What Tax Band is My Car?
What Tax Band is My Car? A Complete Guide to Checking Vehicle Tax Bands & Rates
Car tax, also known as road tax or ‘Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is an important cost for drivers. Not only is it a key budgeting consideration, but paying the tax also contributes to maintaining and improving the roads we all enjoy.
Car tax rates are determined by a vehicle’s CO2 emissions, but this is not always common knowledge. Indeed, there can often be confusion around exactly which tax band a car belongs to.
At Kia, we know that keeping on top of your vehicle running costs, tax included, is essential to proper budgeting. So, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide to vehicle tax rates and understanding what tax band your car is in. We also outline what changes you can make to reduce your car tax rates.
What is car tax?
Car tax
, also called road or vehicle tax and officially known as Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), is an annual tax that nearly all drivers must pay to drive their car on a public road. All Car tax
goes into a central government fund, the Exchequer, which is used to fund all public services or ventures, from education to health to policing.
Road tax is split into two payments:
1. a first payment when you register a new car, which covers your vehicle for 12 months
2. A flat rate payments every 6-12 months.
Car tax
prices for the first payment are determined solely by your vehicle’s CO2 emissions.
Once you move onto the second annual tax payment, how much your car tax will be depends on which tax band
your car falls into. These road tax bands are dictated by how old your vehicle is, along with its CO2 emissions. If your car is valued over a certain amount, this can also increase your vehicle tax rates.
Understanding your vehicles tax band
Knowing what tax band your car is in is essential to checking the road tax cost for your vehicle. For cars registered on or after 1 April 2017, the first-year rate ranges from £10 to £5,690, depending on your vehicle’s CO2 emissions. The more polluting your vehicle is, the higher your tax rate will be.
From the second tax payment onwards, the rate is £200 per year for petrol, diesel, electric and alternative fuel vehicles. These include hybrids
, mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
If your car has a list price of more than £40,000, you may also pay an additional £440 a year for five years from the second time the vehicle is taxed. For electric cars, the threshold is £50,000 for vehicles registered from 1 April 2025 onwards.
The easiest way to check which tax band your car is in, and the exact amount of car tax you pay, is by using the tax rate tables on the gov.uk
official website. It’s not uncommon for vehicle tax rates to change from year to year, so it's important to check the latest government guidance.
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Is my car taxed? How to tax your vehicle
It’s illegal to drive on a public road without road tax, so it’s essential to tax your car when you first register it. To tax your vehicle or renew your vehicle tax for a new car, you must have:
• A V5C logbook or a V5C/2 (if you’ve just bought the vehicle)
• A valid MOT (valid from the date your road tax starts or is issued)
• A valid exemption certificate (if you’re applying for a road tax exemption, such as a disabled person exemption)
It’s important to note that even if you do not have to pay road tax because your vehicle is exempt, you’re still required to tax it. This includes zero-emission vehicles which have been subject to Vehicle Excise Duty since 1 April 2025. You can find more information and tax your vehicle via the gov.uk
website.
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