Contractors and Freelancers Accounting Calendar: Full Guide
If you’re self-employed and want to know what you need to do come April 5th, we’ve got you covered. From filing quarterly returns to keeping track of your VAT payments, here are some key dates you need to remember.
Income Tax Return Deadline – 31st January
You’ll need to file your income tax return within 28 days of receiving your final wages/salary. This includes freelance workers, contractors and sole traders. If you’re self-assessing, you’ll need to send off your forms online.
VAT Registration Date – 5th April
This is the deadline for businesses to register for Value Added Tax (VAT). For those operating under the standard rates, there’s no registration required. However, if your turnover exceeds £85,000, you’ll need to register.
Payroll Deduction Deadline – 30th June
The deadline for employers to make payroll deductions from employees’ paychecks. Failure to meet this date could mean paying penalties.
22nd January – PAYE and NIC’s
Pay As You Earn (PAYE), National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and Income Tax are due on 22nd January 2020. If you haven’t paid them already, now is the time to do it.
The taxman doesn’t like late payments and there are consequences for failing to meet deadlines. Penalties include fines, interest charges and even prosecution.
If you’re self-employed, you’ll need to file your return online. If you don’t know how, we’ve got some tips to help you out.
You must pay your income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) each month. These are calculated based on your earnings during the previous calendar month. Your employer deducts a portion of your salary and pays the rest directly into your bank account.
Your employer also withholds tax and NI from your wages. You must pay both types of tax and NICs yourself.
For most people, this is done automatically through payroll deductions. However, if you earn less than £50,000 per annum, you won’t be able to use the automatic system. In this case, you’ll need to make sure you pay your taxes and NICs yourself. You can find more information about making monthly payments here.
31st January – Self-Assessment
The self-assessment tax return form is now available online. This is the same form used for filing your income tax return. However, it does not include any additional information about your expenses or deductions.
If you filed your tax return electronically, you will receive an email reminder to submit your self-assessment return. For those who did not file electronically, you will receive a paper copy of the form.
You must file your self-assessment tax form no later than 31st March 2020.
For further information on how to fill out the form, please refer to our guide here.
31st January – The account’s first payment
There are two payments on account for the subscription plan you selected: the first payment covers a period between April 5th, 2018 and March 31st, 2019, and the second one covers a period between March 1st, 2019 and December 31st, 2020. You can view the full terms here.
6th April – New Tax Year
The start of the new tax year begins on 4 April each year, unless it falls on a weekend or public holiday. This is because the UK uses the Gregorian calendar, rather than the Julian calendar used in most of continental Europe. In the case of Easter Monday, the start of the new tax month occurs on the following Tuesday.
A dormant company is one which has not traded for 12 months. If a dormant company trades again, it must pay corporation tax within nine months and one day of ending its accounting period.
When a dormant company starts trading, it needs to pay Corporation Tax within nine months and one days of the end of its Accounting Period.
22nd April – PAYE and NICs
31st January is the deadline to pay your first instalment for National Insurance and Income Tax. You must file your return by the end February otherwise you will face penalties.
If you are self employed, you must register for VAT online by 30th June 2018. If you fail to do so, you could be fined £10,000 per month.
You must also complete a Self Assessment form by the same date.
The deadline for filing your 2017/2018 tax return is 22nd April.
1st February – Penalties Start
Self Assessment Tax Returns must be filed by 31st January 2019. Failure to do so will incur a penalty of £100 plus interest. If you are late filing, you will pay an additional charge of 10p per day for each day up to 30th April 2019.
If you fail to submit your return by the deadline, HMRC will send you a reminder email and/or text message on the due date. You will receive a further reminder email and/or SMS on the next due date. A final reminder email and/or Text Message will be sent on the 28th February 2019.
HMRC will start charging interest on unpaid taxes from the due date. Interest starts accruing at 2% above the base rate of 0.5%. This applies to both penalties and interest.
You can find out how much you owe by logging into My Account Online or calling us on 0345 606 3333.
