Attention finance: Key dates for your diary
Now that we are in the full swing of January, I’ve marked a few dates for the diary to help you keep on top of the key events in the finance calendar. Put them in your diary now so that even when life gets in the way, you’ll still have a handy reminder.
Key tax dates
31 January: Self assessment tax returns must be submitted to HMRC by midnight on this date. Any tax you owe for the previous tax year, known as a balancing payment, is due as is your first payment on account.
5 April: The deadline for claiming any PAYE tax refunds for the 2013/14 tax year.
6 April: The first day of the new tax year 2018/19. It runs to 6 April 2019.
Duty to Report dates
Duty to Report came into force last year and it meant good news and bad news for business. On the one hand, it’s designed to tackle the problem of late payment, so your cash flow should improve. On the other hand, if you’re one of the businesses with a duty to report, it could present an additional administrative burden unless your systems are geared up for it.
If you need to report, here are first reporting dates for your business:
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) date
GDPR comes into effect on 25 May and it’s extremely unlikely it won’t affect your business to some extent. It’s designed to protect and empower people’s data privacy and reshape the way organisations approach data privacy. There’s guidance here and keep an eye out for articles on the SAP Concur newsroom too.
Workplace pension dates
1 February: Automatic enrolment started to be rolled out in October 2012 and the last staging date for automatic enrolment is today. (You can find your staging date here.)
6 April: Minimum contributions to workplace pensions are increasing in two phases. The first increase must be in place from today and the second from 6 April 2019. Get all the information you need here.
31 May 2018: Copies of 2017/18 P60 documents to be issued to employees.
6 July 2018: Copies of 2017/18 P11d documents to be issued to employees today.
Other notable dates
Okay, some of these next dates aren’t exactly vital. But if one of your New Year’s resolutions was to engage more with your customers, then these could be great to share on your social channels to build your profile.
18 January: Get to Know Your Customers day is observed on the third Thursday of each quarter (January, April, July, October). Share on Twitter with the hashtag #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay.
28 January: Data Privacy Day. #DataPrivacyDay. This day is about empowering individuals and businesses to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. Get more information here.
2 March: Employee Appreciation Day. A chance to show your appreciation towards the people who work tirelessly to keep business moving forward. #EmployeeAppreciationDay.
2 December: Small Business Saturday. #SmallBusinessSaturday. Celebrating family run businesses, local shops and small online business, All the information you need is here.
Are we missing any key dates? Let us know and we will include them. Have a great 2018!