Year-End Tax Prep for Musicians: Your Complete Checklist

Last updated: March 2026 Written by Lillie Kerman, freelance vocalist and Gigflow co-creator

Key takeaway: The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and your Self Assessment return for 2025/26 is due online by 31 January 2027. If you gather your income records, mileage log, expenses, and agency commission statements before that deadline, the actual filing takes a fraction of the time. This checklist breaks the whole process into manageable steps — whether you file yourself or hand everything to an accountant.

What key dates do you need to know?

The UK tax year dates explained simply: the tax year starts on 6 April and ends on 5 April the following year. For the 2025/26 tax year, that means 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026. Everything you earned and spent in that window is what you're reporting on.

Here are the dates that matter:

• 5 April 2026 — End of the 2025/26 tax year. This is your cut-off. Any gig fees, expenses, and mileage after this date belong to the next tax year.

• 5 October 2026 — Deadline to register for Self Assessment with HMRC if you haven't already. If you've filed before, you don't need to re-register.

• 31 January 2027 — Online Self Assessment filing deadline and payment deadline for any tax you owe. This is the big one. Miss it and you'll get an automatic £100 penalty, even if you owe nothing.

• 31 July 2027 — Second payment on account, if applicable. This catches people off guard in their second year — HMRC asks for advance payments towards next year's bill based on what you owed this year.

I learned the hard way that tracking by calendar year instead of tax year throws everything off. My first return was a mess because I'd been logging gigs from January to December, not April to April. It took me hours to unpick. If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: your tax year starts in April.

One more thing worth knowing: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax begins in April 2026 for self-employed people and landlords with gross income over £50,000. If your income is between £30,000 and £50,000, you'll be brought in from April 2027. Most gigging musicians won't hit the £50,000 threshold, but it's worth being aware of. We've written a separate guide on what Making Tax Digital means for musicians.

Your pre-tax-time checklist

This is the part that feels overwhelming until you actually do it. Work through each step and it's rarely more than an evening — assuming you've kept some kind of records through the year.

Gather your income records by source

Pull together every source of income for the tax year. For most performers, that means:

• Agency gig fees (check whether each agency paid you gross or net of commission — this affects what you declare)

• Direct booking fees from private clients, venues, or wedding planners

• Cash-on-the-night payments (these still count — HMRC expects you to declare all earnings, however you were paid)

• Any other self-employed income: teaching, session work, dep gigs

Last tax year I had income from three agencies, a handful of direct bookings, and a couple of cash pub gigs I'd almost forgotten about. The pub gigs only added up to about £300, but leaving them off would have been a risk I didn't need to take.

Cross-reference your diary or gig calendar against your bank statements. If there's a gig in your diary that you can't see a payment for, either you weren't paid (chase it) or it was cash (log it).

For a full breakdown of what counts as taxable income, see our self-employed musician tax guide.

Compile your mileage log

If you've been tracking mileage throughout the year, this step takes minutes. If you haven't, you'll need to reconstruct it from your gig diary. For each gig, you need: the date, the venue, the round-trip distance in miles, and the purpose of the journey.

HMRC's simplified expenses rate for cars and vans is 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p per mile after that. At 3,000 miles, that's £1,350 off your taxable profit.

I used to guess my mileage and I was always wrong — usually underestimating, which meant paying more tax than I needed to. Now I log every journey, and the numbers are always higher than I'd expect.

If you need help understanding what qualifies as business mileage, our guide to claiming mileage as a musician covers the rules in detail.

Organise your expenses and receipts

Go through your bank statements and pull out everything you spent on the business during the tax year. Common performer expenses include:

• Equipment and instrument costs (strings, cables, PA hire, microphones)

• Performance clothing bought specifically for gigging

• Backing tracks and music subscriptions

• Marketing costs (website, business cards, headshots)

• Insurance

• The business portion of your phone and broadband

• Software and app subscriptions you use for gig management or invoicing

You don't need to have a physical receipt for every single expense, but you do need some form of record — a bank statement entry, a digital receipt, a screenshot of a confirmation email. HMRC can ask for evidence, and "I think I bought some leads from Amazon" isn't enough.

Our full list of expenses musicians can claim covers everything in detail, including the grey areas.

Check commission payments against agency statements

This trips people up more than almost anything else. If your agency deducts commission before paying you, the amount that hits your bank is your net fee. If the agency pays you the full fee and invoices you separately for commission, you declare the gross fee as income and the commission as a business expense.

Get a statement from each agency showing what they paid you during the tax year and how much commission was taken. If they don't send one automatically, ask for it — most agencies will provide this in January or February.