31st May – Issue P60s
Payroll outsourcing is an effective cost reduction strategy for small businesses. In fact, it’s one of the most common reasons why SMEs choose to outsource their payroll. It’s also a great way to improve cash flow and boost profit margins. But what happens if you want to make sure that your employees receive their wages on time every single month? What about those times when you just don’t have enough funds to cover everyone’s salaries? And how do you ensure that everything goes smoothly even during peak periods like Christmas and Easter?
In this article we’ll look at some of the best practices for managing payroll payments. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of both electronic and postal methods and give you some tips on how to avoid nasty surprises.
22nd July – PAYE and NIC’s
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) is one of the biggest changes to tax since the introduction of National Insurance Contributions (NICs). If you are self employed, it could mean you pay less tax overall. Here we explain how PAYE works and what you need to know about it.
The government introduced PAYE in April 2017. It replaces the old system where people paid income tax according to how much they earned each month. Under PAYE, everyone pays either basic or additional income tax based on whether they earn over £12,500 per annum.
You can choose to make your first payment now, or later. But there is no grace period. So once you start earning above £12,500, you will have to pay income tax on everything you earn. However, if you do make your first payment early, you won’t have to pay any interest on it.
Your second payment must be made before 31st December 2018. This is because this is the deadline for employers to deduct NI contributions from employees’ wages. If you don’t make your second payment before the end of the year, you’ll face penalties.
If you’re self employed, you might think that making payments every quarter makes things easier. But this isn’t true. For example, if you make a quarterly payment of £1,200, you still have to pay the full amount of tax due by 31st December. And if you make a monthly payment of £2,400, you still have to make a final payment of £3,600 by 31st December.
So, if you want to avoid paying interest on your first payment, you should make sure you make both payments before 31st July.
31st July – The second bill payment
Pay attention to the date on your statement. If it’s 31st July, it means you have another month to pay off your credit card balance. However, you must make sure you don’t miss out on any payments. This is because your next payment is due in July. So, make sure you pay off your credit card bill before the end of June.
If you haven’t been paying attention to your statements, you might find yourself in trouble. In fact, you could even face late fees. This is why it’s important to keep track of your monthly payments.
You can do this by adding extra charges onto your current ones. Or, you can simply increase your regular payments. Either way, you’ll want to make sure you pay off the full amount each month. Otherwise, you could be charged interest on what you still owe.
5th October – Registering for Self-Assessment
The 5th October is the date you must register for self-assessment. If you are registered for self-assessment, you don’t need to pay tax unless you earn over £100,000 or £200,000 depending on whether you are single or married. You do not need to complete a return if you are registered for self assessment. However, if you decide to make a claim for refund, you must submit it within three months of completing your return.
If you are not registered for self-assessments, you still need to complete a quarterly return. This includes making payments of income tax, national insurance contributions and corporation tax.
For further information about registering for self-assessment please contact HMRC on 0300 123 5000.
22nd October – PAYE and NIC’s
The 31st January 2019 is approaching fast. If you haven’t filed your tax returns yet it’s high time you did. Here are some important dates to keep in mind:
1. 22nd October – Deadline for filing your tax return
2. 31st January – Payment due date for employers’ NI contributions
3. 31st July – Payment due date for employees’ income tax and national insurance contributions
4. 5th August – Final payment due date
5. 10th September – Last day to file your tax return
6. 15th November – First day of the next financial year
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the start of the new tax year?
The new tax year starts on the day following the date of the next UK general election. This means it begins on 6 April each year, unless there is no election held in that month. If there is no election, the new tax year starts on 7 May.
If you’re starting a new business and want to claim expenses under the small business allowance, you’ll need to apply for a registration number by 31 January 2021. You’ll need to do this even if you haven’t been working for the whole of 2020-21 yet.
You must file your personal tax returns by 31 January 2022.
When is the end of the tax year
The UK tax year runs from 4 April to 3 April the following year. However, there are some exceptions.
