The recent budget announced brings some bad news for car owners. The car tax is due to become more expensive as of 1st of April.
This is following the news from last year where it was confirmed that the owners of electric vehicles will soon need to start paying road tax as well.
On top of the above – bad news don’t end there. Drivers in London will be hit with extra fees as of August 2023 when ULEZ is being expanded all the way to M25. This will also include Heathrow Airport. This will make dropping off and picking up passengers way more expensive if your car doesn’t meet the requirements.
The big blow to impact drivers as of 1st of April – the car tax is becoming more expensive by a whopping 10.1%. This is in line with the inflation the UK is currently seeing.
There is unfortunately no simple formula to understand your car tax amount. This all depends on the year the car was registred and emission levels for older cars.
Drivers luckily will have 3 options of paying the tax – full annual amount in 1 payment, 2 half year payments or monthly direct debit.
If you aren’t sure how much tax you need to pay for your car – GOV.UK is the best resource for you to find this information.
The interesting point with car taxes – even the owners of cars that are tax exempt must make sure to renew their tax annually. This will not cost them anything however driving a car in the UK without a valid tax document is illegal.
Driving with expired tax could land the driver in hot water and force to pay a hefty fine as well as potentially risk getting penalty points on their drivers license.
While all of the above is obviously a big blow to drivers during the times when prices are growing at an extremely fast pace. There is some positive news announced during the budget as well.
The fuel duty that has been unchanged since 2011 will remain at the current level for at least another year.
This will definitely be a tax that will increase in the coming years as the fuel prices start coming down to more reasonable levels.