Short answer: it depends on the scheme, and many people do. And the deadline that catches people is not the one everybody quotes.
If you are employed by a company abroad that has no UK entity, your income tax and National Insurance do not reach HMRC the way they do for most people. There is no UK employer running a payroll and deducting tax before you are paid. Instead the tax sits with you, through a direct payment scheme that you, the employee, pay into, or, where your employer is in the EU, the EEA or Switzerland and so usually registers an NI-only scheme, through Self Assessment or a tax-only scheme beside it. (If you actually work for a UK business, such as a UK client or host company, that business may have to run PAYE for you instead.)
That arrangement has a consequence people are rarely told about when the scheme is opened. On a DCNI your income tax goes through Self Assessment, so you will need to file. On a DPNI your tax is paid through the scheme itself, and you may still need a return, for example if HMRC send you a notice to file or you have other income. And where your employer registers an NI-only scheme, your tax goes through Self Assessment unless you have a separate tax-only scheme. And the date that catches people out is not the one they have heard of.
Tell HMRC you need to file at all. This one applies if you have never filed before, or if you were registered before but did not need to send a return for the 2024/25 tax year (you may need to reactivate your Self Assessment). For the tax year that ran from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, it is 5 October 2026. If that date has already passed, register now: HMRC will set you a filing date 3 months from their letter or email, and the tax is still due by 31 January 2027.
Telling HMRC is a separate step from filing. You register, HMRC issues you a Unique Taxpayer Reference, and only then can you file. Register online and the UTR is in your personal tax account within 72 hours; register by post and HMRC usually post it in 15 working days (21 if you are abroad), and it may take longer at busy times, so do it well before January.
File the return and pay the tax. This is the one most people know, and for the 2025/26 tax year it is 31 January 2027.
It applies every year you are in Self Assessment, not just the first. Our guide to a first Self Assessment walks through what goes on the return itself.
Here is where a lot of what you will read online is simply wrong.
The £100 penalty everyone quotes is for filing late, not for registering late.
It applies if your return is still outstanding after 31 January, or after the later filing date HMRC give you if you registered late.
Missing 5 October triggers something different, a failure to notify penalty, and it is calculated on the tax still unpaid at 31 January. So if you register in November, file on time and pay on time, the amount it is calculated on can be nothing at all.
That is not a reason to ignore the date. Leaving it late compresses everything. If you register after 5 October, HMRC will give you 3 months from their letter or email to file, but the tax is still due by 31 January. But if you are reading this after 5 October having missed it, the honest answer is that you are late rather than in trouble. What matters now is registering straight away, paying the tax by 31 January, and filing by the date in HMRC's letter.
If someone runs the scheme for you, you may get a payslip each month showing tax and National Insurance. It looks exactly like ordinary UK employment, so the idea that you also have a personal filing obligation does not occur to anyone. If the payslip itself is unfamiliar, our guide to payslip abbreviations reads one line by line.
The employer is abroad and often has no idea UK personal tax filing exists. A UK accountant would normally raise it, but most people in this position do not have one, because they think of themselves as an employee rather than as someone with their own tax affairs. Our guide for employees on a direct scheme covers the rest of what lands on you.
If you need a return and have not filed a UK return before, or you were registered but did not need to file for 2024/25, register or reactivate before 5 October, or straight away if that date has passed. It is a short online process and the only thing it commits you to is filing.
If you already file and sent a return for 2024/25, nothing changes and the 5 October date does not apply to you.
If you are not certain which applies, that is worth ten minutes with someone who deals with these schemes, because the answer depends on your specific arrangement rather than on a general rule.
| What | When, for the 2025/26 tax year |
|---|---|
| Tell HMRC you need to file, if you have never filed before or did not need to file for 2024/25 | 5 October 2026 |
| File the return for 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 | 31 January 2027 |
| Pay the tax for that year | 31 January 2027 |
| File the return, if you registered after 5 October 2026 | 3 months from the date on HMRC's letter or email |
Those are the dates for the tax year that has just ended. They move on by a year each April, so check the year you are filing for rather than carrying these forward. The rates and thresholds page carries the current year figures, and our Self Assessment service sets out what we charge to do the return for you.
A direct payment scheme and the personal tax return are two separate jobs. Running the scheme is monthly and mechanical. The return is annual and looks at your whole position, including anything outside the employment. Plenty of people have the first handled and assume the second is covered by it. It is not. If you want the scheme itself run for you, that is DPNI scheme setup.
On a DCNI, yes: your income tax is collected through Self Assessment. On a DPNI your tax is paid through the scheme itself, but you may still need a return, for example if HMRC send you a notice to file or you have other income. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts. A DCNI is used only in specific cases. The position depends on your particular arrangement, so confirm it rather than assume it. The difference between the scheme types is set out in DPNI compared with DCNI.
It is the date by which you must tell HMRC you need to file, if you have not sent a return before, or you were registered before but did not need to send a return for 2024/25. For the 2025/26 tax year it is 5 October 2026. It is separate from the 31 January filing deadline.
No. The £100 is for filing your return late, after 31 January. Missing 5 October triggers a failure to notify penalty, which is calculated on the tax still unpaid at 31 January.
Register as soon as you can. HMRC will give you 3 months from their letter or email to file, but the tax is still due by 31 January, so pay by then. The failure to notify penalty is based on what is still owed at that point, so paying on time reduces or removes it.
This page is general information, not tax, legal or employment advice. The dates given are those for the 2025/26 tax year, the year being filed in January 2027, and they move on by a year each April. Your own position may differ, so please check it or get advice before acting.
Tell us who you work for, where they are based and whether you have filed a UK return before. We will tell you plainly whether 5 October applies to you, and what to do if it has passed. Within one UK business day.
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