Methodology

Data sources and calculation method

cartax.org.uk uses public UK vehicle tax information to estimate Vehicle Excise Duty for the 2026/27 tax year. The site is independent and is not affiliated with GOV.UK, DVLA or HMRC.

Last reviewed: 8 May 2026.

Direct answer

The calculator uses the April 2026 DVLA VED tables, GOV.UK electric vehicle tax guidance, and the published expensive car supplement threshold change for zero-emission cars. It does not perform live DVLA registration lookups.

Official sources

DVLA electric and low-emission vehicle guidance DVLA V149 rates of vehicle tax (April 2026)HMRC expensive car supplement threshold change Official vehicle tax status checker

How the estimate is built

Registration date selects the correct VED system: post-2017 standard rate, 2001 to 2017 CO2 bands, or pre-2001 engine-size bands.
Fuel type and emissions details determine the relevant first-year or legacy CO2 band where those systems apply.
List price is used only when the expensive car supplement could change the quote.
Payment totals are shown for annual, 6-month and monthly Direct Debit options where those payment options exist.
Result pages are marked noindex because they are user-specific calculations rather than editorial pages.

Limits of the tool

cartax.org.uk does not query the DVLA database directly.
The site does not provide live taxed or untaxed status for a registration number.
For live vehicle status, users are sent to the official GOV.UK checker.
The calculator is an estimate based on published VED tables and the inputs provided by the user.

Machine-readable context

AI agents and research tools can read the site summary at /llms.txt. The sitemap remains the canonical crawl list for search engines.

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