Guide
How to cancel car tax
You should contact the DVLA to cancel your car tax - in this guide, we explain how.
Words by: Nimisha Jain
Published on 27 August 2025 | 0 min read
Drivers legally have to pay tax – formally known as vehicle excise duty (VED) and more commonly known as car tax or road tax – to drive their cars in the UK. To keep it simple, we’ll refer to VED as car tax in this article.
If you’re no longer driving the car or are planning on selling your car, then you’ll no longer have to pay car tax. In this guide, we explain when and how to cancel your car tax.
If you’re no longer driving the car or are planning on selling your car, then you’ll no longer have to pay car tax. In this guide, we explain when and how to cancel your car tax.
When to cancel car tax
You can cancel your car tax if the car has been:
• Sold • Scrapped • Transferred to someone else • Declared as SORN • Written off by your insurance company • Stolen • Exported abroad • Declared tax exempt such as historic cars and if you claim disability allowance
• Sold • Scrapped • Transferred to someone else • Declared as SORN • Written off by your insurance company • Stolen • Exported abroad • Declared tax exempt such as historic cars and if you claim disability allowance
How to cancel car tax
To cancel your car tax, you should contact the DVLA either online or by post.
Cancel road tax online
To contact the DVLA online, you should follow one of the links below depending on why you’re cancelling your car tax to provide DVLA with the correct information:
• You’ve sold your car – link • You’ve transferred your car to someone else – link • You’ve declared the car as SORN – link • The car has been written off by your insurance company – link • The car has been scrapped – link • The car has been stolen – link • The car has been exported abroad - link • The car is tax exempt as it’s a historic vehicle – link • The car is tax exempt as you claim disability exemption – link Once you’ve filled the right form, the DVLA will cancel your car tax.
• You’ve sold your car – link • You’ve transferred your car to someone else – link • You’ve declared the car as SORN – link • The car has been written off by your insurance company – link • The car has been scrapped – link • The car has been stolen – link • The car has been exported abroad - link • The car is tax exempt as it’s a historic vehicle – link • The car is tax exempt as you claim disability exemption – link Once you’ve filled the right form, the DVLA will cancel your car tax.
Cancel car tax direct debit
Once you cancel your car tax with the DVLA, your direct debit gets cancelled automatically.
Note: cancelling your direct debit with your bank or building society, doesn’t automatically cancel your car tax with the DVLA. You must ask the DVLA to cancel your car tax first, otherwise you’ll still be liable to pay the amount due.
Note: cancelling your direct debit with your bank or building society, doesn’t automatically cancel your car tax with the DVLA. You must ask the DVLA to cancel your car tax first, otherwise you’ll still be liable to pay the amount due.
Will I get a tax refund if I cancel my car tax?
If you had paid car tax in advance for six months or for the full year, you’ll receive an automatic refund cheque for the remaining full months’ tax within eight weeks.
The cheque will be sent to the name and address in the car’s V5C logbook, so make sure all your details are correct. The amount of refund you receive will be calculated from the date you inform the DVLA about the car tax cancellation. Say you inform the DVLA about the tax cancellation on 5th of August, your refund will be calculated from September onwards for the remaining months. If you cancel your car tax during the first year of its registration, the DVLA will calculate your tax refund based on whichever is lower - the first tax payment you made at registration or the standard rate from the second year onwards. So, if a car registered on or after 1 April 2017 emits over 75g/km CO2, the second-year standard rate will be the lower compared to the first-year tax. In this case, you’ll get a refund at the lower second-year tax rate even though you might have paid a big chunk upfront. For example: if you’ve paid a first-year tax of £540 and request for a car tax refund after six months, you’ll be refunded half of the standard annual rate of £195 for the remaining six months. Related: Find out which car tax bracket your car falls into in our complete car tax guide
The cheque will be sent to the name and address in the car’s V5C logbook, so make sure all your details are correct. The amount of refund you receive will be calculated from the date you inform the DVLA about the car tax cancellation. Say you inform the DVLA about the tax cancellation on 5th of August, your refund will be calculated from September onwards for the remaining months. If you cancel your car tax during the first year of its registration, the DVLA will calculate your tax refund based on whichever is lower - the first tax payment you made at registration or the standard rate from the second year onwards. So, if a car registered on or after 1 April 2017 emits over 75g/km CO2, the second-year standard rate will be the lower compared to the first-year tax. In this case, you’ll get a refund at the lower second-year tax rate even though you might have paid a big chunk upfront. For example: if you’ve paid a first-year tax of £540 and request for a car tax refund after six months, you’ll be refunded half of the standard annual rate of £195 for the remaining six months. Related: Find out which car tax bracket your car falls into in our complete car tax guide