Self-employed key deadlines
Continue reading for an overview of key dates that are important to know if you are self employed so that you have enough time to prepare.
31st January
Due date for the first payment on account for the tax year ending. For example, the first payment on account for the 2024/25 tax year is due by 31 January 2025.
5 April
This marks the end of the tax year. If you are required to file a tax return, you should receive a notice informing you that you must file your tax return shortly after the end of the tax year.
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If you are newly self-employed, you should register with HMRC for tax and national insurance.
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In the event that your business trading stopped during the tax year, you will still need to complete a tax return for your last year of business.
31st July
Due date for the second payment on account for the previous tax year ending. For example, the second payment on account for the 2024/25 tax year is due by 31 July 2025.
5th October
Deadline for notifying HMRC that the income you have received has not been taxed previously or that you have capital gains in excess of £12,300 (for both years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024). Notifying HMRC of the above means that they can send you a notice to file a tax return.
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If you are self-employed, you need to register with HMRC for tax purposes by this date.
31st October
Deadline for submitting paper tax returns to HMRC. Any paper tax returns submitted past this date will incur penalties (even tax is not being paid at all).
31st January
Following the end of the tax year, this is the deadline for filing all tax returns. HMRC can charge you a penalty fee is this deadline is missed, regardless of whether or not you have tax to pay or have already paid your tax.
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This is also the deadline for paying your balancing payment of tax and payment on account if necessary (more details about this in the FAQs section on the right-hand side of this page). As an example, make a payment on account for tax year 2024/2025 by 31st January 2025.
31st January (end of tax year + one year)
The deadline for amending a tax return in the event that your paper or online tax return contains an error. For example, to amend your 2023/24 return you have until 31 January 2026 to do so (no difference between online and paper tax returns).
FAQs
What about late payment penalties?
HMRC can charge you for not adhering to the tax rules. The main reasons are as follows: paying tax late, submitting a tax return or paperwork late, failing to inform HRMC about changes that affect your tax liability, tax return errors, any payments or paperwork that misrepresents your tax liability (except if you took reasonable care). Here's a detailed overview of HMRC penalties.
What does balancing payment mean?
The 'balancing payment' on your bill refers to the tax that you owe for the last tax year. If the amount is more than £1,000, then your bill will usually include an additional payment towards next year's bill which is known as 'payment on account'. See here for HMRC's details about understanding your Self assessment tax bill.
What are payments on account?
This refers to a way of paying some of your income tax bill in advance. Usually, you have to make a payment on account if your previous year’s income tax bill (excluding Class 2 NIC) was over £1,000, unless more than 80% of your previous year’s income tax was taken off at source.
Income tax will be taken at source if, for example, you are also employed as well as self-employed, through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or have deductions at source if you are a subcontractor under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
What is Self Assessment?
In a nutshell, a self assessment refers to the way in which you would inform HMRC of your income, gains and relevant expenses for a particular tax year. You do this by filing a tax return, submitting it to HMRC and calculating your tax liability (the total amount of tax debt owed). The benefit of filing your tax return online is that your tax liability will be automatically calculated.
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If you would like to learn more, visit my helpful guide 'Self Assessment: Key Information'.
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