Salary and bonus
Payroll, employer cost and the director's personal income position are reviewed together.
A company director can be dealing with two taxpayers at once: the company and the individual. Salary, dividends, expenses, pension contributions, benefits and director-loan movements need to be considered together rather than as isolated transactions.
We do not start with a generic “salary versus dividends” formula. The right mix depends on company profits, cash flow, other personal income, National Insurance, pensions and what the director actually needs to extract.
Approximate figures are sufficient at enquiry stage.
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The company and director positions need to reconcile. A payment can have one consequence for the company and another for the individual.
Director remuneration should be planned from company profit, payroll, distributable reserves, loan-account movements and the director's wider personal income rather than one headline tax rate.
The engagement can cover one technical point or the wider company-owner tax position.
Payroll, employer cost and the director's personal income position are reviewed together.
Distributable reserves, dividend documentation and the director's marginal tax rate are considered.
Amounts owed by or to the director are reconciled before the year-end tax position is finalised.
Company cars, private expenses and other benefits need the correct employment-tax treatment.
Salary, dividends, benefits and other personal income are brought into the director's annual return where required.
Changes in share ownership and a future company sale can create separate CGT and transaction work.
We identify profit, remuneration, dividends, loans and other relevant personal income.
Payroll, dividends and director balances are reconciled to the accounts.
Options are considered using the actual company and director circumstances.
Advice, payroll or annual filing is completed within the agreed engagement scope.
The director should not rely on last year's dividend-rate assumptions when planning current extractions.
A dividend is not a substitute for payroll. It must be supported by available distributable profits and properly documented. The director's wider income determines the eventual personal tax rate.
Current 2026/27 dividend rates and the £500 Dividend Allowance.
Official rates ↗General Companies House guidance on directors' legal responsibilities and company records.
Director guidance ↗There is no universal answer. Company profit, employer NIC, the director's other income and how much cash is required personally all affect the comparison.
Only where the company has sufficient distributable profits and the dividend is properly authorised and documented.
An overdrawn account can create company tax and benefit-in-kind issues depending on the amount, timing and repayment position.
Potentially. The company, pension and director circumstances should be reviewed before assuming the contribution is deductible or appropriate.
Not solely because they are a director. Filing depends on the individual's wider circumstances and reportable income.
Yes. Director remuneration, personal tax or transaction advice can be scoped separately where another accountant handles routine company compliance.