new road tax refund amounts

Hi,

I've searched the web and can't find anywhere that states the actual amount i should receive when i SORN a vehicle to get a tax refund.

Everything i find just states that 'you get a refund for every full month of tax left'

So, i needed to use my vehicle for a week to do some towing etc.

I paid £126.50 for 6 months at the start of December 2014, the tax started 1st december according to gov website when i taxed online - no problem.

Then, mid way through December, i made a SORN for that vehicle, the SORN starts 1st Jan 2015 according to the website - again, no problem.

I wait for my refund, expecting to only pay for 1 month (about £22), therefore be refunded for 5 months (£105)

Thats fair enough i thought and it was the reason i was happy to tax it even though i only needed it for a week - £22 to use a tow vehicle for a week was fair do's.

BUT... when the refund arrived it was for £76.66 !!!

How the hell did they work that one out?

First thing is the refund is calculated at the annual rate, even though you paid the six month rate.

Second, they do get it wrong - last year I had a further refund to correct their error. Quite how they manage to get something so simple wrong is inexplicable.

Get back to them and say you think it is wrong.

Yeah, i know i need to contact them but typical its difficult for me to other than on a sunday and they are closed.

I had to do this same thing back in october to use the vehicle then, and i'll admit i didn't take enough notice of the refund cheque amount then. so, i've checked back through my bank statements and it the same amount i got back then... £76.66.

So it seems that each time i tax it for 1 month i'm being charged £49.84

(£126.50 minus £76.66 refund)

This seems ridiculous! anyone else had this problem?

I think they charge an admin fee, though I may be wrong.

it's changed, so do it monthly online now.

I'm happy to pay a reasonable admin fee, and i'd expect that...

but a £28 admin fee for £22 worth of tax seems very wrong

I can see how they worked it out. Your £126.50 equates to the annual rate of £230, so the refund should be a multiple of £19.17. £76.66 is a 4 month refund. If you taxed it in December and SORNed it in the same December, they definitely should have refunded you 5 months, which should have been £95.83.

They have made a mistake for sure. There is no way they can justify charging you for two months tax.

But tip for the future, if you are doing this again, buy the full 12 months. The surcharge they add for 6 months tax is quite steep, you could borrow an equivalent amount on a credit card for less.

Also - there is no admin fee - just the surcharge for paying 6 months or for paying monthly.

Just pay it monthly then. Surcharge is about £11 a year i think.

The fact it was sorn in jan rather than dec loses you another month

Thanks all, especially ddriver - your sums add up to making sense out of it... bottom line is they charged me for 2 months instead of 1.