Car tax (VED) cost UK 2026
Car tax costs £200 a year for almost every car in the UK in 2026/27 — the flat standard rate that applies from the second year onwards, whatever the fuel. The variable bill is year one: a brand-new car's first-year Vehicle Excise Duty runs from £10 for a zero-emission model to £5,690 above 255 g/km of CO2. On top of that, any car with a list price over £40,000 — £50,000 for a pure electric — pays an extra £440 a year for five years. Electric cars have paid VED since 1 April 2025 and now pay the supplement too.
How much is car tax in 2026/27?
For a car registered on or after 1 April 2017, vehicle tax has two completely different prices. The first-year rate is paid once, by whoever registers the car new, and is set by its CO2 figure: £10 at zero emissions, £115 in the 1–50 g/km band, £365 at 91–100 g/km, and then a deliberate cliff — £560 at 131–150 g/km jumping to £1,410 the moment a car crosses 151 g/km, and on up to £5,690 above 255 g/km. From the second tax payment onwards every car drops to the same £200 standard rate, up £5 from £195 in 2025/26 in line with RPI.
Two things move that £200. If the car's published list price when new was over £40,000 — raised to £50,000 for zero-emission cars from 1 April 2026 — you pay the expensive-car supplement of £440 a year on top for five years, so £640 a year, starting from the second tax payment. And if you spread the cost, DVLA charges a 5% surcharge: twelve monthly direct debits come to £210 rather than £200. Cars registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 sit on the older lettered bands instead, from £20 in band A to £790 in band M. Vehicle tax is one of the few genuinely fixed lines in your annual car running costs — you can predict it to the pound a year ahead, which is more than can be said for repairs or insurance.
Source: DVLA vehicle tax rate tables on GOV.UK, 2026/27 tax year, cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 — first tax payment, petrol and RDE2-compliant diesel column. Selected bands shown; the full 13-band table follows.
| CO2 emissions | Petrol & RDE2 diesel — first year | Non-RDE2 diesel — first year | Standard rate, year 2 onwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 g/km (zero emission) | £10 | £10 | £200 |
| 1–50 g/km | £115 | £135 | £200 |
| 51–75 g/km | £135 | £280 | £200 |
| 76–90 g/km | £280 | £365 | £200 |
| 91–100 g/km | £365 | £405 | £200 |
| 101–110 g/km | £405 | £455 | £200 |
| 111–130 g/km | £455 | £560 | £200 |
| 131–150 g/km | £560 | £1,410 | £200 |
| 151–170 g/km | £1,410 | £2,270 | £200 |
| 171–190 g/km | £2,270 | £3,420 | £200 |
| 191–225 g/km | £3,420 | £4,850 | £200 |
| 226–255 g/km | £4,850 | £5,690 | £200 |
| Over 255 g/km | £5,690 | £5,690 | £200 |
Source: DVLA vehicle tax rate tables, GOV.UK, tax year 2026/27, for cars registered on or after 1 April 2017. The first-year rate is paid once, at registration. "Non-RDE2 diesel" means a diesel car that does not meet the Real Driving Emissions step 2 standard — it is charged one band higher in year one, but the same £200 standard rate afterwards. Alternative-fuel cars pay the same rates as petrol from April 2025, the £10 alternative-fuel discount having been withdrawn. Cars with a list price over £40,000 (£50,000 zero-emission) add £440 a year for five years from the second payment. Refresh: 2027-04-06.
£200 a year — and the £440 surcharge on top
From the second tax payment onwards, CO2 stops mattering entirely. A 2019 Dacia Sandero and a 2019 BMW M5 both pay the same £200. That flat rate applies to petrol, diesel, alternative-fuel and fully electric cars alike: the alternative-fuel discount of £10 was removed in April 2025, and the same date brought zero-emission cars into VED for the first time.
The expensive-car supplement is where the real money sits, and it catches far more drivers than its "luxury" nickname suggests. It is triggered by the published list price when the car was new — including factory options, delivery and the number plate, but not dealer discounts — not by what you paid for it second-hand. If that figure exceeded £40,000, you pay £640 a year instead of £200 for five years, starting from the second tax payment: an extra £2,200 across the period. Buy that car at four years old and you inherit whatever is left of the five-year clock, which is why checking the original list price before you buy a used premium car matters.
