Key Financial Dates for 2026 Every Sole Trader and LTD Business Must Know
- Rebecca Marshall
- Jan 7
- 7 min read
Welcome to 2026! Whether you run a sole trader business or a limited company (LTD), staying on top of your financial deadlines is essential if you want to avoid penalties and keep things running smoothly.
This guide sets out the key financial dates you’ll need to keep in mind throughout the year. From tax returns to corporation tax payments, knowing what’s due and when makes it far easier to plan ahead and stay in control of your business finances.
It’s worth bookmarking this page or saving it somewhere handy, as you’ll likely need to refer back to it more than once over the year. And if you know another business owner who’s always asking “when is that due again?”, feel free to share it with them too.
January 2026
1st Jan
LTD Businesses
Corporation Tax payment deadline for LTD businesses (with a 31 March 2025 year-end).
Corporation Tax is due 9 months and 1 day after your accounting year-end. If your year-end is different, your deadline will fall in another month.
31st Jan
Sole Traders
This is a busy month for sole traders. By this date, you must:
Submit your online Self Assessment tax return for the 2024/25 tax year
Pay any outstanding tax owed for 2024/25
Make your first payment on account for the 2025/26 tax year Payments on account are advance payments towards your tax bill, based on your previous year’s tax.
This January payment is the first half of that advance amount.
Tip: This isn’t a new bill; it’s part of the tax you’re already expected to pay for the year.
If your income has stayed similar, this payment should feel expected. If your income has dropped, you may be able to reduce your payments on account, but this needs to be done carefully, as underpaying can lead to interest later.
February 2026
February doesn’t bring a major filing deadline for most businesses, but it is an important consolidation month, particularly for sole traders who’ve just been through January.
This is a sensible point to review how January’s tax payment affected cash flow, confirm that your bookkeeping is fully up to date, and sense-check whether your next payment on account still reflects your actual income.
If your income is likely to be significantly lower than the previous year, this is when you should speak to your accountant about adjusting payments on account, rather than waiting until July or January.
March 2026
1st March
LTD Businesses
Corporation Tax payment deadline for LTD businesses (with a 31 May 2025 year-end).
Corporation Tax is due 9 months and 1 day after your accounting year-end. If your year-end is different, your deadline will fall in another month.
31st March
LTD Businesses
For many LTD businesses, this marks the end of the company's financial year.
Sole Traders
Tip for Sole traders:
For you, there’s no formal deadline on this date, but it’s a very useful moment to pause and tidy things up before the tax year ends.
The tax year ends on 5th April, so by the end of March it’s worth:
Making sure income and expenses are up to date
Chasing any missing invoices or receipts
Checking mileage, home office, or other common allowances are recorded
Getting a rough sense of what your tax bill might look like
Doing this now gives you a much calmer April and avoids scrambling once the tax year has actually closed.
April 2026
5th April
Sole Traders
End of the 2025/26 tax year.
There’s nothing to file or submit today; it’s simply the point where one tax year ends and the next one begins.
In real-world terms, this usually means closing off your 2025/26 spreadsheet, starting a new one for 2026/27, creating a fresh desktop or cloud folder for the new tax year and making sure any late receipts or invoices are saved in the correct year before you move on. Anything dated up to and including 5 April belongs to the old tax year. Anything after that goes into the new one.
If you’d rather not juggle spreadsheets and folders at all, our bookkeeping service does this for you. You simply snap a photo or upload your receipts and invoices, and we sort everything into the right categories and tax years, so your records stay organised without you having to think about it.
May 2026
31st May
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
Deadline for employers to issue P60s to employees.
Tip: If you run payroll yourself, P60s are usually generated through your payroll software, but it’s still your responsibility to make sure they are issued on time.
If payroll is something you would rather not worry about, our payroll service handles this as part of the process, making sure P60s are generated and issued correctly without you needing to chase deadlines.
June 2026
1st June
LTD Businesses
Corporation Tax payment deadline for LTD businesses with a 31 August 2025 year-end.
Note: Corporation Tax dates vary depending on your accounting year-end. If your year-end is different, your deadline will fall in another month.
July 2026
31st July
Sole Traders
Deadline to make your second payment on account for the 2025/26 tax year.
Payments on account are advance payments towards your tax bill, based on your previous year’s tax.
