Salary vs Dividends: Optimising Profit Extraction for 2025/26

For limited company directors, the strategy of balancing salary and dividends remains crucial for tax-efficient profit extraction. Recent changes announced in the Autumn Budget, particularly regarding employers’ national insurance rates and employment allowance, have added new considerations to this decision-making process.

Understanding Salary Benefits and Drawbacks

Advantages of Salary Payments

A salary provides a straightforward method of compensation with several key benefits:

  • It contributes toward state benefit eligibility, including the State Pension, provided the salary meets minimum threshold requirements.
  • Your company can claim it as an allowable expense, reducing corporation tax liability.

Salary Considerations

However, salary payments come with certain obligations:

  • They incur both income tax and national insurance contributions.
  • Companies must pay employer national insurance contributions above certain thresholds.
  • PAYE administration requirements create additional compliance responsibilities.

Dividend Strategy Analysis

Benefits of Dividend Payments

Dividends offer alternative advantages for profit extraction:

  • They avoid national insurance contributions, though recent changes to dividend tax and corporation tax rates have somewhat diminished this benefit.
  • They require less administrative overhead compared to PAYE, though proper documentation remains essential.

Dividend Limitations

Key considerations for dividend payments include:

  • They can only be distributed from post-tax profits, requiring sufficient retained earnings.
  • Heavy reliance on dividends may impact your state benefits eligibility.
  • Dividend tax rates affect the overall tax efficiency.

Finding the Optimal Balance

Most business owners benefit from combining both methods. A strategic approach often involves:

  • Taking a modest salary to secure state benefit eligibility while minimising national insurance contributions.
  • Supplementing with dividends for additional tax-efficient income.

The ideal distribution strategy varies based on individual circumstances, including personal tax position, company profitability, and long-term financial goals.

Professional Guidance

Given the complexity of tax regulations and recent policy changes, professional advice can be invaluable in determining your optimal profit extraction strategy for 2025/26.

Our NRB tax specialists can provide detailed analysis and personalised recommendations to maximise your tax efficiency while supporting your financial objectives.

To find out more about the services we offer, please click here.

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We like to do the best for our clients and this isn’t always easy. We aren’t afraid to use our integrity to confront difficult situations. We firmly believe that acting with our utmost integrity those difficult conversations will help to build our trust with our clients. Sometimes the difficult option is the best.

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