Car Tax Bands 2022
Car tax is something very few motorists can escape from and is one of the many costs of motoring.
Unless you drive an electric car that is currently tax exempt, you’ll have to pay some form of car tax, or vehicle excise duty.
Whether that's £20 a year at the lower end or £630 at the higher end, you’ll definitely pay something.
What is car tax - VED?
Even though most people call it ‘road tax’, there is actually no such thing and hasn’t been for almost 100 years. Road tax was replaced back in 1937 with car tax, a subtle but important difference.
We pay Vehicle Excise Duty, or car tax.
This is a tax levied on cars depending on how much CO2 it generates. The more your car pollutes, the more you pay. It’s a great theory, but like any government system, it doesn’t always work so well.
Why do we pay car tax?
The original purpose of car tax was to pay for the maintenance of existing roads and the building of new ones.
Now, only part of our car tax goes towards maintaining the roads, as you’ll see any time you drive over a pothole!
Nevertheless, that’s why we all pay car tax, to use our car on the public road and to help pay for those roads.
Car tax bands explained
Car tax, vehicle excise duty, is divided into bands. Bands are decided depending on the age, engine size and CO2 emissions of a particular car.
The fuel type can also play a part, but it’s more about CO2 than anything else.
The good news is, you’ll usually receive a tax reminder in the post telling you what band you’re in and how much you’ll pay.
It doesn’t hurt to check yourself, just to make sure. Just be aware, the government figures are the ones used for tax and many differ slightly from manufacturer figures.
As the bands can be quite complicated, the following tables should help explain them clearly.
Cars registered after March 2001 and before April 2017
Check your car’s VED band with the manufacturer or check on the DVLA website to see what band you’re in.
The first year rate is also known as the ‘showroom tax’, an extra tax paid to higher CO2-emitting cars for the first year.
VED band - CO2 emissions - Annual Rate
- A - Up to 100g/km - £0
- B - 101-110g/km - £21
- C - 111-120g/km - £31.50
- D - 121-130g/km - £136.50
- E - 131-140g/km - £162.75
- F - 141-150g/km - £178.50
- G - 151-165g/km - £220.50
- H - 166-175g/km - £262.50
- I - 176-185g/km - £288.75
- J - 186-200g/km - £330.75
- K - 201-225g/km - £357
- L - 226-255g/km - £614.25
- M - Over 255g/km - £630
Cars registered after April 2017
If your car was manufactured after April 2017, you’re subject to slightly different taxes. The DVLA simplified the tax bands but removed all but one of the zero tax bands.
The first year rate was replaced with the standard rate, a one-off extra tax for all new cars that emit CO2.
First year car tax
-
CO2 emissions - Diesel cars that meet the RDE2 standard and petrol cars - All other diesel cars - Alternative fuel cars
-
0g/km - £0 - £0 - £0
-
1 to 50g/km - £10 - £25 - £0
-
51 to 75g/km - £25 - £115 - £15
-
76 to 90g/km - £115 - £140 - £105
-
91 to 100g/km - £140 - £160 - £130
-
101 to 110g/km - £160 - £180 - £150
-
111 to 130g/km - £180 - £220 - £170
-
131 to 150g/km - £220 - £555 - £210
-
151 to 170g/km - £555 - £895 - £545
-
171 to 190g/km - £895 - £1345 - £885
-
191 to 225g/km - £1345 - £1910 - £1335
-
226 to 255g/km - £1910 - £2245 - £1900
-
Over 255g/km - £2245 - £2245 - £2235
After first year
-
Fuel type - Single 12 month payment - Single 12 month payment by Direct Debit - Total of 12 monthly payments by Direct Debit
-
Petrol or diesel - £155 - £155 - £162.75
-
Electric - £0 - £0 - £0
-
Alternative - £145 - £145 - £152.25
If a car costs over £40,000 when new, you’ll also pay an extra £335 in tax for 5 years after purchase. Whoever said tax wasn’t taxing didn’t know what they were talking about. Despite being simpler than many other types of tax, car tax is still more complicated than it really should be!
