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Key dates and deadlines
Every fixed date in the UK tax year for a company director or an employer, what happens if you miss it, and the GOV.UK page it comes from. The deadlines that move with your own year end are explained underneath, because a date that is wrong for your company is worse than no date at all.
Add them to your calendarDownloads a calendar file that works in Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple Calendar. Sets a reminder a week before each date.
The fixed dates
These fall on the same day every year, whatever your accounting period.
- 31stJanuary
Self assessment: file and pay
Company directors, the self employed, landlords
Online tax return for the year ended the previous 5 April, the balancing payment for that year, and the first payment on account for the current year, all due on the same day.
An automatic £100 penalty applies even if you owe nothing, and it escalates at three, six and twelve months. Interest runs on late tax from 1 February.
- 5thApril
End of the tax year
Everyone
The last day to use this year's ISA allowance, pension annual allowance, capital gains exemption and dividend allowance. None of them carry forward except unused pension allowance, and that only for three years.
- 6thApril
New rates and thresholds take effect
Employers, company owners
National Living Wage, National Insurance thresholds, tax bands and most announced changes start from this date. Payroll needs updating before the first pay run of the new year.
- 19thApril
Final PAYE submission for the year
Employers
The last Full Payment Submission or Employer Payment Summary for the tax year just ended has to reach HMRC by this date.
Late filing penalties start at £100 a month for a small payroll.
- 31stMay
P60s to employees
Employers
Every employee still working for you on 5 April has to have their P60 by this date. Paper or electronic, either is fine.
- 6thJuly
P11D and P11D(b)
Employers providing benefits in kind
Report expenses and benefits provided to employees and directors in the year to 5 April. Company cars, private medical cover, interest free loans over £10,000.
Late filing is £100 per 50 employees per month.
- 22ndJuly
Class 1A National Insurance
Employers providing benefits in kind
Payment of the Class 1A National Insurance shown on the P11D(b), if paying electronically. 19 July if paying by post.
- 31stJuly
Second payment on account
The self employed, directors with a self assessment liability
The second instalment towards the current tax year. If your income has fallen you can apply to reduce it, but reducing it too far means interest on the shortfall.
- 5thOctober
Register for self assessment
Anyone with new untaxed income
If you started trading, became a landlord or took a dividend from a new company in the tax year that ended the previous 5 April, you have to tell HMRC by this date.
Failure to notify penalties are based on the tax due and can reach 100% of it.
- 31stOctober
Paper self assessment deadline
Anyone still filing on paper
Three months earlier than the online deadline. Almost nobody should be filing on paper, and if you are, this is the year to stop.
- 30thDecember
File to collect tax through your tax code
Directors and employees who owe under £3,000
File online by this date and HMRC can collect what you owe through next year's PAYE code rather than asking for it in one payment on 31 January. A cash flow win that costs nothing.
The dates that move with your year end
These depend on your own accounting period, so there is no single date to give you. Your accountant should be telling you each of them well in advance. If you are having to look them up, that is worth a conversation on its own.
- Corporation tax payment
- Nine months and one day after your accounting period ends
- For companies with profits under £1.5 million. Note that this falls three months before the return is due, which surprises a lot of owners the first time.
- Corporation tax return, the CT600
- Twelve months after your accounting period ends
- Later than the payment deadline, which is why the two get confused.
- Annual accounts at Companies House
- Nine months after your accounting reference date
- Twenty one months after incorporation for a first set of accounts. Penalties start at £150 and double if you are late two years running.
- Confirmation statement
- Within fourteen days of your review period ending
- Once every twelve months. Not the same thing as your accounts, and failing to file one is a criminal offence for the directors.
- VAT return and payment
- One month and seven days after the end of each VAT quarter
- Filed through Making Tax Digital compatible software. The payment is due the same day.
- PAYE payment
- 22nd of the month, or the 22nd after the quarter for small employers
- 19th if you still pay by post. Quarterly is available where the monthly liability averages under £1,500.
Every date on this page was checked against its GOV.UK source on 20 August 2026. Deadlines change, so if you are relying on one, follow the link and confirm it.
Would rather not have to remember any of this?
Every eba client gets told what is due and when, before it is due. Chasing your own accountant for a deadline is not how it should work.