How do I pay myself dividends?

To pay a dividend, you need to:

• Hold a directors' meeting to ‚Äòdeclare' the dividend.
• Keep minutes of the meeting, even if you're the only director. For smaller companies, this may often be just a case of getting the paperwork completed.
• Issue dividend vouchers.
  

You can pay an independent contractor by an hourly or daily rate, or by the project through the contractor's preferred payment method. You won't need to withhold taxes, as they are responsible for paying their own income and National Insurance contributions.

• What is PAYE
• PAYE when self employed
• When to register for PAYE
• Sole trader taxes
• Sole trader income tax calculations
• Limited company dividends & salary
• Dividend tax rates

A director's loan is defined as money taken from your company that isn't either of the following:

• A salary, dividend or expense treatment
• Money that you've previously paid into or loaned the company
  

A Director's Loan Account (DLA) is a record of all transactions between the company and its directors. It records not just the money owed by the directors, but also the money owed to them.

Director's loans can be used:

• when you need to access money in your company-apart from what you take out as a salary, dividend or expense treatment-for personal reasons.
• for a variety of purposes, such as covering the costs of a home repair bill, travel plans or any unforeseen personal expenses that may arise.

As a limited company director, you have greater flexibility to work around the tax system, and are able to implement tax optimisation strategies not available via other business structures.

One of these ways is to draw dividends from your company, as opposed to receiving a salary; doing so can help to reduce your tax bill.

If you're newly self-employed, this can be rather confusing.

You might be wondering: How can dividends help reduce my tax bill, and what taxes do I need to pay on them? Are there additional considerations I need to keep in mind?

These are the questions we'll be answering below:

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As a limited company director, you pay yourself through drawing a salary and receiving dividends from your company.

Drawing a salary from your company is fairly similar to how you'll be paid if you were employed elsewhere-you'll run payroll, submit the required information to HMRC each month and receive your salary (after income tax and NIC have been accounted for).

A dividend is money that's paid out by limited liability companies to investors, usually on a quarterly or annual basis. These payouts are based on the quarterly profits of your company as well as the amount of stock you own.

Dividend tax therefore refers to the rates by which those dividends are taxed according to HMRC. Each year, these tax rates may differ.

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Healthy cash flow is one of the most powerful weapons in a small company's arsenal.

In fact, cash on hand can be the deciding factor in a customer's choice to buy from your company or a competitor.

For instance, imagine landing the large order of your dreams, but losing the business to a competitor because you lack the capital necessary to prepay for the products needed to fill the customer's order. Fortunately, you can avoid this pitfall by making a few simple changes in your operations.

Below is a look at seven ways to grow your monthly cash flow by reducing expenses.

Unallocated payments are where the client has given you more money than they owe.

To hire a new employee, you need to:

• Check if your business is ready to hire a new staff
• Kickstart your recruitment efforts. You can recruit employees on your own, or by using a recruitment agency.
• Check that the candidate has the right to work in the UK
• Find out if they require a DBS check
• Check if you need to enrol the employee into a workplace pension scheme. Here's a guide for first-time employers. If you've already hired employees previously, refer to this resource instead.
• Before carrying out salary negotiations, you need to check the National Minimum Wage for different ages and types of jobs. You'll also need to finalise the employment contract, and provide a written statement of employment particulars within 2 months of the start of employment.
• Notify HMRC that you've hired a new employee. Make sure you're aware of the steps you need to take when you start paying your employee.
  

If you're hiring staff for the first time, refer to HMRC's guide on the steps you need to take.

There are various ways to repay a director's loan.

• Dividend: A dividend can be declared, and the money can be used to pay off the loan instead of being transferred to the director's personal account.
• Cash repayment: A repayment is made by transferring money into the company account.
• Expenses or salary: The loan can be paid off using other money to the director, such as the director's salary or expense reimbursements.
  

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As a limited company director, you're classed as an office holder. You aren't automatically an employee at your company-even if you're the sole director and only person working in the business.

It's isn't mandatory to be set up as an employee at your new company. However, there are benefits to doing so if you aren't employed elsewhere, as you'll be able to take advantage of your tax free allowances.

A dividend is a payment of profit that a limited company distributes to its shareholders. This is the money remaining after all business expenses and liabilities, as well as outstanding taxes (including VAT and Corporation Tax) have been paid off.

Dividends are important as they are a tax-efficient way to pay yourself from your limited company. Other than drawing dividends as income, you may also consider paying dividends into a pension fund, ISA or to family members.

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If you're operating as a sole trader, you can contribute to a personal pension scheme.

If you're a limited company director, you can make pension contributions as an individual (as an employee), as well as through your company (as an employer). For the latter option, your pension contributions are paid directly from your business bank account.