This is written for a firm regulated by the SRA, which means England and Wales. Firms in
Scotland and Northern Ireland are regulated by their own Law Societies under different accounts
rules, so the SRA dates below do not reach them; the tax and Companies House dates do. Rates and
thresholds are 2026/27 unless another date is given. None of it replaces your own diary — though
if you are a client, we are running it for you anyway.
The SRA year — client money
The dates that carry a regulatory consequence. Note that the deadline is to obtain the report, not to file it — filing is only required today if the report is qualified.
Within six months of the accounting period endObtain the Accountant's Report if you held or received client money at any point in the period, or operated a joint account or a client's own account as signatory (rule 12.1(a))
Same six months, only if qualifiedDeliver the report to the SRA — and only if it is qualified to show a failure to comply such that client or third party money is, has been or is likely to be put at risk (rule 12.1(b)). Qualified reports go in through mySRA on form AR1
Before you assume you need oneRun the exemption test. No report is required if all the client money came from the Legal Aid Agency, or if the client money balance averaged £10,000 or less and peaked at £250,000 or less across the period (rule 12.2). Both limbs, and the average is all reconciliation balances divided by the number of reconciliations
At least every five weeksThe three-way reconciliation of bank statement balance, cash book balance and client ledger total, for all client accounts held or operated, signed off by the COFA or a manager (rule 8.3) — with the statements themselves obtained at least every five weeks for client and business accounts (rule 8.2)
Promptly, on discoveryCorrect any breach and immediately replace any money improperly withheld or withdrawn (rule 6.1); report a serious breach to the SRA promptly. The rules say promptly — there is no fixed number of days
At least six yearsRetain all accounting records securely (rule 13), and keep the tracing records behind any residual balance paid away for the same period
Coming, not yet lawThis is the part of the calendar that is about to change. On 2 June 2026 the SRA announced that it has submitted rules to the Legal Services Board that would require every firm holding client money to submit its accountant's report, with exempt firms providing information on their exemption status instead, an annual declaration signed by the COFA, reporting accountants sending reports straight to the SRA with a copy to the COFA, and fixed financial penalties for late or missing submissions. Firms with turnover over £600,000, or holding more than £2m of client money, would also have to keep the COLP and COFA roles separate from those who make significant decisions about how the firm is run, with a partial exemption for smaller sole owner-manager firms. None of it is in force. Subject to LSB approval the SRA expects the rules by early 2027, so the sensible move is to get ready for a report that will be read, rather than to change anything yet.
The SRA year — fees, data and consultations
The annual administrative cycle. The firm periodic fee is calculated from turnover across ten bands; the SRA's own worked examples put a firm on £200,000 of turnover at £1,116 and one on £800,000 at £3,846, with an extra £200 for each overseas branch office.
1 – 31 October each yearPractising certificate renewal and the firm's periodic fee. Applying during October 2026 gives a renewal date of 31 October 2026, which means renewing again immediately; applying from 1 November gives 31 October 2027
With the annual renewalThe firm's compensation fund contribution, payable by every authorised body that held or received client money in the qualifying year. The confirmed 2025/26 figures were £1,950 per firm, and £396 per individual practising certificate including a £70 compensation fund contribution
Proposed for 2026/27, not confirmedThe SRA has proposed moving the compensation fund split to 70% individuals and 30% firms, giving £170 per individual and £2,170 per firm. Both figures are pending Legal Services Board approval — budget on the confirmed 2025/26 numbers until they are made
AnnuallyThe SRA's AML and sanctions data collection. The 2026 exercise closed on 27 July 2026. It is an annual return, so keep the firm's AML and sanctions data current rather than assembling it inside the window
17 August 2026Consultation closes on new notification requirements: the SRA is proposing that firms must tell it when they merge with or acquire another firm, and when they start holding or receiving client money
Self assessment — partners, members and sole practitioners
Partners are taxed on their profit share whether or not they draw it, which makes the tax reserve the firm's problem as much as the partner's. Above £50,270 the marginal cost is 40% income tax plus 2% Class 4 National Insurance; above £125,140 it is 45% plus 2%.
