORN to cancel, then post office start of next month to get another 12 months) - that way your MOT and Tax are aligned :)
 
+1 to Wildebus - no need to remember while away.
But make sure MoT and insurance run past renewal date - DVLA can't cope with these running out on 1st of the month.
Also if you're away when MoT is due and tax needed at same time you're in trouble.
Don't be tempted to SORN while travelling abroad as you'll probably invalidate your insurance.
You'll probably need valid MoT for insurance so make sure that runs through as well.
 
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+1 to Wildebus - no need to remember while away.
Don't be tempted to SORN while travelling abroad as you'll probably invalidate your insurance.
Just on the "SORN then Retax" idea and following on from Markd's comment ... I found from experience that when you do a SORN, it is not possible to tax again online for a certain time (probably something to do with database updates or the like) and if anyone does as I suggested, they MUST retax in person at a Post Office, not on line as the system won't let you.
Thought worthwhile making this point clear as if you did decide to SORN when abroad, you would then have to wait some time (maybe a week?) until you could do a retax online.
 
Ano option! Cancel tax last day of month, then retax following day for a year.
Although agree cab be done online with number from V5.
 
Don’t really fancy SORNing the vehicle as we often pop off without warning, but thanks for the input. ?
 
Don’t really fancy SORNing the vehicle as we often pop off without warning, but thanks for the input. ?
The SORNing thing is just a mechanism to cancel the tax, not to take and LEAVE off the road.
I think you have to tick the box when you go to cancel tax - one is selling the vehicle (so not applicable), another is if not using the vehicle (aka SORNing).
I have had to do this twice to sort out my tax - once on my current vehicle after the tax rate changed so I waited until the last day of the month and did a SORN so the tax was automatically changed, then went to post office next day to change tax catagory and restart tax - avoided having double tax for a month that way. The other time is when I bought a T5 a few years ago and for some reason the tax was not automatically cancelled on transfer of name on V5C (which is always meant to happen regardless for last 8 or so years).
The only way I could sort this out was to do a SORN even though I never taxed the vehicle in the first place and then the next day buy new tax in my name. Very strange situation but worked out ok for me as I got 11/12ths of £290 of road tax back from DVLA as a cheque for tax I never paid :)
 
Wildebus is right about the DVLA delay between SORN and retax - I'd forgotten about it when I posted but had heard about it previously.
As he says you can always pop in to a post office to retax though.
 
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