UK tax year dates and deadlines 2026/27

Running a business can be challenging, with responsibilities and legal obligations at every turn. This makes it easy for important dates and deadlines to pass unnoticed. To help you stay organised and compliant, we’ve compiled a list of the UK tax year dates in 2026/2027 that may affect you and your business.

This handy guide covers key requirements and deadlines for limited companies, Self Assessment customers, employers, and VAT-registered businesses. It also outlines important tax changes and other notable measures that have taken effect from the start of the new tax year.

Corporation Tax (limited companies)

For an accounting period ending on the last day of each month from April 2026 to March 2027, payment is due 9 months and 1 day after period-end; the CT600 return is due 12 months after period-end.

Company Tax Returns (CT600) are due 12 months after the accounting period ends. (For example, a period ending 31 March 2026 must be filed by 31 March 2027.) The Corporation Tax payment is due 9 months and 1 day after period-end (e.g. due 1 January 2027 for a 31 March 2026 year-end).

Late filing incurs penalties; late payment incurs interest. (If no tax is due, you must still file a return confirming this by the filing deadline, unless the entity is dormant.) Note also that the joint HMRC/Companies House online filing service closed on 31 March 2026 – from 1 April 2026, you need commercial software to file your CT600, with annual accounts filed separately at Companies House.

VAT (all registered businesses)

VAT quarters run on one of three “stagger” cycles depending on when a business registered. Returns and payment are both due 1 month and 7 days after the quarter ends.

Stagger 1 – quarters ending Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec

Stagger 2 – quarters ending Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct

Stagger 3 – quarters ending Feb/May/Aug/Nov

Returns and payments are due 1 month and 7 days after the end of each VAT quarter. For example, quarter-ending 31 March 2026 has a 7 May 2026 deadline; 30 June 2026 is due 7 August 2026; 30 Sept 2026 is due 7 Nov 2026; and 31 Dec 2026 is due 7 Feb 2027. (If a due date falls on a weekend or holiday, HMRC’s guidance is that payment must reach HMRC by the last working day before, unless you use Faster Payments.) A business must register for VAT if its rolling 12-month turnover exceeds £90,000. Under Making Tax Digital, all VAT-registered firms must file VAT returns using compatible software.

PAYE and payroll

Monthly payment deadlines for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027), plus the annual payroll deadlines that sit alongside them.

Monthly PAYE and National Insurance payments

If you employ anyone, you’ll need to run payroll and pay HMRC monthly, with payment due by the 22nd of the following month if paying electronically (19th if paying by post). Alongside this, there are annual deadlines to keep in mind: employers must provide P60 forms to employees by 31 May 2027 for the tax year 2026/27, and report expenses and benefits (Forms P11D and P11D(b)) to HMRC by 6 July 2027, with employers’ Class 1A NI paid by 19 July 2027 (post) or 22 July 2027 (electronic).

From April 2027, certain benefits – company cars, fuel, vans, and medical benefits – move to mandatory payrolling, with most other benefits following from April 2028.

Self Assessment (director’s personal tax)

These are fixed HMRC dates and apply regardless of a company’s accounting date. The 2026/27 tax year runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, so its Self Assessment deadlines stretch into 2027 and 2028.

Limited-company directors often owe personal tax on dividends and other untaxed income. If a return is required, you must register by 5 October 2027 and file by 31 October 2027 on paper or 31 January 2028 online. If you’re already registered and filed a return for the previous year, you don’t need to register again.

Payments on account are advance payments towards your tax bill, each normally worth half of the previous year’s bill. For 2026/27, they’re due on 31 January 2027 and 31 July 2027. Once you’ve filed your 2026/27 return, any tax still owed is settled with a balancing payment on 31 January 2028. That’s also the day your first payment on account for 2027/28 is due, with the second following on 31 July 2028.

You only need to make payments on account if your previous year’s Self Assessment bill was £1,000 or more and less than 80% of your tax was collected at source (for example, through PAYE). If either of these doesn’t apply, you pay the whole year’s bill in one go by 31 January after the tax year ends, which for 2026/27 is 31 January 2028.

Companies House filings

Annual accounts (private limited companies; based on a financial year-end falling in each month of 2026/27 – accounts are due 9 months after year-end)

Every private limited company must file annual accounts within 9 months of its financial year-end (for example, a 31 Dec 2026 year-end is due 30 Sep 2027) – but note that a company’s very first set of accounts is due 21 months after incorporation instead, not 9 months, which catches many new directors out. The Confirmation Statement (CS) is due at least every 12 months (review period ends a year after incorporation or last CS); you have 14 days’ grace beyond that to file.

Late accounts filings incur automatic financial penalties; a late Confirmation Statement doesn’t carry the same fixed fee, but it is a criminal offence that can put the company at risk of being struck off.

Your confirmation statement deadlines are as follows (review period ends 12 months after incorporation, or 12 months after the last Confirmation Statement; you then have 14 days to file):

Late accounts filing penalties (private limited company)

Penalties double if accounts are filed late in two successive financial years. There’s no equivalent fixed fee for a late Confirmation Statement – instead, failing to file is a criminal offence and can lead to the company being struck off.

Making Tax Digital (Income Tax)

From 6 April 2026, the UK introduced Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA). Sole traders and unincorporated landlords with >£50,000 gross income must now keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC via compatible software. Limited companies themselves do not use MTD ITSA – this only affects individual traders and landlords.

This is a rolling annual check based on the most recently filed tax return, not current income – the threshold drops to £30,000 (based on 2025/26 income) from April 2027, and to £20,000 (based on 2026/27 income) from April 2028.

Staying on Track

Keeping up with these dates is easier if you use digital tools. Most accounting software (or HMRC’s own services) can send reminders for upcoming VAT and payroll deadlines. You can also register with Companies House for email alerts on upcoming account/CS deadlines.

As you can see, managing deadlines is mostly about keeping a calendar and using digital reminders. Rapid Formations can help simplify your compliance every year – from forming your company to filing accounts, returns, and payroll. We help make sure you never miss a deadline, so you can focus on running your business.