STANDARD EXAMPLE
£200 / 12 months
Single yearly payment, including yearly Direct Debit. Monthly Direct Debit totals £210 over twelve months. A single six-month payment is £110; six months by Direct Debit is £105.
UK VEHICLE TAX · MANUAL COST WORKSHEET
A clearer view of your road tax costs.
Check the official rate. Compare the payment options. Keep a useful record before you renew or buy.
Independent information, not official DVLA. We do not look up registrations, collect vehicle tax or confirm that a vehicle is taxed. Our free worksheet compares figures you choose; the official service confirms your vehicle’s details.
Compare payment schedules ↓
01 / FIND
Check vehicle tax on GOV.UK ↗Start with the official answer
The GOV.UK tax-status service checks whether a vehicle is taxed or SORN using its registration. To check its current tax rates, GOV.UK says you also need the 11-digit V5C reference. Enter those details only on the official service, not in our enquiry form.
02 / COMPARE
One annual figure. Clearer choices.
Local calculations only. No DVLA connection, no plate search and no account required.
For a full year at an unchanged annual rate: annual × 1.05 for monthly or six-monthly Direct Debit; annual × 1.10 for two single six-month payments. Availability and rounding must be checked with DVLA. Not for first-registration payments.
YOUR PAYMENT COMPARISON
Bring your confirmed annual rate.
Enter a value, including zero where appropriate, or choose an official example. The worksheet does not decide your tax band or eligibility.
Monthly figures are average instalments, not a payment instruction. DVLA’s actual collection schedule can differ by pennies. These are vehicle tax amounts, not fees for using this website.
03 / SOURCE-CHECKED EXAMPLES
What the current official table says
Checked 6 November 2026 against GOV.UK vehicle tax rates. These examples apply from the second tax payment onwards for cars first registered on or after 1 April 2017. They are not universal prices for every UK vehicle.
WHERE SUPPLEMENT APPLIES
£640 / 12 months
The £200 standard rate plus £440 supplement. Monthly Direct Debit totals £672. A single six-month payment is £352, or £336 by six-monthly Direct Debit.
The official page gives list-price thresholds of more than £40,000 for petrol/diesel and more than £50,000 for electric cars. The £440 supplement runs for five years from the second time the vehicle is taxed. Zero-emission vehicles registered before 1 April 2025 are excluded from that supplement. Check the current table for your fuel type and dates; a used purchase price does not establish the original list price.
04 / CHECK THE RIGHT REGIME
The registration date matters
A new car’s first tax payment is not the same as its later annual rate. The current official first-payment table starts at £10 for zero-emission cars and varies by CO₂ emissions; some diesel cars face a higher band if they do not meet RDE2. Do not enter a first-payment amount into a recurring-payment comparison.
Cars registered before April 2017 use different rules. Other vehicle classes, exemptions and changes of tax class need their own official guidance. This worksheet deliberately does not infer a rate from age, fuel or a photograph. If the right annual amount is unclear, stop and establish it on GOV.UK first.
Read the official rate tables ↗05 / A PRACTICAL RENEWAL CHECK
Three checks before paying
Confirm the vehicle
Match the registration and details on the official service. Tax status and annual cost answer different questions: a quoted annual figure does not prove tax is currently in place.
Compare the full year
Monthly payments reduce the upfront amount but add a surcharge. Compare annual totals, not a six-month figure against a twelve-month bill. Keep other running costs outside this tax worksheet.
Use the official payment route
Tax your vehicle through GOV.UK or its stated alternatives. Keep confirmation and check the payment schedule. This site cannot renew tax, cancel a Direct Debit or resolve an incorrect DVLA record.
06 / BUDGET WITHOUT GUESSWORK
Keep the assumptions with the numbers
A comparison is only as useful as its input. The TXT download records your annual amount, selected schedule, calculated totals and the source-check date. Keep it as a planning note, not proof of payment or an official tax quotation. Recheck the rates before a later renewal.
If you sell a vehicle or take it off the road, use the official cancellation guidance. Refunds concern full remaining months, and payment surcharges are not refunded. The annual comparison does not calculate refunds, partial-year ownership or a change of keeper.
Read cancellation and refund rules ↗WORKED COMPARISON
Read the result, not just the headline
Starting with £200
Choose the official standard example and highlight monthly Direct Debit. The worksheet shows £210 for a complete year, an average £17.50 each month and £10 more than a single annual payment. It does not say that your car qualifies for the £200 rate. That starting amount must be confirmed separately.
Highlight six-monthly Direct Debit instead and the full-year total stays £210, with £105 for each half-year. A single six-month payment outside that Direct Debit schedule is £110 in the official table.
Starting with £640
Choose the official supplement example only as a planning scenario. Monthly Direct Debit totals £672 over twelve months, or an average £56 monthly. Two single six-month payments of £352 would total £704 at an unchanged rate. The comparison makes the different periods explicit.
If the original list price or supplement period is unknown, compare both official examples as alternatives while you obtain evidence. The worksheet cannot resolve the missing information or tell you which scenario applies.
Starting with your own rate
Enter the confirmed single twelve-month amount in pounds and pence. Include any applicable supplement in that input; the tool does not add one automatically. Do not enter a monthly instalment as though it were an annual rate.
The result assumes the payment options shown are available and the rate remains unchanged throughout the comparison year. It excludes insurance, MOT, fuel, charging and other road-user charges. Use Clear worksheet to remove the figures from the page when finished.
THE DETAIL, WITHOUT THE DETOUR
Plan your next step
PAYMENT OPTIONS
Monthly or annual: compare like with like ↗
LIST PRICEUnderstand the expensive-car supplement ↗
ELECTRIC CARSCheck electric-car tax assumptions ↗
REGISTRATIONFirst payment versus later renewals ↗
OFFICIAL CHECKSTax status is not the annual price ↗
CHANGING PLANSSelling, SORN and refund limits ↗
Know where this service stops
This independent website provides a manual budgeting utility and collects optional site enquiries. It has no DVLA integration or government affiliation. It cannot check a registration, validate an exemption or take vehicle tax payments. GOV.UK Direct Debit guidance confirms the 5% surcharge used here; confirm all vehicle-specific amounts on the official service.
Practical guides
Monthly or annual road tax: compare the complete costThe expensive-car supplement: check list price, dates and durationElectric-car road tax: avoid the zero-cost assumptionFirst-year road tax and renewal: do not mix the two tablesTax status versus tax price: use the right official checkSelling, SORN and vehicle tax refunds: budget for the limits