31 JanuaryOnline return deadline for the tax year that ended the previous 5 April, plus the balancing payment for that year and the first payment on account for the current one. The firm's partnership return and each partner's own return both sit on this date
31 JulySecond payment on account. This is the one that catches new partners: the first year carries no payments on account, so year two arrives as a balancing payment plus two instalments in the same twelve months
2026/27 and 2027/28Basis period transition profits are still being taxed. Transition profit from 2023/24 is spread across five tax years to 2027/28, with at least 20% taxed in 2023/24 and the rest spread equally over the four years that follow. Any firm with a year end other than 31 March or 5 April is still paying an extra slice — reserve for it
If a partner ceases on or before 5 April 2027All remaining untaxed transition profit is taxed in the year of cessation. Retirement dates and this rule need to be looked at together rather than separately
The one everybody gets wrongPartnerships and LLPs are not in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and no date has been set. HMRC's published position is that partnerships will need to use it in future and that the timeline will be set out later. A partner's share of partnership profits is not qualifying income for their own MTD test either — so an equity partner has no MTD obligation unless they have separate self-employment or property income over the threshold, which is over £50,000 from 6 April 2026, over £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and over £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Making Tax Digital for VAT is a different regime and already applies to every VAT-registered firm.
Incorporated practices — corporation tax and Companies House
These dates belong to the company rather than the SRA — but a missed identity verification is a Companies House problem that becomes a regulatory one the moment the firm has to explain it.
Nine months and one day after the accounting period endCorporation tax payment due. Large companies pay by quarterly instalments instead. The rate is 19% on profits up to £50,000 and 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief between the two producing an effective 26.5% — and both limits are divided by the number of associated companies plus the company itself. Three associated companies means dividing by four, so the limits become £12,500 and £62,500
At least once every 12 monthsConfirmation statement at Companies House, on a date set by the company's own cycle. Accounts are filed there too, and they are publicly visible — which is the one genuinely private structure argument a traditional partnership still has
Your next confirmation statementCompanies House identity verification. It became a legal requirement for directors and PSCs on 18 November 2025, opening a 12-month transition window that closes on 18 November 2026 — but November 2026 is not the date to plan around. An existing director confirms verification with the company's next confirmation statement, which for most firms falls well before the end of the window. Existing PSCs verify by an appointed day inside it, and new directors verify before appointment or incorporation. It is free through GOV.UK One Login, or can be done through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider
Inside the same transition windowThe requirement reaches LLP designated members as well, so a law firm LLP is not outside this — a point a lot of firms have filed under 'companies only'
VAT
Law firm VAT is rarely about the return and usually about disbursements. All eight conditions in VAT Notice 700 have to be met before an outlay sits below the VAT line, and property search fees stopped being straightforward when HMRC withdrew the postal concession on 1 December 2020.
One month and seven days after each VAT quarter endVAT return filed and payment made, under Making Tax Digital for VAT. Every VAT-registered business is already in scope and signed up automatically
Within 30 days of the end of the month you crossed itRegister for VAT if rolling 12-month taxable turnover has gone over £90,000. Registration takes effect from the first day of the second month after the breach
Inside the 30-day period itselfThe forward look: if you expect to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone, register by the end of that period, with effect from the date you formed the expectation
Below £88,000The deregistration threshold, if taxable turnover has fallen and is expected to stay there
Payroll — every firm with staff
On or before each paydayRTI full payment submission to HMRC
22nd of the monthPAYE and National Insurance payment when paying electronically, or the 19th if you still pay by post. Employer National Insurance is 15% above a £5,000 secondary threshold, with the £10,500 Employment Allowance available to firms that qualify
31 MayP60s to every employee for the tax year just ended
6 JulyP11D and P11D(b) for benefits in kind, with Class 1A due on those benefits at 15%
Whenever a member's package changesRe-test the salaried members rules. A fixed-share member who meets all three of the disguised salary, significant influence and capital contribution conditions is taxed as an employee, which brings PAYE and 15% employer National Insurance with it. Condition C is tested at 6 April, on joining, annually, and again whenever the contribution or the circumstances change
What is coming that has no date yet
Three things worth knowing about but not diarising. The SRA's wider review of whether firms
should hold client money at all — which also floated replacing "promptly" with hard timeframes
for returning residual balances — is still at consultation stage, with no decisions and no
implementation dates. AML and counter-terrorist financing supervision of the legal sector is
moving from the SRA to the FCA under the Single Professional Services Supervisor model, but that
transfer needs enabling legislation, funding and a transition plan, and no date is set. And from
April 2029, employer and employee National Insurance will apply to pension contributions made by
salary sacrifice above £2,000 a year per person, which is far enough away to plan around and near
enough to stop building new arrangements on the current treatment.
How to use this page
Print it, or save it as a PDF from your browser's print dialogue — the navigation and the
calls to action drop away and you are left with the dates. Then do the single thing that makes
the rest of it easy: put the five-week reconciliation in the calendar as a recurring commitment
with a named person against it. Almost every unpleasant surprise on this page is downstream of
that one cycle slipping to monthly, then to quarterly, then to whenever somebody asks.
If you would rather not run any of it yourself, that is what we are for.
A free review will tell you which of these dates actually bite for
your firm and which do not, and the calculators will put numbers on the
two that cost real money: lockup, and the partner tax reserve.