From 1 April 2026 the threshold for pure electric cars rose from £40,000 to £50,000, taking a large slice of the mainstream EV market back out of the supplement. GOV.UK also confirms an exemption for zero-emission cars registered before 1 April 2025 — those never pay it. A zero-emission car registered after that date and priced above £50,000 pays it in full.
| How you pay | Standard rate | With £440 supplement |
|---|---|---|
| Single 12-month payment | £200 | £640 |
| 12 monthly direct debits | £210 | £672 |
| Single 6-month payment | £110 | £352 |
| 6 months by direct debit | £105 | £336 |
Source: DVLA vehicle tax rate tables, GOV.UK, 2026/27. Paying monthly adds 5% — £10 a year at the standard rate, £32 with the supplement. Six months up front adds 10% annualised.
Pre-2017 bands, going off the road, and what it costs to get it wrong
If your car was first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 it never moves to the £200 flat rate. It stays on the lettered CO2 bands for life: £20 in bands A and B (up to 110 g/km), £35 in band C, then a steep step to £170 in band D, £200 in band E, £275 in band G, £445 in band K and £790 in band M above 255 g/km. Two consequences follow. A frugal 2012 diesel in band B costs £20 a year against £200 for its 2018 equivalent — one of the few areas where an older car is genuinely cheaper to run. A thirsty band-L or band-M car from the same era, on the other hand, costs £760 to £790 a year indefinitely, with no five-year end date. Cars first registered before 1 January 1985 are exempt under the rolling 40-year historic-vehicle rule, as are cars taxed in the disabled class.
If a car is not being used, a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) stops the tax. A SORN is free, is made through GOV.UK, and refunds any full remaining months of tax automatically. It takes effect immediately if the tax has already expired or if you apply outside the expiry month, and from the first of the next month if you apply during it. The condition is absolute: the vehicle must be kept off the public road — a drive, garage or private land — and the only journey permitted is to a pre-booked MOT test or a related appointment. Note that a SORN does not end your insurance obligation automatically; it is the recognised exemption from continuous insurance enforcement, but you should tell your insurer rather than simply cancelling.
The penalties are set out in DVLA's published enforcement policy and they escalate quickly. Letting tax lapse while the car is still registered for road use triggers an automatic late licensing penalty of £80, halved to £40 if paid within 33 days, and passed to a debt collection agency if ignored. Actually using an untaxed vehicle on a public road is a separate offence: an out-of-court settlement of £30 plus one and a half times the outstanding tax, or, if it reaches a magistrates' court, £1,000 or five times the tax chargeable, whichever is greater. Using a vehicle that has a SORN in force is treated more harshly still — £30 plus twice the outstanding duty out of court, and up to £2,500 in court. DVLA can also clamp: £100 to release within 24 hours, £200 if the car is impounded, £21 a day storage, plus a surety of £160 on a car or motorcycle if the tax is still unpaid.
For context on the rest of the bill, VED is small next to insurance. The Confused.com price index put the average UK comprehensive premium at £719 in Q2 2026 — more than three times the standard rate of car tax — and our UK car insurance cost index tracks how that average splits by age, region and vehicle. Servicing is the other predictable line: see typical UK car service costs. If you are weighing a switch to electric, the £10 first-year rate and the higher £50,000 supplement threshold are now part of the sum — our guide to whether switching to an electric car pays sets the tax saving against charging and depreciation, and the government has announced a separate per-mile charge for EVs from 2028. The full picture sits on the car running costs hub.
Car tax FAQs
Our sources
- GOV.UK — vehicle tax rate tables (DVLA) — the statutory 2026/27 first-year rates by CO2 band, the £200 standard rate, the direct debit and six-month figures, and the £440 supplement
- GOV.UK — DVLA enforcement of vehicle tax, registration and insurance offences — the £80 late licensing penalty, out-of-court settlements, magistrates' court maxima and clamping fees
- GOV.UK — make a SORN — how a Statutory Off Road Notification works, when it starts and the refund of full remaining months
- HM Treasury, Autumn Budget 2025, and the House of Commons Library briefings on vehicle excise duty and electric vehicle excise duty — the rise in the zero-emission expensive-car threshold to £50,000 from April 2026 and the announced per-mile eVED charge from April 2028
- RAC Drive — car tax bands explained — used to cross-check the April 2026 RPI uprating from £195 to £200 and the first-year band structure
- Confused.com Car Insurance Price Index (with WTW) — the £719 UK average comprehensive premium in Q2 2026, used only for the insurance comparison
Reviewed by the Car Insurance Expert editorial team
Every rate on this page was transcribed from the DVLA vehicle tax rate tables published on GOV.UK for the 2026/27 tax year and re-checked on the date below; penalty amounts come from DVLA's own published enforcement policy. Rates apply to cars and light goods vehicles in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and change each April, normally in line with RPI. Where a figure depends on registration date or list price we say so rather than quoting a single number. Car Insurance Expert is an independent research site: it is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, does not sell or arrange any product, and makes no recommendation about any regulated product mentioned here.
Last updated: 2026-08-06