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Practical guidance for limited company directors and shareholders — covering director's loan accounts, salary versus dividend planning, types of shares, holding company structures and the tax rules most relevant to owner-managed businesses.
How should a company director take pay in 2026/27? We walk through the salary and dividend numbers, the employer NIC trap and how to keep more profit.
A director's loan account is not the company bank account — it is a legal debt owed to or from the company. Get it wrong and your company can face section 455 tax at 35.75% while you still owe the underlying money. Here is everything you need to know.
The £10,000 rule is widely misunderstood. It is not a tax-free band — it is an exemption that disappears the moment the relevant loan total goes above £10,000, even temporarily. Here is how the beneficial-loan charge works in 2026/27.
Section 455 tax can cost a company £35,750 for every £100,000 a shareholder still owes at the relevant deadline — and the director still owes the underlying money. Here is how the charge works, when it becomes payable and how to avoid it.
An overdrawn DLA does not have to stay that way. There are six main routes to clearing it — but each has different tax and timing consequences. Getting the sequence right can mean the difference between section 455 or no section 455.
The nine-month rule is one of the most important deadlines in company tax. Miss it with an outstanding director's loan and your company faces section 455 tax at 35.75%. Here is exactly how to calculate the deadline and what counts as a valid repayment.
Most private companies start life with plain ordinary shares — and many never need anything else. But the right share structure can unlock dividend flexibility, employee incentives and estate planning. Here's what each share type actually does.
A holding company above your trading company can protect assets, move profits tax-efficiently and ease a future sale. Here's how the structure works and who it suits.
A Family Investment Company lets you grow wealth tax-efficiently and pass it down the generations while keeping control. Here's how FICs work, and the role of freezer and growth shares.
Sell a trading subsidiary and, if the conditions are met, the whole gain can be free of corporation tax — automatically, with no claim needed. Here's how the Substantial Shareholding Exemption works for owner-managed groups, in plain English.
Every year we see the same perfectly legitimate expenses go unclaimed. Here are the ones most owner-managed businesses forget — and the conditions that make them allowable.
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