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1 October 2026 - Corporation Tax payment is due for companies with an accounting period ending 31 December 2025, unless the company is required to make quarterly instalment payments. 5 October 2026 - Deadline for notifying HMRC of a new liability to Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax for the 2025-26 tax year. This may include registering for Self Assessment if you became self-employed, started receiving taxable rental income or received other income or gains that have not already been taxed. 7 October 2026 - VAT returns and payments are normally...

The rate of Corporation Tax payable depends mainly on the level of a company’s taxable profits. The main rate is 25% and applies where profits exceed £250,000. Companies with profits of £50,000 or less generally pay Corporation Tax at the small profits rate of 19%. But note, these two thresholds will reduce if a company has associated companies. The position is more complicated for companies with profits between these two thresholds. Where profits are between £50,000 and £250,000, Corporation Tax is charged at the 25% main rate, but marginal...

Making a trading loss whilst not ideal can sometimes generate a tax refund. If you are a self-employed individual or a member of a trading partnerships, a trading loss can potentially be set against other income or capital gains. This can reduce the amount of tax payable and, where tax has already been paid, may result in a refund. For the 2025-26 tax year that ended in April, a loss can generally be set against income for the same year or the previous tax year. This means a business that made a profit in an earlier year but has subsequently...

A company does not have to be formally closed to become dormant for Corporation Tax. A company is usually considered dormant if it has stopped trading and has no other income, such as investment income. A new limited company that has not yet started trading can also be dormant for Corporation Tax. Other examples include certain flat management companies and unincorporated associations or clubs owing less than £100 in Corporation Tax. It is important to understand what counts as trading. For this purpose, activities can include buying or...

Employers must make sure their staff receive at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage rate that applies to them. The correct rate depends on the worker's age and, in some cases, whether they are an apprentice. Since 1 April 2026, workers aged 21 and over are entitled to the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour. The rate for workers aged 18 to 20 is £10.85, while workers under 18 are entitled to minimum of £8 an hour. Apprentices also have a minimum rate of £8 an hour, but this does not apply throughout their...

Self-employed people can choose to use simplified expenses to calculate certain business costs using flat rates rather than working out their actual expenses. The system can save time and make record keeping easier, but it will not necessarily produce the best tax position. It is therefore worth comparing the flat rates with the actual costs before deciding whether it suits your business. Simplified expenses are available to sole traders and partnerships that have no companies as partners. They cannot be used by limited companies or...

Self-employed people can deduct allowable business expenses when calculating their taxable profits. However, where a cost has both a business and private element, only the business proportion can normally be claimed. For example, if a mobile phone bill is £200 for the year, with £70 relating to business calls and £130 to personal use, only the £70 business cost can be claimed. The same principle can apply to costs such as travel, telephone and internet bills, and other items used for both business and private purposes. Keeping appropriate...

The Government has named nearly 660 employers for failing to pay workers the National Minimum Wage, highlighting how costly National Minimum Wage compliance failures can become. The latest naming round, published on 3 September 2026, involved around £4 million being repaid to more than 27,000 workers. Employers were also issued with penalties totalling £7 million. The key point for employers is that minimum wage compliance is not simply a matter of comparing an employee's hourly rate with the statutory minimum. For workers aged 21 and over,...

The Government has announced plans to consider major changes to the rules governing when companies can make distributions to shareholder. As part of a wider corporate reporting overhaul announced on 6 September 2026, the Government is considering replacing the existing rules on distributable profits and capital maintenance with a solvency-based regime. A consultation opened on 7 September and runs until 30 November 2026. This is only a proposal, so companies must continue to follow the current rules. At present, a company cannot simply pay a...

The temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT introduced for certain children’s meals, tickets and family attractions ended on 1 September 2026. The relief applied from 25 June 2026 and was intended to reduce the cost of selected activities and services for families during the summer holidays. The relief covered qualifying children’s meals supplied by restaurants, cafés and similar establishments for consumption on the premises, as well as children’s tickets for cinemas, theatres, shows, concerts and exhibitions. It also applied to admission...