Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
(asked on 10th June 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what savings have been made at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency through not issuing tax badges for displaying on cars, and what assessment has been made of potential losses in tax revenue through increased difficulty in identifying non-payers.
Answered by
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) collects £6 billion in vehicle excise duty every year. The changes to the administration of vehicle excise duty are expected to save the DVLA £13.8m each year. A breakdown of these savings is shown below:
No longer having to print or store tax discs. | £1.3m pa |
No longer having to post tax discs to customers. | £7.9m pa |
No longer having to process applications for vehicle excise duty refunds (which are now paid automatically without the need for an application) or handle enquiries about lost or missing tax discs. | £1.2m pa |
Reduction in Post Office Ltd costs as they no longer issue paper tax discs, but offer an assisted digital service instead. | £3.4m pa |
Businesses will also save an estimated £8.6m each year from not having to post tax discs to customers, apply for refunds of vehicle excise duty and pay to replace lost or stolen tax discs.
The Tax Impact and Information Note published by Her Majesty’s Treasury alongside the Finance Bill 2014 stated that abolition of the tax disc was not expected to have an Exchequer impact. The DVLA operates a comprehensive package of measures to tackle vehicle excise duty evasion. These range from the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera, reminder letters, and penalties through to court prosecutions and the wheelclamping and/or removal of unlicensed vehicles. This approach has not changed following abolition of the tax disc. The DVLA will continue to monitor vehicle excise duty evasion rates.