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For many years, the vast majority of owner-managers have been taking dividends to extract surplus profits from 'their' companies, whilst also drawing a reasonable monthly salary. Further tax savings have often been made by passing some (ordinary) shares to their spouses and paying them appropriate dividends.

Peter Rayney reviews the current tax costs of taking bonuses and dividends. 

It is not uncommon in owner-managed businesses for a company’s shares to be divided into different classes (e.g., ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ shares) for tax planning purposes. Such shares are known colloquially as ‘alphabet shares’. 

Mark McLaughlin explains what the relief is, who it applies to, and how to make sure it's on your checklist every time a client Mark McLaughlin warns that alphabet share structures are not as straightforward as some might think.

Non-domestic property rates, commonly known as business rates, are a central feature of the taxation system for commercial premises in England and Wales. These rates represent a significant operational cost for businesses but are a vital source of revenue for local authorities. The system’s complexity and periodic revaluations mean that rate changes can have far-reaching consequences for businesses, property owners, and indeed local communities. 

Richard Curtis explores the changes to non-domestic property rates in England from April 2026.

Expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of a trade can be deducted in computing trading profits, as can deductible travel expenses. In many cases, it is straightforward to arrive at the deductible amount. However, this is not always the case, and this is where simplified expenses come in. This is a way of calculating business expenses using flat rates rather than the actual costs.

Sarah Bradford explains the benefits for the self-employed of using simplified expenses.

A company is a separate legal entity, distinct from the shareholders that own it. Consequently, if the directors and shareholders want to use the profits made by the company for their personal use, they will need to extract those profits first. There are various ways in which this can be done; some are more tax-efficient than others.  

Sarah Bradford considers options for extracting profits from a company in a tax-efficient manner in the 2024/25 tax year.

HMRC recently undertook a ‘One to Many’ letter campaign, wherein HMRC’s skilled data analysts undertake to mine nuggets from a huge range of sources to test for omissions or errors in tax returns. 

Lee Sharpe reports on HMRC getting all ‘Nancy Drew’ with its sleuthing over company reporting and shareholders’ dividend income returns. 

Some company shareholders may either be unaware or have forgotten about a relatively unknown capital gains tax (CGT) relief that offers a reduced CGT rate of only 10% on qualifying gains of up to £10m during their lifetime, if certain conditions are satisfied.  

Mark McLaughlin highlights a relatively unknown and infrequently used but generous capital gains tax relief.

Owner-managers can spend a significant amount of time and energy building a successful and profitable trading company.

Joe Brough looks at tax issues for business taxpayers and their tax advisers when a company is coming to an end.