Legislation around Tax and Accounts is constantly changing, and that makes it incredibly difficult for business owners to keep up! We do all that we can to keep you up to date, and ensure clients don’t miss deadlines, but thought it could be useful to look ahead so you can see what key dates you should be aware of for the coming year.

As always, we’ll be prompting, reminding, cajoling (and nagging!) if we need to, but we know that many of you like to have your keys dates clearly set up on your calendars in plenty of time. As a small team, that certainly helps us too!

The list below includes the definite deadlines that everyone needs to be aware of. Given this is a generic list, it’s impossible for us to include everyone’s accounts year end, or exact Corporation Tax payment due date, but we’ve added a section at the bottom to enable you to work those out if you don’t know them. Given this is such an important date every year, it’s definitely one we’d recommend you check and work around for the future!

Date	Deadline
January 31st	The final deadline for the electronic submission for individual, Partnership and Trust Self Assessment Tax Returns for the year ended 5th April 2024.
	Payment of any Self Assessment tax for the year ended 5th April 2024 is due by the same date, along with the first payment on account for the 2024/25 tax year. If you still need to make this payment, find out how to do so here.
March 26th	Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has confirmed 26th March 2025 as the date for the Spring Forecast. This aligns with the requirement for the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce two forecasts each financial year by the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011. Find out more here. Given recent events at the time of writing, it may not be possible for the Chancellor to stick to her previously stated intention of only having one fiscal event per year.   We’d advise setting some time aside on the 27th to check whether the statement included anything that will affect your business. If there are any significant announcements, we will of course keep you up to date!
April 1st	National Living Wage, applicable to anyone aged 21 or over, increases to £12.21 per hour.
	National Minimum Wage rate for 18-20 year olds will increase to £10 per hour. 16-17 year olds and apprentices will receive £7.55 per hour.
	Stamp Duty Land Tax – the temporary increase to Stamp Duty free thresholds will end. The threshold for first time buyers reduces to £300,000, while for everyone else it reduces to £150,000.
	Business Rates – The standard multiplier for business rates increases to 55.5pence, but the small business multiplier, applicable to businesses with a rateable value below £51,000, remains frozen at 49.9pence.
	Our annual fee review takes effect.
April 6th	A new tax year begins!
	Self Assessment Tax Returns – You’ll start to receive a range of information that will be relevant if you have to submit a Tax Return for the year ended 5th April 2025. Keep all of that information together, whether as hard copies or electronically, or, if you’re a client, send it over to us and we’ll collate it for you.
	Employers National Insurance – The rate increases to 15% for the new tax year. The secondary threshold (the threshold where employer national insurance contributions begin to be paid) also reduces to £5,000 a year. Check your payroll software has been updated in good time!
	Employment Allowance – The Maximum increases from £5,000 to £10,500, and the restriction that prevented employers who had paid more than £100,000 in employers NI in the previous tax year has been removed. All eligible businesses can now claim the allowance.
	Capital Gains Tax – The tax rate applicable to business asset disposal relief and investors relief increases to 14% from 10%, and will increase to 16%. The rate for carried interest for both basic and higher rate tax payers increases to 32%.
	Residence based Regime for Foreign Income and Gains – The concept of domicile has ended in tax regulations and a new residence-based regime begins. A Temporary Repatriation Facility will be available for three years to taxpayers who previously used the remittance basis. Individuals can elect to pay tax at the TRF rate of 12% in the 2025/26 tax year on offshore funds they designate. The designated funds will not then be taxed on remittance to the UK. Current and past remittance basis users can rebase personally held foreign assets to 5th April 2017 where certain conditions are met.
	Company Car Tax – The percentage of tax due for all company car users increases by 1%, assuming no change in the car.
April 7th	State Pension – The weekly rate for the full State Pension will rise to £230.25 per week.
	Working Age Benefits will increase by 1.7% in line with the September 2024 inflation rate.
May 31st	P60 – Any employee who was employed as at the 5th April must be issued with a P60, either in paper or electronic format.
	Submission Deadline for Forms P11D and P11D(b) information to us – If we prepare these for you, please ensure we have your records by this date to enable us to process them, get them to you for review and signature before submitting to HMRC on your behalf before the filing deadline.
July 6th	Submission Deadline for 2024/25 P11D and P11D(b) to HMRC.
July 19th	Payment Deadline for Class 2 National Insurance for any employer providing benefits, as stated on the P11D and P11D(b) mentioned above. (If this liability is paid electronically, the deadline is extended to the 22nd July.)
July 31st	Payment on account payment deadline. This is the deadline for anyone who needs to make a second payment on account towards their Self Assessment tax bill for the year ended 5th April 2026. Find out how to make your payment here.
	Submission Deadline for Self Assessment Tax Return Information to us – this is the date by which we ask clients to submit their information for their Tax Return for the year ended 5th April 2025. For our Sole Trader clients, this would include accounts information for the appropriate year end please. As a small team of two, we cannot cope with a late flurry of records as the year draws to a close and we’re finalising limited company accounts. It’s also hugely beneficial to clients to know what their tax liability is in plenty of time so they can plan for their payment.
September	Around the 10th of the month, the Office of National Statistics will release average increase in total wages figures for May to July, that will be used to determine changes to the State Pension and Triple Lock calculations.
October	Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented her first Autumn Budget on the 30th October 2024, and stated that she intends to keep to one fiscal announcement per year, to keep uncertainty to a minimum for businesses. On that basis, we’d expect the 2025 Budget to be announced for some point this month. At the time of writing, we don’t have a date, but will let you know as soon as we do.
October 5th	Self Assessment Registration Deadline – The deadline for taxpayers to register for Self Assessment, telling HMRC they need to prepare a Self Assessment Tax Return for the year ended 5th April 2025 having not previously done so.
October 15th	Inflation figures – In mid-October, the Office for National Statistics will publish their inflation figures for September, which is part of the triple lock system, determining the increases to state pension and benefits for the following fiscal year.
October 31st	Any taxpayer who wants to submit a paper Self Assessment Tax return must do so by this date.
December 30th	Any taxpayer who wishes to pay their tax liability for the year ended 5th April 2025 through their PAYE tax code must submit their Tax Return by this date. Despite this deadline, we’ve seen HMRC increasingly ignore this request, particularly in the last year.

