Investing Company Profits - Premium Bonds

[ChloeRadshaw]

I run a small business and theres quite a large amount of cash that is in the bank account earning 1%

My accountant says I cannot withdraw this money into my own name as that becomes a 'loan'

Does anyone know if i can invest this money in premium bonds? How would winnings work if they were allowed.

Interest rates seem tiny on business accounts -1% at best.. Any ideas on how to improve that

[The Wikir Man]

Premium Bonds are only available to individuals over 16 (or can be bought on behalf of younger people by parents or grandparents).

So not a company option.

[The Wikir Man]

You could take the money out as a loan (and pay the BIK if it becomes due), or take it as a dividend and pay any tax due on it if necessary.

[MarillionFan]

I run a small business and theres quite a large amount of cash that is in the bank account earning 1%

My accountant says I cannot withdraw this money into my own name as that becomes a 'loan'

Does anyone know if i can invest this money in premium bonds? How would winnings work if they were allowed.

Interest rates seem tiny on business accounts -1% at best.. Any ideas on how to improve that

Whats a lot of money? £10k, £20k, £50k?

[Stag Cozier]

I run a small business and theres quite a large amount of cash that is in the bank account earning 1%

My accountant says I cannot withdraw this money into my own name as that becomes a 'loan'

Does anyone know if i can invest this money in premium bonds? How would winnings work if they were allowed.

Interest rates seem tiny on business accounts -1% at best.. Any ideas on how to improve that

Yes you can withdraw the money but it will be treated as a director's loan where there will be benefit in kind issues if the total director's loan balance is more than £5k at any point in time.

Premium bonds are personal investments and cannot be held by the company. The maximum amount of premium bonds you can personal hold is £30k I think.

If you have excess cash in the company then think about maximising your basic rate allowance, pension contributions, higher rate savings account for businesses (although they are all pretty low at the moment anyway), stocks, bonds or investments or property.

[richy]

Does anyone know if i can invest this money in premium bonds? How would winnings work if they were allowed.

Interest rates seem tiny on business accounts -1% at best.. Any ideas on how to improve that

We have ltd co 7-day notice deposit account with Scottish Widows, pays 1.5%. Time to switch?

In fact, we just ditched Scottish Widows and are moving to 120 day notice Secure Trust which pays @ 3.25%

There are also 60-day, 90-day accounts with Secure Trust which pay 2.54% and 3.00%. So definitely interest to be had!

Secure Trust Bank - Deposit Account

[imightbewrong]

Can you not take the loan, and as long as you pay interest stated here, it's not a BIK?

[imightbewrong]

Also from here, read 17.1 (can't copy/paste it for some reason)

[Olly]

Can you not take the loan, and as long as you pay interest stated here, it's not a BIK?

Yes absoloutely....I do get a bit annoyed when people say
"there will be benefit in kind issues if the total director's loan balance is more than £5k at any point in time."

[Stag Cozier]

Yes absoloutely....I do get a bit annoyed when people say
"there will be benefit in kind issues if the total director's loan balance is more than £5k at any point in time."

There will be BIK issues. That is a different statement to "there will be a benefit in kind". Paying interest back to the company removes beneficial loan interest. That wasn't my point. All you would have done is removed the requirement to pay personal tax and for the loan not to be treated as a BIK. It would have still been a BIK issue to start with which the director should consider. I don't see how my initial comment was incorrect.