How to cancel road tax and get a DVLA refund

If you no longer need your car, or you are taking it off the road, then cancelling your road tax is an important step for drivers to take.

Officially called Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), road tax doesn’t automatically stop when you sell, scrap, or declare your vehicle off road with a Statutory Off Road Notification.

Failing to correctly cancel means that you could miss out on a refund – or risk making further unnecessary payments.

Understanding the correct process is essential, so whatever the reason you are cancelling, it is important to take notes from this buying and selling guide.

Cancel road tax online

1. Go to the relevant vehicle service on the GOV.UK website.
2. Select why you need to cancel the vehicle tax.
3. Enter the requested details from your V5C logbook.
4. Provide any additional information about the sale, transfer, SORN, export or disposal.
5. Submit the notification to the DVLA.
6. Keep the confirmation as proof that the vehicle is no longer registered to you.
7. The DVLA will cancel the tax and stop future Direct Debit payments.
8. Any eligible refund will be sent automatically.

What is road tax?

Road tax – or Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) – is a compulsory charge for most vehicles driven and kept on UK roads.

The cost is either paid, or spread out, annually based on a variety of factors such as engine size, CO2 emissions, and fuel type.

Payments can be made every year or monthly through direct debit.

Vehicle Excise Duty is a tax paid by most vehicle owners. Revenue is collected by the Government and contributes towards public spending, including transport infrastructure.

Most vehicles that are used or kept on the public road must be taxed and insured. They must also have a valid MOT, if required.

Since April 2025, electric vehicle tax is now in place. This brings EVs in line with petrol and diesel equivalents – and means that driving an EV is no longer exempt from paying road tax.

Cancel road tax

Before you can officially cancel your road tax, you must inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) that your vehicle has been sold, transferred, taken off the road (SORN), written off by the insurance company, scrapped, or stolen (confirmed by the police).

You can also cancel road tax if you have exported your vehicle overseas.

In some cases, a vehicle could be declared exempt from road tax – and so it can be cancelled from any prior agreement.

Before contacting the DVLA, make sure you have a valid V5C logbook (or V11 tax reminder), confirming you are the registered keeper of the vehicle.

You’ll also need to check your logbook or the DVLA website to see when your road tax was scheduled to expire.

Once on the GOV.UK website, you’ll be provided with a few options for contacting the DVLA.

• Webchat – available on the vehicle tax page
• Phone – call 0300 790 6802, Monday to Friday (8am to 7pm) or Saturday (8am to 2pm)
• Email – use the digital service and answer questions on why you are cancelling the tax payment
• Post – write to Vehicle Customer Services, DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AR

Depending on the service you choose, the processing time takes between four to eight weeks.

So, to summarise, you’ll need to contact the DVLA and have your logbook details to hand, wait for the DVLA to confirm the cancellation, and then await the refund cheque in the post.

If you pay by Direct Debit, future payments will be cancelled automatically. Any refund due for complete unused months will be calculated by the DVLA and issued separately.

• Driving without tax – what are the penalties?
• V5C logbook – your complete guide
• Car tax bands – a complete guide to Vehicle Excise Duty

How to get a refund for road tax

In order to get a road tax (VED) refund, you must first contact the DVLA to notify what has happened to the vehicle.

This can include it being sold, declared off the road (SORN), written off by the insurance company, scrapped, or stolen.

You will then need to visit the DVLA website and have your V5C logbook to hand.

Once you have provided the details and received your confirmation from the DVLA, you will receive a cheque in the post with your refund.

How long until I get my tax refund?

Currently, the DVLA advises vehicle owners that a car tax refund may take up to six weeks to receive in the post.

However, in some cases, it may arrive sooner than this.

What if I haven’t received my refund?

For anyone who has waited longer than eight weeks for their car tax refund from the date of the cancellation confirmation, then there are three main ways to address the issue.

Email

First, you’ll need to send a message through the DVLA website. It is not a traditional email address, and more of a service where you enter a message online, answer the relevant questions and there is an option where you click to notify them that you are chasing a refund.

Phone

You can call the DVLA on 0300 7906802 – just make sure your V5C logbook to hand.

Letter

Finally, your third option is to write to the DVLA – the address you’ll need is Vehicle Customer Services, DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AR.

Will my car tax automatically cancel when I sell my car?

Your car tax will automatically be cancelled if you have informed the DVLA that you have sold your car – and you have received a notification from them that the vehicle is no longer in your possession.

When can I cancel road tax?