I have often wondered why the income tax year starts on the 6th April each year - if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them!
2006-12-04 02:25:16 · 7 answers · asked by Gordon S 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United Kingdom
It starts on the first Monday in April, so it varies from year to year.
I think it differs from the calendar year because it would be tricky to have the financial year changeover in the middle of the Christmas holiday season.
2006-12-04 02:34:27 · answer #1 · answered by mcfifi 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Historically, the start of the legal year was 25th March, or Lady Day. So why has it moved back to April? Well in England, Lady Day was the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March) and was New Year's Day. It comes from the fact, that the first Christian Calendars were based on the Egyptian Calendar, which was set around the time of the Nile flood. The Romans incorporated this astronomy knowledge into their Julian Calendar, and when they invaded, supplanted the ancient Celt New Year, with the March one.
Back in 1752 the UK switched from the Julian calendar to the more widely used Gregorian calendar. It was calculated that up to 1752, the Julian calendar had fallen 11 days behind the Gregorian calendar since its inception in 46BC. Therefore, the day after 2 Sep 1752 was revised to be 14 Sep 1752.
So that the Government didn’t lose 11 days of tax revenues in that year, the start of the next legal year was pushed back to 6 April and its been 12 monthly ever since!
2006-12-04 10:36:10 · answer #2 · answered by DAVID C 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
For a very long time, contracts, rent and taxes were based on the quarter days - that's the spring and autumn equinoxes, and the summer and winter solstices. The tax year ran from the spring solstice, known as Lady Day on 24th March.
In 1752, the UK adopted the Gregorian Calendar. We previously used the Julian Calendar and we were a few days out compared to the rest of Europe. The tax man wasn't going to lose out on a few days tax, so the 1751/52 tax year ran for 365 days from 24th March 1751 (Julian) to 5th April 1752 (Gregorian). It's been from 6th April to 5th April ever since.
2006-12-04 10:35:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Fiscal year ends on March 31st and in the old days (remember, Income Tax has been around in the UK for over 200 years) they needed a few days to close off the country's books.
2006-12-04 10:29:04 · answer #4 · answered by skip 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't know - but y the flick do the returns + payment have to be in on 30th Jan when we're all skint from crimbo - sorry doesn't answer ur question but lets me let off steam!
2006-12-04 10:29:39 · answer #5 · answered by grtaylor76 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It takes them all that long to sober up after Christmas
2006-12-04 10:27:47 · answer #6 · answered by Agustin-Jean F 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋
I reckon it's because they are all tw@s and winkers that enjoy causing us confusion.
2006-12-04 10:28:17 · answer #7 · answered by Harrison N 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