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While not as tax-efficient as it once was, taking dividends from your company is one of the most common ways to extract business profits, and for owner-managed businesses it is often the cornerstone of how remuneration is structured. However, tax is not the only consideration and company law considerations must be taken into account when looking to pay dividends. 

Sam Hart looks at what might make a dividend illegal, and what that would mean for your tax position.

Most people will at least be aware of artificial intelligence (AI), and some will already be using AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to ask questions or request tasks. 

Mark McLaughlin ponders whether artificial intelligence is a help to taxpayers or a potential hindrance.

A family investment company (FIC) is a private company (limited or unlimited) established to hold and manage a family's investment assets, typically with the aim of passing wealth to future generations in a tax-efficient way, while retaining control.

Nick Wright provides an introduction to family investment companies, examining their structure, purpose and growing popularity as wealth transfer vehicles. 

In a personal or family company, it is very easy for a director to borrow money from the company. However, there may be tax consequences in doing so for both the director and the company. 

Sarah Bradford explains the tax and National Insurance contributions implications of writing off a director’s loan.

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.