For many full-time contractors, the opportunity to earn a higher take home pay after tax is among their main reasons for making the move. That, along with the freedom and enjoyment that comes with owning their own business.
If you’ve decided to set up a Limited Company, you want to be certain it’s created in the most tax-efficient way. After all, you’ll be working incredibly hard for your money, so you don’t want any more going to the taxman than has to.
Dividends are a great way to maximise the take home pay after tax from your Limited Company. If you’re not too sure of what they are, here’s an introduction:
Dividends in a nutshell…
Dividends are essentially a method of taking income from your Limited Company. They are payments made to the company’s owners – aka its shareholders – from accumulated profits after business-related payments such as Corporation Tax and VAT have been made.
The main rule for withdrawing dividends is that your company must have enough ‘retained profit’ in the bank to cover them. Withdrawing dividends from untaxed earnings is illegal and, if caught, you could land yourself in serious hot water with HMRC.
Any profit that remains once you’ve withdrawn the dividends can stay in the account, where the money will hopefully accumulate over time.
What are the advantages?
The main benefit of drawing dividends from your Limited Company is that you won’t have to pay National Insurance Contributions (NICs), regardless of your Corporate Tax or Personal Income Tax rates. That’s why many business owners choose to pay themselves a modest salary, topped up with dividends.
Are there any disadvantages to drawing dividends?
The only real drawback to dividends is that there must be profit in the Limited Company in order to declare them. If it’s not turning a profit, you’re still able to pay yourself a salary or bonus, even if it means you declare a loss – a situation you hopefully won’t find yourself in.
Taking dividends is something that must be decided on by every company shareholder, which could cause issues if there were multiple shareholders or an outside investor. Yet, these cases are unlikely to apply to you.
Who can dividends be paid to?
Dividends are separate to bonuses and salaries and can only be paid to the shareholders in the Limited Company. Many contractors will name a spouse as their shareholder, with dividends split depending on how much share capital each person owns. This can lead to even greater tax efficiency.
How are dividends taxed?
Dividends are taxed as personal income. The first £2,000 of dividend income is free of tax under the dividend allowance, with further dividends taxed at the following rates:
Within the basic rate threshold (income between £8,425 and £46,350 for 2018/19) = 7.5%
Within the higher rate (income from £46,351 to £150,000 for 2018/19) = 32.5%
At the additional rate (income exceeding £150,000 for 2018/19) = 38.1%
Find out more about dividends from the best accountants for contractors
Now you’ve got a clearer idea of what dividends are, there are rules to be aware of when it comes to declaring and balancing them with your salary. We thought it would be useful to put together a Limited Company expenses guide on combining salary with dividends for people making the move into contracting and who need expert accounting advice from a specialist Limited Company accountant.
If you feel like you might need contractor accountancy services while setting up your Limited Company, our team of the best contractor accountants at Intouch can help. We’ll pair you up with your own expert Limited Company Accountant, who will help with everything from incorporating your Limited company with HMRC, to setting up a business bank account, to insuring your company. Make the first step by calling our team today on 01202 375293.
This blog has been prepared by Intouch Accounting. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this blog has been obtained from reliable sources, Intouch is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. This blog should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting advisers. If you have any specific queries, please contact Intouch Accounting.
