Where do I find the CO2 figure for my car?

Section V.7 of the V5C registration certificate. It is also on the free DVLA vehicle enquiry service, which needs only the registration number. A figure from a review or a brochure can be for a different trim, and one band is enough to move the first year rate.

Why does the calculator ask for the list price?

The expensive car supplement is charged on list price, not on what you paid. The threshold is £40,000 for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and £50,000 for zero emission cars, and the supplement runs for five years from the start of the second licence.

Does it work for a car registered before 2001?

Yes. Enter the first registration date and the engine capacity in cc and it reads the two band private and light goods table. The CO2 figure is ignored for those cars because that system predates CO2 rating entirely.

Why is there no first year figure for my used car?

The first year rate was charged once, at first registration, at the rates in force that year. GOV.UK does not republish historic first year tables, so this site holds only the current ones and shows nothing rather than uprating an old figure into a guess.

Car tax

Car tax calculator

Four inputs decide the answer: when the car was first registered, what it emits, what it burns and what it cost new. Nothing else on a V5C changes the figure.

What will this car cost to tax?

Every figure comes from the GOV.UK rate tables in force from 1 April 2026. Change any input and the answer moves with it.

First registeredThe date on the V5C, not the model year. It decides which of the three tax systems applies.CO2 emissionsg/kmSection V.7 of the V5C. Leave at zero for a fully electric car.FuelEngine sizeccOnly used for cars first registered before 1 March 2001, which are taxed on capacity alone.List price when new£The published price before any discount. It decides whether the expensive car supplement applies.

£200

Twelve months, 2026/27

Tax yearRates in force from 01/04/2026.: 2026/27
Regime: First year rate, then the flat standard rate
Twelve months: £200
Six monthsPriced at 55 per cent of the annual rate, so two of them cost 10 per cent more than one year.: £110
Monthly by Direct DebitMonthly and six monthly Direct Debit both carry a 5 per cent surcharge. A single annual payment does not.: £18

How this was worked out

Assumptions

Registered on or after 1 April 2017, so the yearly cost is the flat standard rate of £200. In this regime the CO2 figure only sets the one off first year rate, never what the car costs from then on.
The standard rate is the same for petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric cars in this tax year, so the fuel type does not change it.
Twelve months up front is £200 and is the cheapest way to pay. A six month licence is £110, so two of them cost more across a year. Twelve monthly Direct Debit instalments come to £210, because paying by instalments adds 5%.
Worked out against the 2026/27 rates, in force from 1 April 2026.

Caveats

Vehicle tax rates change most years, usually on 1 April, so this is what the car costs now rather than what it will cost for the rest of its life.
These are car rates. If DVLA holds the vehicle in another tax class, a light goods van or a motorhome for instance, it pays something different.
The monthly figure is the published yearly total split twelve ways, so a single instalment can differ from it by a penny.
Rates for 2026/27 and 2025/26 are held on this site. Anything registered earlier is taxed at today's rates, because the historic first year tables are not republished.

What the calculator is actually doing

It reads the first registration date to pick one of the three tax systems, because the wrong system gives an answer that can be out by a factor of ten.
For a car registered from April 2017 it applies the £200 standard rate, adds the £440 supplement where the list price crosses the threshold, and shows the first year rate separately.
For a car registered between March 2001 and March 2017 it finds the lettered band from the CO2 figure and reads the rate off that table.
For a car registered before March 2001 it uses engine capacity alone.
Where a figure cannot be established it returns nothing and names what is missing, rather than estimating around the gap.

Three prices for the same twelve months

Twelve months paid in one go is the cheapest way to do it.
A six month licence is priced at 55 per cent of the annual rate, so buying two across a year costs 10 per cent more than one annual licence.
Direct Debit monthly, or every six months, adds a 5 per cent surcharge. A single annual Direct Debit payment carries no surcharge.

Common questions

Where do I find the CO2 figure for my car?: Section V.7 of the V5C registration certificate. It is also on the free DVLA vehicle enquiry service, which needs only the registration number. A figure from a review or a brochure can be for a different trim, and one band is enough to move the first year rate.
Why does the calculator ask for the list price?: The expensive car supplement is charged on list price, not on what you paid. The threshold is £40,000 for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and £50,000 for zero emission cars, and the supplement runs for five years from the start of the second licence.
Does it work for a car registered before 2001?: Yes. Enter the first registration date and the engine capacity in cc and it reads the two band private and light goods table. The CO2 figure is ignored for those cars because that system predates CO2 rating entirely.
Why is there no first year figure for my used car?: The first year rate was charged once, at first registration, at the rates in force that year. GOV.UK does not republish historic first year tables, so this site holds only the current ones and shows nothing rather than uprating an old figure into a guess.

Car tax calculator

What will this car cost to tax?

What the calculator is actually doing

Three prices for the same twelve months

Common questions

Sources

Related pages