This July payment is the second half of that advance amount.
Tip: This isn’t a new bill; it’s part of the tax you’re already expected to pay for the year.
If your income has stayed similar, this payment should feel expected. If your income has dropped, you may be able to reduce your payments on account, but this needs to be done carefully, as underpaying can lead to interest later.
August 2026
There are no major statutory deadlines this month.
August is a good moment to pause and check in on your numbers. How is the year going so far? What’s coming up, and whether your tax estimates still feel realistic.
If you’d like a professional second opinion, Strive can help you sense-check your finances, flag anything that needs attention, and help you plan ahead with confidence. Drop us a message, and we'll let you know how we can help.
September 2026
1st Sept
LTD Businesses
Corporation Tax payment deadline for LTD businesses with a 30 November 2025 year-end.
Note: Corporation Tax dates vary depending on your accounting year-end. If your year-end is different, your deadline will fall in another month.
Sole Traders
September is a sensible time for sole traders to start preparing for January, especially if income has increased or changed.
October 2026
5th Oct
Sole Traders
Deadline to register for Self Assessment if you started trading during the 2025/26 tax year (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026).
31st Oct
Sole Traders
Deadline for submitting paper Self Assessment tax returns for the 2025/26 tax year. (Online returns have a later deadline in January.)
A quick note on Making Tax Digital (MTD)
From April 2026, some sole traders will begin moving onto Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, starting with those earning over £50,000. This doesn’t affect the 2024/25 tax return you’re filing now, but it does mean that future years will involve quarterly digital updates instead of one annual return. If you are close to the threshold, February is a sensible time to check your income and start thinking about whether your bookkeeping setup is ready.
November 2026
29th Nov
LTD Businesses
Corporation Tax payment deadline for LTD businesses with a 28 February 2026 year-end.
Note: Corporation Tax dates vary depending on your accounting year-end. If your year-end is different, your deadline will fall in another month.
December 2026
There are no major statutory deadlines this month for most businesses.
That makes December a sensible point to look ahead to January, rather than reacting when it arrives.
This is a good time to review income and expenses for the year so far, check cash flow for the next few months, get a rough sense of any January tax payments that may be due and flag anything that might need attention while there’s still time to act
Tip: January deadlines are much easier to deal with when you’ve already looked at the numbers.
If you’re unsure what January is likely to bring, we can help you review your figures and plan ahead, so there are no surprises waiting after Christmas. Get in touch to find out how we can help.
Key Financial Dates:
Recurring Monthly Tasks for Sole Traders and LTD Businesses
These aren’t tied to one specific date, but staying on top of them consistently makes every deadline in the timeline far easier to manage.
Payroll submissions (if you have employees)
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
Payroll submissions must be made on or before each payday. This includes reporting pay, tax, and National Insurance to HMRC, even if nothing changes from one month to the next.
Missing or late payroll submissions can trigger penalties, even for small teams. If payroll feels like something you’re always double-checking, our payroll service handles submissions, payslip generation, and year-end tasks for you, so nothing gets missed.
VAT returns and payments (if you file quarterly)
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
If you’re VAT registered and file quarterly, you’ll have four VAT returns and payments each year. The exact deadlines depend on your VAT quarters, but they follow the same pattern throughout the year.
VAT is much easier to manage when records are kept up to date, rather than pulled together at the last minute. With our bookkeeping support, VAT figures are built up as you go, making returns quicker and far less stressful.
Record keeping
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
Keep receipts, invoices, and bank statements organised and up to date. This isn’t just good practice; HMRC requires you to keep accurate records, and missing paperwork can mean missed expenses or unnecessary tax.
If your system relies on folders and spreadsheets, it’s easy for things to slip. Our bookkeeping service lets you upload documents as you go, and we take care of sorting and categorising everything correctly.
Bank reconciliations
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
Regularly checking that your accounting records match your bank statements helps catch errors, missing transactions, or duplicated entries early.
Small discrepancies are far easier to fix when you spot them quickly.
Cash flow reviews
LTD Businesses & Sole Traders
Looking ahead at what’s coming in and going out helps you avoid surprises, especially around tax payments or quieter trading periods.
You don’t need complex forecasts, just a clear picture of where you stand. If you’d like help making sense of your numbers, Strive can review your finances with you and help you plan with confidence.
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