I know this has come up before, but I have just fallen foul of another tax gotcha.

I always knew that DVLA got 2 months of tax when a car was sold - ie you have paid for the current month and the new owner also has to pay for the current month, but I have just lost the next month too!

Sold the car on 31 January but DVLA say that, as they didn't get notification until February, my refund is only from 1 March. So it doesn't matter what date you put on the transfer slip, if DVLA don't get it until the next month, they keep another month's worth of tax.

So I advise that you inform DVLA of the sale or transfer using the online system and do it on the day of sale.

Yep, best to do it online. I pay by monthly DD and so if I am selling the car and know at the start of the month you can just cancel the DD as soon as payment has been taken for that month that way it stops them grabbing more money

Sorn before you sell or notify sale online (in office hours). Its all instant then.