The start of the year is the best time to make plans.
With that in mind, here are some of the red letter days in the financial calendar for 2026 – and why they’re important.
If you need to file a self-assessment tax return, you have to do so by Saturday 31 January, 2026. It’s also the deadline to pay any tax owed from that return.
If you are self-employed then it is the date by which you have required to make a first payment on account. This is an advance payment towards your next tax bill, based on your previous tax liabilities.
Since payments to HMRC can take a few days, it’s always better to complete your tax return in good time for the 31st.
Will interest rates fall further? All eyes will be on the 12 noon announcement on February 5th.
While the Government has said it will stick to just one major ‘fiscal event’ for the year, the Chancellor will issue a Spring Statement on this date in March.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is scheduled to publish its Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) on the same date, although this will be will provide an interim economic update, not a full fiscal assessment.
The energy price cap for the second quarter of the year will come into effect on April 1 Day to cover the period from April 1 to 30 June.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, will announce the level of the price cap around the end of February.
Water bills, Council Tax, car tax and TV licence fees are all expected to rise from April 1 onwards.
The tax on electric vehicles will also come into effect and air passenger duty will also rise.
As announced in the November Budget, the National Living Wage will rise by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over from April 1.
The National Minimum Wage rate for 18–20-year-olds will also increase on the same date by 8.5% to £10.85 per hour, narrowing the gap with the National Living Wage.
The National Minimum Wage for 16 to 17-year-olds and those on apprenticeships will also increase by 6% to £8 per hour.
Business owners will need to take account of these increases in their financial planning for the year.
If you’re planning to utilise your entire ISA allowance, the full £20,000 will need to have been paid into your accounts by this date.
This includes Junior ISAs, which come with a separate annual allowance of £9,000 per tax year.
It’s important to remember that the annual ISA allowance is “use it or lose it” – you cannot roll it over into the next tax year.
Anyone wanting to pay extra into their pension should also try and do this before 5 April, although you can roll any unused allowance forward into future tax years.
Most people can contribute up to £60,000 to their pension pot each tax year and benefit from tax relief.
However, for those with an annual income of more than £200,000 (including salary and income from savings and investments) it reduces to an amount between £10,000 and £60,000 if you earn over £200,000. This is called the tapered annual allowance.
April 5 is also the deadline for employers to register payroll benefits in kind for the 2026/27 tax year.
As well as the start of the new tax year, April 6 is also the date at which increases to State benefits will begin.
In the case of the ‘new’ State pension, this will rise by 4.8% to £12,547.60 a year.
New rules for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) begin for those with income over £50,000.
This requires businesses and landlords with qualifying income to maintain digital records and update HMRC each quarter using compatible software.
From this point, when someone dies, after the first £1m of business and agricultural assets, inheritance tax will apply.
There will be 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%. This will also apply to qualifying AIM shares, which previously fell out of your estate once you had held them for at least two years.
The tax on dividends will rise from 8.75% to 10.75% for basic rate taxpayers and 33.75% to 35.75% for higher rate taxpayers after changes were announced in the Budget.
For the 2025/2026 tax year, employers must submit their final Full Payment Submission (FPS) on or before their employees’ last payday of the tax year, which ends on 5 April 2026.
While the legal requirement is to submit the FPS on or before the payday, HMRC typically accepts the final FPS until 19 April 2026 (as this is the Employer Payment Summary (EPS) filing deadline for the previous tax year).
This is the first day that many employees can easily submit their tax returns for the previous tax year.
If you are self-employed then this is the date by which you are required to make a second payment on account for the 2024/25 tax year.
Maximum annual university tuition fees in England rise in line with inflation from £9,250 per year to £9,535 per year.
This was introduced in 2022 at a time of fast-rising petrol prices. The Budget extended it to the end of August 2026.
From this date onwards, the cut will be gradually unwound, until it disappears altogether by March 2027
These are used as part of the calculation for the Pension Triple Lock for the State Pension level from April 2027.
These are used as part of the calculation for the Pension Triple Lock for the State Pension level from April 2027, and for uprating working age and disability benefits from the same date.
Most people file Self-Assessment tax returns online but those who prefer to do it on paper will need their returns to arrive with HMRC by this date.
If timings follow 2025, November will be the month when the Chancellor outlines her Budget for 2026, although this is not guaranteed.
To help plan your finances for the year ahead, get in touch with one of our advisers.
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