£500.77 per month

[Taxless]

Taxless, yes I do use an accountant. This figure was suggested to me prior to the accountants. It was directed as a means of showing that the yearly income was a reasonable amount.

But if I can use the suggested amounts then I would do so. This sum that I take is gross and the total year end(salary and divs) is aimed at keeping it under the higher tax threshold.

OK. Firstly, you do NOT have to show that the yearly income was "reasonable". Where you have your own Ltd company it is highly unlikely that you have a separate contract of employment. If you did, then you need to pay at least NMW rates and if you don't have a contract, you can pay yourself whatever you want, including ZERO.

This applies to all industry sectors and lots of directors take ZERO for various reasons.

I wonder why anyone would suggest "reasonable"? Possibly because they suspect (fear) that you are caught by IR35 and hope a "reasonable" figure will hide you from HMRC's prying eyes?

If they and/or you are that worried about IR35 then maybe it is time for you to reconsider how you are operating and change to put the matter beyond doubt, or at least improve things as far as is possible.

Now that you have appointed accountants, what is their take on this? What were the crucial factors that made you decide to appoint them rather than any other firm?

You should expect your accountants to be proactive rather than reactive and this would include, as part of the take over process, "how have you been remunerating yourself and can we suggest an alternative method than is more tax efficient".

You pay your accountant - Challenge them.

On the limited information available then you can certainly change your current remuneration package, have the same amount in your pocket, keep out of higher rate tax and save tax overall (company and individual combined).