| We get a lot of questions from people who are baffled by when they need to pay their taxes, or have received a letter from HMRC demanding payment for something they were not aware needed paying. So we have summarised the main taxes and when they are due to be paid. Self assessment Whether you are a sole trader or the director of a limited company you will have a self assessment tax return to complete. This is due to be filed and paid by 31 January for the tax year to the previous 5 April. So the tax return for the year 6 April 2023 to 5 April 2024 is due to be filed and paid by 31 January 2025. You may have payments on accounts if you pay enough tax, this means that you also have a payment to make by 31 July of roughly half the tax that HMRC estimates you are going to be due to pay the following January. Corporation tax This must be paid within 9 months of your company year end (not the tax year end). This is the date that your company accounts are made up to. Oddly, the corporation tax return doesn’t actually need to be filed until a year after the year end but how you are meant to know what to pay without doing the tax return is a mystery. |
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Payroll tax Your PAYE is due by the 22nd of the month following the month of payroll. For example if you’ve just done June’s payroll, the PAYE is due by 22nd July. You can also pay quarterly, this will be due by the 22nd of the month following the end of the quarter. If you are CIS registered CIS is also due by 22nd of the month following. VAT VAT is due a month and 7 days after the quarter end. So for a 31 March VAT quarter the return should be filed and paid by 7 May. If you are on monthly VAT then you still have a month and 7 days to file and pay you are just doing it a lot more throughout the year. As your accountant we can tell you what your tax is and when it needs to be paid but we cannot follow up with everyone to ensure that the tax has been paid. It is your responsibility to ensure that everything is up to date and square with HMRC. If you are struggling to pay, the best thing to do is speak to HMRC sooner rather than later. They are much nicer and will stop adding penalties if you speak to them and set up payment plans. Its scary but picking up the phone and having a chat will stop it waking you up at night. Thanks for reading, Beth and Jessie |
