New Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) car tax bands will come into effect from April 1 2027, with drivers in Band J set to pay £430 per year, up £20 from the current £410 rate.
VED fees are mandatory charges paid by almost every petrol, diesel and electric car owner in the UK, with total fees dependent on the age of a vehicle and its overall emissions. Rates were always set to rise, with the charge going up based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation every April.
Band J Rates Rise by £20
Cars first registered between 2001 and 2017 are placed into one of 13 vehicle tax bands based on their pollution levels. Vehicles in Band J emit between 186 and 200g/km of CO2 and mostly cover larger family cars, older executive saloons, mid-to-large SUVs, and some performance hatchbacks.
According to experts at Pete Barden, rates for owners in this category will rise from £410 per year to £430 per annum, a £20 increase. It's higher than the additional costs owners faced earlier this year, when Band J rates increased by £15 from £395 to £410.
Over the 2024/25 tax year, owners were paying just £385 in Band J, with bills sitting at £365 the year before and £330 between 2022 and 2023. Just five years ago, between 2021 and 2022, these rates were as low as £315 per annum, with owners facing over a £100 rise in half a decade.
High-Polluting Models Face Bigger Increases
Older cars are facing rises across the board, with high-polluting models in Band M, emitting over 255g/km of CO2, the most affected. These owners face an £825 per year VED charge, up £35 from the current £790 fee.
It's not just older models, with the standard VED rates for cars registered after 2017 tipped to increase from £200 to £210 per annum next Spring.
In a report published after the Autumn Budget, the Treasury said: "The government will uprate VED rates for cars, vans and motorcycles in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) from 1 April 2027."
