Electric car owners are in for a shock from 1 April 2025, when they’ll have to start paying road tax. But there is a legal loophole that could score EV drivers an extra year of tax-free motoring.
By renewing your road tax early—before the April 2025 deadline—you can extend your current exemption until 2026.
Check when your car tax expires with Regit's free car tax check.
The government confirms that from April 2025, all electric vehicle (EV) owners—whether they’ve had their car for years or just bought one—will start paying road tax. Those registering an EV after April 2025 will pay just £10 for the first year, but from year two, it jumps to £195. Meanwhile, EVs registered between April 2017 and March 2025 will go straight to the £195 rate.
The trick has sparked debate among drivers. Some are all for it, while others argue that EV owners should start paying tax like everyone else.
Even money-saving expert Martin Lewis weighed in on ITV’s Money Show Live, saying: "If you re-tax now on gov.uk it's free. So you get a year from the date that you re-tax. So, you might want to leave it until the last day of March and then it would be perfect but if you just wanna do it, do it now and you get a year longer."
"Now the crucial thing of this is, you can re-tax at any time, even if you only did it two months ago. You can do it again now. You have to pay each time, but it's currently free so there's nothing to pay. So effectively this is a loophole that says, just go and do your retaxing as near to that deadline as possible and you get an extra year for free."
If you own an electric car, this could be your last chance to enjoy tax-free driving—so timing is everything.
