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Key dates of the English tax system

As part of our consultation services, we often come across clients asking which are the most important dates of the English tax system. We therefore decided to provide a short report which we hope will address this query.

The following article is only a summary but it may often be updated. Please subscribe to our newsletter and never miss an update regarding the most important financial and business issues in England.



Key dates for tax returns of individuals (physical entities).

31st January: Deadline for online Self Assessment tax return, tax payment and 1st payment on accounts for the following tax year.

5th April: Last day of each tax year. 6 April: First day of each tax year. 31st July: Deadline for 2nd payment on accounts for the following tax year. 5th October: Deadline for registration with the HMRC as self-employed or rentier whose income do not appear in the usual payroll. 31 October: Deadline for paper Self Assessment tax return for each tax year.

EXAMPLE: Dimitri registered as self-employed on 04/07/2018. Deadlines for Dimitri are as follows:

  1. Tax year for Dimitri starts from 6th April 2018 and finishes on 5 April 2019 (tax year 2018/19).

  2. By 5th October 2018, he must notify the HMRC that he is self-employed.

  3. As soon as tax year 2018/19 finishes (on 5th April 2019), he must ensure to submit his online tax return by 31/01/2020 (electronically), pay the relevant tax as well as the 1st payment on accounts for the following year.

  4. By 31/07/2020, he must make the 2nd payment on accounts.

Important payroll dates:

5th April: Deadline for tax refund applications of the fifth previous year. 6th April: First day of each tax year. 31st May: Deadline for delivery of a P60 copy to employees. 6th July: Deadline for delivery of a P11D copy to employees. 6th July: Deadline for contracts alterations (usually regarding resignation and settlement of any rights of an employment contract).

EXAMPLE: Dimitri works for ABC LTD. After each tax year has finished, ABC LTD must issue his P60 (which, to put it simply, is the employee’s financial summary for the tax year). If Dimitri received any benefits, ABC should also issue a P11D for him by 6th July. And if for any reason Dimitri wish to give up (for any reason) his contractual rights, it will have to be done by 6th April.

Regarding monthly key dates, you should only keep in mind that the employer must issue a payslip for the employee prior to or on the day of payment and never afterwards. These payments must be declared in real time (RT) to the HMRC. Noncompliance with the regulations can lead to fines. Payroll is not limited to the above-mentioned dates as it is a sensitive and complicated issue, it is highly recommended always to seek always professional advice.

Key dates for companies:

Regarding companies, we will use a simple dates example, as there are no fixed dates but everything is based on the date when the company was established.

Let us suppose that you established a company on 12th May.

Some time passes until you arranged for a bank account and other relevant issues but have made no transactions.

The company started to make transactions on 5th July.

The company's key date with the Companies House is 31 May of the following year.

Therefore, the (first) tax return schedule is as follows:

1st corporation tax return for the period before commencement of transactions (12th May to 4th July)

2nd corporation tax return for the period between commencement of transaction (5th July to 31st May of the following year).

In any case, if your company has not been established exactly at the end of a month, the first time you will have to submit 2 Corporation Tax (CT600): one for the period of 12 months and one for the rest of the month’s days. This happens because the tax period cannot be more than 12 months. Apart from the first tax return, the others are submitted once per year. The deadline for a company to pay its taxes or submit a zero tax return is 9 months and one day after the end of the tax period.

Translated / Edited by, Apostolia Nestoratou.




© 2018 UPECO LTD

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ATTENTION!


This article intends to give only a general informative picture and should not, in any case, be taken as a rule. It is strongly recommended to seek a full and professional guidance specifically for your circumstances before making any decisions.

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