Whether you're a freelancer or a small business owner, paying any tax you owe is a big part of running your own enterprise. There are important dates spread throughout the year you’ll need to look out for. 

To help you out, we’ve handily charted the big dates in the calendar that you need to be ready for. These are based on your company’s year-end being 31 March and some dates may change slightly from year to year. For details about changing your year-end date, visit the Gov.uk site, where there’s lots more information about your tax obligations. You can even sign up for alerts to help you through the process and keep you on track.


January


1       Corporation Tax payment deadline - (for registered companies). This means you’ll pay any tax you owe resulting from profits made during your previous accounting period.
31     Self-Assessment Tax Return deadline - (for Sole Traders or partnerships). You can do this yourself or through an accountant. This will also help you to plan how much tax you will owe further down the line.
31     First payment on account deadline - (for Sole Traders or partnerships). The tax you owe is split up into two payments over the year.


February


7      The previous year’s last quarterly VAT return filing deadline - (for VAT registered companies). Each filing date is one month and seven days from the end of the quarterly business periods.


April


6       The official start of the new tax year. Any changes to tax rates, wages and pension contributions come into effect on this day. This means the amount you or your employees get to earn tax-free could change, as could how much you might have to pay your employees.
19     Year-end Payroll deadline - (if you have employees). This is a report you need to send to HMRC about how many employees you have employed over the last 12 months.


May


7       The year’s first quarterly VAT return filing deadline - (for VAT registered companies).
31     Deadline for issuing any employees with their annual P60 forms - (if you have employees).


July


6       Deadline for filing P11D(b) forms and issuing P11Ds to any employees - (if you have employees).
22     Deadline for paying Class 1A NIC - (if you have employees and you give them benefits as part of their employment).
31     Second payment on account deadline - (for Sole Traders or partnerships).


August


7      The year’s second quarterly VAT return filing deadline - (for VAT registered companies).

 

November


7      The year’s third quarterly VAT return filing deadline - (for VAT registered companies).


December


31     Deadline for filing company’s annual accounts - (for registered companies). This should include a profit and loss account; a balance sheet; any commentary; a Director’s report; an auditor’s report- and must be signed by a Director.