The UK tax year is not the calendar year and not the financial year a company reports on: it runs from 6 April to 5 April, so the current one is 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 and is written 2026/27. Every figure on this site is computed on that year's rates. Inside it, payroll runs on tax months and tax weeks of its own, and the reporting dates that follow it (31 May for a P60, 6 July for expenses and benefits) are what most people are actually looking for when they search for the dates.
The year itself, and why it starts in April
The 2026/27 tax year opens on 6 April 2026 and closes on 5 April 2027. The date is a survival of the old quarter days and the calendar reform of 1752, and nothing about it is convenient, but it is fixed: an allowance, a band and a threshold all belong to a year defined this way. GOV.UK states it plainly on the rates page, "The current tax year is from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027", and every rate this site quotes is quoted from a page for that year and dated. The practical consequence is that a pay rise in March and the same rise in April fall in different years, with different allowances behind them.
Tax months and tax weeks
Payroll does not use calendar months. Tax month 1 runs from 6 April to 5 May, month 2 from 6 May to 5 June, and so on to month 12, which ends on 5 April. Tax week 1 is 6 to 12 April, and the year holds 52 weeks plus one or two odd days, which is why some years carry a week 53 for weekly-paid staff. If your payslip shows a period number rather than a month name, that is what it means, and it matters: a monthly PAYE calculation gives you one twelfth of the Personal Allowance and one twelfth of the band, so being paid in month 1 rather than month 12 changes the arithmetic on that payslip even when the annual result is the same.
The dates after the year ends
Three deadlines follow the year and all of them are the employer's, not yours. The final Full Payment Submission for the year is due on or before the last payday of that year. A P60, the statement of what you were paid and what was deducted across the whole year, must reach every employee still working at 5 April by 31 May. Expenses and benefits, reported on a P11D or through payrolled benefits, are due by 6 July, which is why a company car adjustment often lands in your code part way through the following autumn. If you left during the year you get a P45 instead of a P60, at the point you leave.
What changes on 6 April
Codes, thresholds and allowances all reset. Employers update employee payroll records and payroll software from 6 April, HMRC issues new tax codes for the year, and any cumulative position from the old year, over-tax or under-tax, is closed off and, where it is owed back, usually repaid through the code rather than in cash. If you are on an emergency code at the end of a year because of a benefit or a pension, the new year normally puts you on a non-emergency one. A salary sacrifice, a pension change or a student loan plan switch is almost always applied from the start of a tax period rather than mid-period, for the same reason.
Dates that are not payroll dates
Two dates get mixed into this search and belong elsewhere. The 31 January and 31 July dates are self-assessment dates, not payroll ones, and a person paid only through PAYE is not concerned with them. Company year ends and the 1 April corporation tax year are a company's dates, not a payslip's. The only dates that decide what lands in your account are the tax year boundary on 6 April, the tax month or week your pay falls in, and the day your employer runs payroll, which is a matter of contract rather than law.
Questions people ask about tax year dates
What tax year are we in now?
2026/27: 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. The rates, allowances and thresholds on this site all belong to that year, and each one is quoted from the GOV.UK page that publishes it with the date it was read.
When does tax month 1 end?
5 May. Tax month 1 runs 6 April to 5 May, and the months continue on the sixth of each month to month 12, which ends on 5 April.
When should I get my P60?
By 31 May, for the year that ended on the previous 5 April, if you were still employed there at 5 April. If you left part way through the year, your P45 at the time you left is the equivalent record.
Why does my first payslip of a new tax year look different?
Because the cumulative position restarts. Month 1 gives you a twelfth of the new year's allowance against a month of pay with no history behind it, so a code change, a pay rise or a bonus in that period shows up more sharply than it would in month 12.
What are the PAYE payment dates for an employer?
GOV.UK states that a PAYE bill must reach HMRC by the 22nd of the next tax month for a monthly payer, or by the 22nd after the end of the quarter for a quarterly one, so 22 July settles the 6 April to 5 July quarter. A cheque sent through the post has to arrive by the 19th of the month instead. These are the employer's deadlines for paying HMRC, not the dates you are paid.