Does anyone know why the tax year ends on 5th April?

For years there has been debate whether the 5th April tax year end should change as it is viewed as being somewhat quirky and antiquated, with 31 March or 31 December being the most obvious alternatives.

But have you ever wondered where that date came from? 

It all goes back to Roman times and the Julain calendar.  Back in 1582 a problem had arisen with it and the Pope ordered the change from the Julian calendar as a result.  The Julian calendar had 30 and 31 day months with February having 28 days (29 every 4 years). The problem was that by the 1500s it had become 10 days behind the solar calendar.

A bit like when the EU adopted the Euro, but Britain did not, at that time the UK decided that it wanted to be different from the rest of Europe and it didn’t adopt the Pope’s instructions, thus having a 10 day difference with the rest of Europe for many years.

Due to a leap year in one calendar and not the other, by 1752 the difference had increased to 11 days.  Britain then moved across to the solar powered Gregorian Calendar and removed the 11 days to tie in with the rest of Europe.

Back in 1752 the tax year started on 25 March, which was the old Tax New Year Day in Great Britain.  In order to prevent loss of tax revenue The Treasury decided the tax year starting on 25 March 1752 would be 365 days long, meaning it ended on 4 April.  The new year started on 5 April.   In 1800, the Treasury moved the year start again.  It changed from 5 April to 6 April.  Th reason was that the Gregorian Calendar did not have a leap year whereas the old Julian would have done.

6 April has remained the start of the tax year since.