New Van VED tax rates for 2023/24

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), sometimes referred to as road tax, is a legal requirement for driving any van or vehicle on the UK’s roads.
VED payable differs for cars and vans. The good news is that working out your VED is usually simpler for vans – van owners pay a flat rate set out by the DVLA. You can either make a single payment for the next six or 12 months, or you can pay in instalments each month. If you pay a year’s tax monthly or in two instalments every six months, then the annual tax rate slightly goes up.

For the 2023/24 tax year, the VED tax rates for a van are as follows:
• Light goods vehicles (tax class 39) registered since 1 March 2001 pay £320 for 12 months or £176 for six months. • Euro 4 compliant light goods vehicles (tax class 36) registered between 1 March 2003 and 31 December 2006 pay £140 for 12 months or £77 for six months. • Euro 5 compliant light goods vehicles (tax class 36) registered between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 20010 pay £140 for 12 months or £77 for six months. *Note: Vans are classified as a light goods vehicle when the total gross weight of the van is 3,500kg or less.

Company van tax

If you buy a van through your company’s benefits, you pay a company van tax, also known as Van Benefit Charge or benefit-in-kind tax, as opposed to the regular tax rates.
Again, the benefit-in-kind for vans is fixed for each tax year – the van benefit charge for 2023/24 is fixed at £3,960. This means that you’re only taxed on this amount, so the amount of tax you pay will depend upon the percentage of tax you’re supposed to pay, for example: if you pay 20% tax, the total VED payable will be £720; if you pay 40% tax you’ll have to pay £1,440 as VED. For electric vans, the current benefit in kind charge is 2% from 6 April 2022 – April 2025. After April 2025, this rate will keep increasing by 1% every 12 months till 2028.

Frequently asked questions:

Is my van taxed?

You can check if your van for free on Gov.uk. You’ll need your car’s registration number to check your van’s VED.

Can I tax my van online?

Yes, you can pay your van’s VED online on Gov.uk. You will need your van’s V5C logbook or a V11 reminder letter. You will also need your credit or debit card to pay online.

When should I cancel my van tax?

You should cancel your van’s VED if you sell or transfer your van. You should also cancel the tax if you declare your van as off the road (SORN) or if the van is written off, scrapped, stolen or exported out of the UK. You can cancel your van’s VED by informing the DVLA.

What classifies as a van for tax purposes?

Vehicles that weigh less than 3,500 kg and are designed to carry goods are viewed as a van. However, there are a few restrictions on this. The vehicle must have at least four wheels and people are not classed as ‘goods or burden,’ so minibuses can’t be defined as a van. HMRC also says that it is the original design of a vehicle that counts, not what it’s used for. In other words, you can’t drop the seats of an estate car, carry your tools in there and claim it is a van. Double cab pick-up trucks are classified as vans, though, provided they have an official payload of 1,000kg or more. However, if you have a hard top fitted over the loading bay, then it is slightly different. Regardless of their actual weight, hard tops are classified in the eyes of the taxation system as weighing 45kg. The payload of the truck therefore needs to be 1,045kg or more without the top attached in order to maintain the net carrying capacity of 1,000kg. If you have a truck with a standard payload of 1,000kg and fit a hard top, it will reduce the payload to 955kg, and it will be classified as a car. This one-tonne rule only applies to double cab pickups, though, not to single cabs or any other type of vehicle.

Can I claim for a van on my tax return?

On Auto Trader, you may notice that it often states the price + VAT on new van adverts. This is because it is possible to reclaim the VAT on the purchase of a commercial vehicle. If you buy a van for business use, then you can claim the VAT in full. If you use the van partly for business use and partly for private, then you can only claim VAT for the times you use the van for business purposes. For example, if 25% of the miles driven in the van are private, then only 75% of the VAT can be reclaimed. As with benefit in kind, insignificant business miles – commuting to and from a fixed place of work, and diverting slightly to the shops on the way – are permitted. You can, however, reclaim all of the VAT on running and maintenance costs like repairs, parking, licence fees and breakdown cover, for example – and on any accessories that are fitted for business purposes. These costs can be reclaimed even if you don’t reclaim the VAT on the vehicle itself.

Can I tax my van without a V5C?

Yes, you can tax a van without a V5C logbook if you’re the current keeper of the car using your V11 reminder letter from the DVLA. Remember, if you’ve lost your V5C logbook, you must for a new one using a V62 form. We have lots of vans to choose from including panel vans, combi vans and camper vans. Browse from thousands of new and used vans on Auto Trader. If you’re after a van that’s kind to the environment and has less tax, check out our collection of electric vans on Auto Trader.