Vehicle Car Road Tax Calculator
Wondering how much for my car tax? Use our free vehicle car tax calculator to work out UK road tax from CO2 emissions or fuel type in seconds.
Calculator Input
Enter a number plate and we will fetch the official CO2 figure from DVLA, so you do not have to find it yourself.
CO2 g/km · · registered
DVLA tax status: , due
This vehicle was registered before 1 April 2017, so it is taxed under a different set of rates than the ones this calculator holds. The DVLA details above are accurate, but we are not showing a rate rather than showing you a wrong one. Check the GOV.UK rate tables for its band.
Vehicle tax for this car
£ a year
Or £ total if you pay by 12 monthly Direct Debits.
This car is past its first year, so it pays the flat standard rate. That rate is the same for petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric — CO2 emissions only set the one-off first-year charge back in .
The £440 Expensive Car Supplement can no longer apply to this car — it only runs for 5 years from the second time a vehicle is taxed.
If this car's list price was over £40,000 when new, tick the list price box below to add the £440 supplement. DVLA does not publish list prices.
Figures filled in below. Tick the list price box if the car cost over £40,000 new — DVLA does not publish list prices, so we cannot detect that.
This car was first registered in , so the first-year rate shown below was a one-off paid back then. What it pays now is the standard rate.
Tax Band Information
Vehicles registered after April 2017 pay different rates in the first year based on CO2 emissions, then a standard rate of £200/year. Since 1 April 2025 electric vehicles pay road tax too — £10 in the first year, then the same £200 standard rate. Cars with a list price over £40,000 (£50,000 for electric) pay an extra £440 a year for five years. Rates shown are those in force from 1 April 2026, as published by GOV.UK (form V149).
All Tax Bands
| Band | CO2 (g/km) | First Year |
|---|---|---|
Results
Enter values to see results
Tax Band
5-Year Tax Projection
How car tax is worked out for cars registered from April 2017
For cars first registered on or after 1 April 2017, Vehicle Excise Duty is split into two stages. In the first year, the rate is based on the car's official CO2 emissions figure. From the second year onwards, almost every car moves onto a flat standard rate, regardless of how much CO2 it produces.
First-year rates rise steeply as emissions increase. A car emitting 0 g/km pays £10, while a car in the 1-50 g/km band pays £115. By the 151-170 g/km band the first-year rate is £1,410, and the highest band, over 255 g/km, is £5,690. These figures apply to petrol cars, RDE2-compliant diesels, alternative fuel vehicles and electric cars alike.
From the second year, the picture simplifies. The standard rate is £200 for a single 12-month payment, or £210 if you pay by 12 monthly Direct Debits. This applies to all fuels, including electric.
Why some diesels pay more in the first year
If a diesel does not meet the RDE2 standard for real-world emissions, it pays the first-year rate of the next band up. A diesel in the 111-130 g/km band, for example, is charged at the 131-150 g/km rate instead.
This uplift applies to the first year only. Once the car moves onto the standard rate, the RDE2 penalty no longer applies, so a non-compliant diesel and a compliant one pay the same from year two. If you are buying a nearly new diesel, the RDE2 status can make a noticeable difference to the first tax payment, so it is worth checking before you commit.
The Expensive Car Supplement
Cars with a high list price attract an extra charge on top of the standard rate. The Expensive Car Supplement is £440 a year, payable for five years, and it starts from the second time the vehicle is taxed rather than the first.
The threshold depends on the fuel type. For most cars it applies if the list price was over £40,000. For electric cars the threshold is higher, at over £50,000. Zero-emission cars registered before 1 April 2025 do not pay the supplement at all.
Because the supplement begins at the second taxing, a brand new expensive car will not show it in its first-year charge. It appears afterwards, and it is charged in addition to the standard rate, not instead of it.
Electric cars are no longer exempt
Electric vehicles stopped being exempt from vehicle tax on 1 April 2025. They now pay the same standard rate as every other car: £200 for a single 12-month payment, or £210 by monthly Direct Debit. They also have their own first-year rates, starting at £10 for a 0 g/km car.
If you are considering an electric car and want to understand running costs beyond tax, a fuel cost calculator can help you compare energy costs against a petrol or diesel equivalent. If you drive into London, a separate ULEZ check will tell you whether the vehicle meets the emissions standards for the zone, which is a different requirement from tax.
Using the road tax calculator by reg
Instead of looking up your CO2 figure and fuel type by hand, you can use this road tax calculator by reg: enter your registration number in the lookup box at the top of the page and the tool pulls the CO2 emissions figure, fuel type and other details straight from a live DVLA lookup. The rate is then worked out automatically from that data, using the same 2026/27 bands as the manual calculator below.
This is the quickest route if you do not have your V5C to hand, and it keeps the figures consistent with what DVLA holds on record for that vehicle. You can still switch to manual entry at any time if you want to test a different CO2 figure or fuel type, for example when comparing cars before buying.
Where to find the CO2 figure and what to do if the result looks wrong
The CO2 figure used for tax is the official emissions value recorded for the vehicle. You can find it on the V5C registration certificate, and it also appears on the DVLA's vehicle enquiry service when you look up a registration number.
If the calculator's result does not match what you expected, the V5C is the authority. Check the CO2 figure and the date of first registration on the certificate, because both feed directly into the calculation. If the V5C itself looks wrong, contact DVLA to have it corrected rather than relying on any other source.
- Use the check if a car is taxed tool to confirm the current tax status of any vehicle.
- Use a SORN check if the car has been declared off the road, as this changes what you need to do.
- Remember that even exempt historic vehicles, made before 1 January 1986, must still be taxed annually at £0.
Where these figures come from
The rates in this calculator are taken directly from the official GOV.UK vehicle tax rate tables and were last checked against that source on 15 September 2026. They are the rates in force from 1 April 2026, published by DVLA as form V149. You can read the full tables yourself on GOV.UK vehicle tax rate tables.
The calculation works from a car's official CO2 emissions figure, which is the same basis DVLA uses to decide the first-year rate. Enter the CO2 value and the calculator matches it to the band GOV.UK publishes for that range.
This is an independent free tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by GOV.UK, DVLA or DVSA. Rates can change at a Budget or at the start of a tax year, so if a figure here ever differs from GOV.UK, treat GOV.UK as correct.