Tax Disc?

No need to display at all. See eg

"From 1 October 2014, the paper tax disc will no longer need to be displayed on a vehicle. If you have a tax disc with any months left to run after this date, then it can be removed from the vehicle and destroyed. This includes customers with a Northern Ireland address, however they will still need to display their MoT disc."

Thanks, this was what I was looking for, seems that gov website has been just updated.

and there are some anomalies: it is cheaper to buy a six month tax disc over 6 payments than it is over one payment! the new service:

this now adds mot date into the mix, since tax can be stopped when mot is out!

If that is on the gov.uk website I'm not surprised: it is notorious for errors (many introduced by a style-over-substance culture in the Cabinet Office).

In any event, my understanding is that there is no facility to pay by direct debit for a 6 month licence. There is a lower price for a single payment by direct debit than by other means for the 6 month but not for the 12 month - but satill with a "surcharge" for buying 6 months at a time. See eg

No, it isn't.

You can only buy six months of tax with one payment, 5% premium.

You can buy twelve months of tax with one payment, "cover price", or by monthly DD, 5% premium.

It looks like you can either pay or have (single?) direct debit for the six month version, yet is it cheaper for a (single?) DD than a straight payment, and it says: totalling (for the six month) which would imply multiple payments. very odd.

6 month rate 71.50 12 month rate 130 6 monthly by direct debit totalling £68.25 12 monthly by direct debit totalling £130.00 Monthly by direct debit totalling £136.50 (Monthly payment of approximately £11.38)

Checking the reg number of an old motorbike that has sat unused for 40 years I find that it is taxed according to them till december !

Well it *is* exempt under the 40 year rolling exemption so possibly just (yet another) result of having to squeeze policy/legislative chnages into an existing IT system. But I've not checked what if any hoops you are supposed to jump through to qualify.

Are you taking that from an October-expiry V11? Because you can't, yet, pay by DD - so a chunk of this is surmise from my understanding of the various announcements.

AIUI, you'd be buying 12mo, then cancelling it part way through. Just like you've always been able to do, except by DD. That's ALWAYS been the cheapest way to get 6mo. There's a 5% (was always 10%) premium on buying

6mo, and there's 5% premium on paying for 12mo by DD.

What's unclear so far is whether the DD premium will be pro-rata'd if you cancel part way through - it never was if you cancelled a 6mo.

So (nice round numbers for ease)

12mo - £120 6mo - £60+5% = £63 12mo DD - £120 + 5% = £126 = £10.50/mo.

If the refund is pro-rata'd, then cancelling after 6mo would be £63. If the refund isn't pro-rata'd, then cancelling after 6mo would be £66.

IIRC, that's an acknowledged bug in how it deals with stuff that's been off the road since before SORN (1998) and doesn't need MOT (pre 60).

I was taking it from the website today for a random passing car reg.

you have to re-register the vehicle in the historic class or it still shows the ordinary tax rate based on cc

Furry muff.

In that case, fuctifino...

Thanks (and to Adrian)

I can never recall if "October-expiry" means expires end-Septmber or expires end-October :(

But AIUI you can pay by DD *now* if paying online for tax starting 1 November (and from Monday if paying at Post Offices).

I meant "says October on it as the expiry date"...

You certainly can remove the disc. Interesting thread. I'm surprised not to have seen more mention of this new system here before. IMO this is another cash cow from the powers that be. Huge. I also believe that it has so many holes, several double deckers could be driven through it. Side by side! No doubt the legislation will be re-fudged over the coming months/years. I firmly believe the whole issue to be poorly thought out, poorly presented and poorly managed. Perhaps that is modern day government. One aspect that I cannot get to grips with: Vehicle tax is now with the owner, not the vehicle. Thus when a vehicle is sold/exhanged/scrapped/exported etc (change of ownership) the vehicle immediately becomes untaxed. Previous owner has to claim a refund (losing a months worth of tax). New owner, if applicable, has to buy tax from the start of current month. Anybody know how many vehicles change hands every month/year? A double whammy for .gov and another unsubtle tax burden on the British motoring public. Talking to a local trader a few days back, I asked him about this. He said 'basically I'm f***ed'. He went on to explain that there are some ways around but they are probably illegal and would raise insurance issues.

Trade plates. I gave mine up some years ago. From what I remember they could not be used for hire or reward also not for carrying any passengers. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Taking a punter out in a motor on trades could be construed as reward in court.

My apologies for ranting, this really does incense me. Nick.

The guidance notes are on this page, not worth it for most small traders.

missed it out:

You don't need to claim it back - you get it automatically when you send in the V5.

So the only big issue is traders - I suspect the kind of traders who can't or won't comply with the trade plate rules are the kind of traders who probably sell snotters whilst pretending to be private sellers to avoid tax and consumer rights. So no great loss there.

May also stop them littering the streets with their stock, too.