Key 2020 Accounting Dates and Deadlines for Limited Companies
The New Year is fast approaching and with it comes a brand new year of business opportunities, challenges and successes. Whether you’re new to the business world or a veteran, it’s always important to keep key accounting dates in mind for the year ahead to keep on top of your reporting duties to HMRC.
Here are all the major accounting dates and deadlines that you need to be aware of for 2020.
1st January - Payment of Corporation Tax due
If you have a limited company with a year-end of 31st March, then your Corporation Tax is due on New Year’s Day. This date won’t be the same for everyone, because it depends on when your company year-end is. It is calculated as 9 months and 1 day after your company’s year-end.
14th January - Form CT61 filed and paid
You will need to complete a CT61 form for any interest, alternative finance payments, manufactured payments or distributions your company has paid for the quarter ending 31st December 2019.
31st January – Self Assessment return and tax bill deadline
This is the most important date in the year for the self-employed. If you have earned income outside of PAYE tax, you’ll need to complete a Self Assessment tax return to tell HMRC about this income.
This deadline is for any income earned between April 2018 and April 2019. You will receive a bill for Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax after submission has been made. If you file this late, you may be fined.
31st January - First Payment on Account
You will need to submit your first Payment on Account for the 2019/20 tax period. If you currently owe any tax from the previous tax year, you will have to pay the balancing payment by this date.
5th April - End of the 2019/20 tax year
The tax year officially ends on this day, resetting all your personal and NI allowances for the next year. Get planning for the year ahead!
31st July - Second Payment on Account due
The remainder of your tax is due in July after you make the first payment in January.
1st October - Corporation Tax bill due
If your limited company has a year-end of 31st December, this is when your Corporation Tax payment will be due.
5th October - Deadline for filing for Self Assessment (online returns)
If you haven’t yet registered for Self Assessment, you will need to do so by this date in your second tax year of trading.
14th October - Form CT61 needs to be filed and paid
You’ll need to complete a CT61 form for any interest, alternative finance payments, manufactured payments or distributions your company has paid until 30th September.
19th October - Income tax and Class 1B NIC payment for PAYE settlements (non-electronic payments)
If you have a PAYE settlement agreement and want to make a non-electronic payment, you will need to make your annual payment to cover tax and NI on small expenses or benefits for your employees.
22nd October - Income tax and Class 1B NIC payment for PAYE settlements (electronic payments)
If you have a PAYE settlement agreement and want to make an electronic payment, you will need to make your annual payment to cover tax and NI on small expenses or benefits for your employees.
31st October - Deadline for filing for Self Assessment (paper returns)
If you want to submit paper Self Assessment tax returns and would like to request underpayments of £3,000 or less of tax to be collected through PAYE, you will need to submit by this date.
31st October - Paper Self Assessment tax return submission
If you’d rather submit a paper tax return, this date is the deadline for paper tax return submissions. However, this method of submission is being phased out slowly, so we would recommend moving to digital submissions (which has a later deadline).
30th December - Deadline to submit Self Assessment returns online if requesting tax to be collected through PAYE code
If you want to submit online Self Assessment tax returns and would like to request underpayments of £3,000 or less of tax to be collected through PAYE, you will need to submit by this date.
31st December - Corporation Tax returns filed
If your limited company has a year-end of 31st December, Corporation Tax is due to be filed by this date for 2019.
31st December - Accounts filed for private companies
If your company year-end date is 31st March, this is the deadline to submit company accounts for 2019 with Companies House.
There you have it, a full list of all the accounting deadlines you need to be aware of. If you think that’s a lot to remember and prepare for, you’re not wrong. The directorial responsibilities of running a limited company are vast and are legally tied to you so it’s important to ensure that you meet the deadlines and produce the relevant documents.
If this is something you’d rather not have to deal with, then it’s always recommended to hire an accountant who can keep you up to date and prepared for all deadlines you need to meet.
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This article was written for Handpicked Accounts by Faisal Aslam of Countplus Accounting.