Capital Gains Tax

If you sell a second property in the UK, any Capital Gains Tax due on the transaction must be reported and paid within sixty days of completion.

Company Deadlines

As mentioned above, these deadlines run throughout the year and are largely dependent on the company’s Year End, or Accounting Reference Date. If you don’t know what date to work from, you can check on Companies House.

Corporation Tax

• Corporation Tax is due for payment for companies with standard accounting periods nine months and one day after the company’s accounting period ends. 
• The submission deadline for a Corporation Tax Return is 12 months after the accounting period ends. The later submission for the Return than the payment seems contradictory but is correct!
• Larger companies (with taxable profits over £1.5million) must pay their Corporation Tax in instalments. The deadlines that apply here differ depending on the level of profits.

Accounts Filing Deadline

• A copy of the correctly formatted annual accounts for every company must be filed at Companies House within nine months of the company’s year end. This can differ for the first set of accounts after a company is incorporated, or if you have extended your year end, so beware!

Accounts submission deadline 

• We ask for clients to let us have any information for us to start our work on the preparation of their business accounts no more than three months after the year end. 
• This allows plenty of time for last pieces of information to be received, but also for us to start work, deal with any queries, discuss the accounts with the client and get the accounts out for review and discussion in plenty of time before the filing deadline. 
• For the reasons detailed above, we struggle when we receive information right up against filing deadlines, so imposing our own submission deadline enables us to plan our time and provide clients with the service they deserve! This also allows time for change to be made during the current trading year if our accounts work highlights concerns or opportunities for improvement.

Confirmation statement

• This annual submission to Companies House is usually due annually in line with the original date the company was incorporated but can vary. Again, you can check that using this link. 

VAT Returns

• VAT Payment deadlines are usually one month and seven days after the end of a VAT Quarter, with the Return being due for submission on the same date. 

PAYE

• Employers’ PAYE deductions must be paid to HMRC by the 19^th of each month. This deadline is extended to the 22^nd if the payment is made electronically.

You may wish to sign up for the E-reminders service from Companies House; this will provide email reminders for end of year accounts and your Confirmation Statement. You can find more details and register here if you’d like to do so.

If you’re unsure of the relevant dates for your business, after checking the Companies House link provided, please get in touch! These dates are really important, and missing them usually results in penalties or interest charges. 

We warn clients in advance of these dates, reminding them as the deadlines draw closer, and will continue to do so, but it makes our job far easier if the dates are noted in a client’s diary as well!