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What Date Does the Tax Year Start
How do you determine the beginning of the tax year? The UK’s fiscal year does not begin or end at the end of the calendar year. You have 12 months to settle your tax payments and return obligations, just like the new calendar year.
The tax year starts on 6th April and ends on 5th April of the following year.
Importance of tax dates
To ensure that you don’t incur extra penalties and receive any tax refunds, it’s essential to know the tax year’s dates and deadlines for your own financial planning since those under the PAYE system are only eligible for refunds for the last four years. Self-employed individuals are particularly affected by this. The self-employed are different from salaried workers—they are required to file their own taxes based on their Self-Assessment forms and pay their own taxes on the earnings based on these forms—as opposed to using PAYE (Pay As You Earn) and receiving tax forms from their employers.
If you are a salaried employee, you may need to file a tax return form if you receive additional income from investments, from oversea, or from tips or commissions in your line of work, such as when you receive additional income from tips or commissions.
Self-employed taxpayers
If you are self-employed, it is your responsibility to remember the filing and completion dates and deadlines so you do not incur late penalties and pay more taxes than you should.
Salaried taxpayers
In the case of salary earners that receive income through the PAYE system, if a tax rebate is due, you need to apply before the end of the tax year since rebates from the previous four tax years cannot be collected.
The tax year 2020/2023 timeline
- 6th April 2022: Officially begins the tax year commencing the 2022-2023 tax year, as per the UK government’s tax policy.
- 19th April 2022: Last day for submitting the final PAYE submissions for the 2021/2022 tax year.
- 30th April 2022: Penalties will begin to accrue for unfiled Self-Assessment tax forms from the previous tax year.
- 5th July 2022: The deadline for the PAYE Settlement Agreement to be completed with HM Revenues and Customs.
- 31st July 2022: Self-employed individuals have until this date to pay the 2nd instalment for tax owing for the past tax year.
- 5th October 2022: Deadline for filing tax returns for the tax year.
- 31st October 2022: Deadline for submission of tax returns for the tax year ending 5th April 2021 in paper format.
- 5th April 2023: The tax year 2022-2023 ends.
Conclusion
At first, it may seem like there are many dates to remember, and it might appear confusing at first since the start and close of the tax year aren’t synchronized with the calendar year. In the end, you’ll find that the process isn’t really that tricky once you’ve done a few cycles of taxes. You may want to speak with a financial advisor if you cannot remember deadlines and dates and if you have difficulty meeting them. They can help ensure that you pay and receive tax refunds accordingly!
