I am a UK citizen and the sole director of a limited company that has no employees other than myself and conducts its business solely in the UK. My wife is an EU citizen and has no right to live in the UK. I would like my wife to become a director of the company and to pay her the same salary as I take (£12,570) through PAYE as she assists me in the running of the business (both when she is in the UK, and remotely in the EU) and has also contributed to the funding of the business through my director's loans. My question is, can I do this and if so, how? 

Arthur replies: 

You are certainly allowed to pay your wife a salary for her work for the company. If the salary she is going to receive (i.e., £12,570), is commensurate with the work she does for the company, then that is fine. Her salary will be allowable for the company for corporation tax purposes, and there will be no 'comeback' on you personally. A good way to gauge what is commensurate is to ask yourself what you would pay someone else to do the same amount of work. However, if £12,570 is more than you would pay someone else, HMRC would probably treat the excess as your personal salary. See HMRC’s Business Income Manual at BIM47106.