The car taxing system is now available online making it a lot easier for car owners to renew and tax used cars. If you are the registered keeper of the vehicle then you will receive a tax reminded that will contain a reference number. By visiting the government website you can enter this information and then chose how you wish to tax the vehicle. The DVLA are now letting people pay for car tax by monthly direct debit, spreading the cost out.
The system will check for a valid MOT and insurance and will not let you proceed if you do not have both of these in place.
If you have recently bought the car then you will need to use the reference number of the green part of the log book that you should have been given (V5C/2) to tax it online. This can only be used within 2 months of the date of purchase and cannot be used more than once. If you do not have this then you will need to go down to the local post office that issues tax and fill out a V62.