If you work with multiple agencies on different commission structures, this is where things get tangled. Our guide to agency commission for singers breaks down the different models.

Export or prepare your reports

Once you've gathered everything above, bring it together in one place. You need a summary that shows:

• Total income by source

• Total allowable expenses by category

• Total business mileage and the allowance claimed

• Commission paid (if claiming as an expense)

If you've been tracking gigs in Gigflow, your tax report is already ready — download it from Money → Tax Report. Income, expenses, and mileage, all by tax year. If you use a spreadsheet, now's the time to tally everything up and check it against your bank statements.

This is general guidance based on my experience and research — it's not professional tax or financial advice. If your situation is complicated, speak to an accountant.

What does your accountant actually need from you?

If you use an accountant, give them clean, organised information. Accountants charge by the hour — every minute they spend deciphering your shoebox of receipts is a minute you're paying for.

Here's what most accountants will want from you:

• A summary of all self-employed income, broken down by source (agency name, direct bookings, cash gigs)

• Agency commission statements showing gross fees, commission deducted, and net payments

• A categorised list of business expenses with amounts (not just a pile of receipts)

• Your mileage log: date, destination, miles, and business purpose for each journey

• Bank statements for any accounts used for business transactions

• Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number

Send this as a single package — a spreadsheet, a PDF export, or a tax report from whatever tool you use. Label things clearly. "Income 2025-26" is better than "tax stuff."

The earlier you send this, the cheaper it's likely to be. Accountants get slammed in January. Hand yours everything in October and they'll have time to spot issues. Hand it over on 28 January and expect a rush fee.

DIY vs. accountant — which is right for you?

There's no universal answer here. It depends on how complicated your finances are and how comfortable you feel with the process.

Filing yourself makes sense if your income comes from one or two sources, your expenses are straightforward, and you've kept decent records. HMRC's Self Assessment system walks you through it step by step. For a musician earning £15,000–£30,000 from gigging with standard expenses and mileage, it's perfectly manageable.

An accountant is worth it if you have multiple income sources (employment plus self-employment), complicated agency commission arrangements, you're approaching the £50,000 MTD threshold, or you simply want the peace of mind.

A basic Self Assessment filing typically costs £150–£350 for a straightforward sole trader return. Weigh that against penalties, interest, and the stress of getting it wrong.

For a full walkthrough of the tax return process, our self-employed musician tax guide covers everything from registration to filing.

FAQ

When does the UK tax year start and end?

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year. The 2025/26 tax year started on 6 April 2025 and ends on 5 April 2026. All income, expenses, and mileage within that window go on your return for that year.

What is the Self Assessment deadline for 2025/26?

The online Self Assessment filing and payment deadline for the 2025/26 tax year is 31 January 2027. Paper returns are due earlier, by 31 October 2026, but almost everyone files online now.

Do I need to file a tax return if I only earned a small amount from gigs?

If your total self-employed income is under £1,000 in a tax year, you don't need to register for Self Assessment — this is covered by the trading allowance. Above £1,000, you need to register and file a return, even if you don't owe any tax after expenses.

What happens if I miss the 31 January deadline?

HMRC charges an automatic £100 penalty for a late return, even if you owe no tax. After three months, daily penalties of £10 per day begin (up to 90 days). After six months and twelve months, further penalties apply. Interest is also charged on any unpaid tax from 1 February.

Can I file my tax return early?

Yes. You can file your 2025/26 return from 6 April 2026 onwards. Filing early doesn't mean you pay early — any tax owed is still due by 31 January 2027. Filing early gives you more time to plan for the payment and avoids the January rush.

What are payments on account?

If your Self Assessment bill is more than £1,000 (and less than 80% of your tax was collected at source), HMRC requires advance payments towards next year's bill. These are two instalments, each equal to half of your previous year's tax bill, due on 31 January and 31 July. This catches many musicians off guard in their second year of filing.

How long do I need to keep my tax records?

HMRC requires you to keep records for at least five years after the 31 January deadline for the relevant tax year. For the 2025/26 return filed by 31 January 2027, that means keeping records until at least 31 January 2032. Digital records count — you don't need paper copies.

The musician tax year end doesn't need to be stressful. If you've tracked your gigs, kept your receipts, and logged your mileage through the year, pulling together your tax return is an afternoon's work, not a week-long ordeal. Start gathering your records now, and you'll thank yourself in January.

For the full picture on tax, expenses, and mileage, start with our complete self-employed musician tax guide.

Tax report ready in 10 minutes, not 10 hours. Try Gigflow free.