When you buy a car, you pay motor vehicle tax (wegenbelasting) from the day the motor vehicle is registered in your name. It does not matter whether you use your motor vehicle on the road or only on private property. Nor does it matter whether, for example, you drive your motor vehicle every day or whether it is stored indoors practically all year round.
When you buy a new car, you pay road tax from the date of issue of the registration certificate. This date determines the start date of the month. Example: you buy a new passenger car. The date of issue of the registration card is 20 May. You pay road tax every 3 months. Your time periods always start on 20 May, 20 August, 20 November, 20 February and so on.
When you buy a used car, you pay road tax from the date of purchase. However, the road tax periods for this used car do not change. They still depend on the date of issue of the vehicle registration certificate or registration card. The start date of the period and the date of purchase are therefore usually not the same. Therefore, road tax is often paid first for part of the period and only later for the entire period. Example: you buy a used car on 20 May. You pay road tax every 3 months. The date of issue of the registration certificate is 10 June. The periods therefore start on 10 June, 10 September, 10 December and 10 March. The first time, you pay road tax for part of the period, i.e. for the period from 20 May to 9 June. From 10 June onwards, you always pay for the entire quarter.
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