Can I mix my salary with dividends?

[TheFaQQer]

The meeting minutes and dividend vouchers[/URL] that you have been producing when you declared your dividends because without these, they wouldn't be dividends.

Someone on CUK (sorry, I can't remember who) thoughtfully provided a spreadsheet to generate the correct paperwork, which is what I use these days.

[northernladuk]

what paperwork would that be?

You are a troll.. No one with an accountant and a LTD can be this stupid!

[TheFaQQer]

You are a troll.. No one with an accountant and a LTD can be this stupid!

Maybe not. Maybe he's just not cut out to be a contractor.

[northernladuk]

Maybe not. Maybe he's just not cut out to be a contractor.

Aww c'mon. You are not still angry at me are you?

Using a troll that doesn't know about divi paperwork is a bit mean!

[SimonMac]

Is there any drawback to taking dividends each month? At the moment I can get away with living off a small salary and expenses (I make a profit on mileage) then look to take dividends ever 3, 4 or 6 months depending on what my needs are.

[d000hg]

Out of interest is there any practical difference between creating the dividend docs the day you take the money, and creating these back-dated at year-end in one go?

[SimonMac]

Out of interest is there any practical difference between creating the dividend docs the day you take the money, and creating these back-dated at year-end in one go?

In case you forget

[Joeman]

Out of interest is there any practical difference between creating the dividend docs the day you take the money, and creating these back-dated at year-end in one go?

I pay myself what i need for the month (and no more) in one payment then figure out what proportion of the payment is salary/expenses/divs later in the year to fit best with tax planning....I've never had a problem with this approach, but it does leads to some strange div figures!

[TheFaQQer]

Is there any drawback to taking dividends each month? At the moment I can get away with living off a small salary and expenses (I make a profit on mileage) then look to take dividends ever 3, 4 or 6 months depending on what my needs are.

Theoretically, at least, there is no drawback to taking a monthly dividend as well. Whether there is any evidence that taking them monthly (or even more often than that) makes any difference / flags the company to HMRC / anything like that, I don't know (have you tried doing a search? NLUK)

I have an offset mortgage, so normally, at the start of the tax year take a big dividend at that point. Stick it against the mortgage to reduce the interest, and then draw against that as I need to throughout the year.

[northernladuk]

Theoretically, at least, there is no drawback to taking a monthly dividend as well. Whether there is any evidence that taking them monthly (or even more often than that) makes any difference / flags the company to HMRC / anything like that, I don't know (have you tried doing a search? NLUK)

I have an offset mortgage, so normally, at the start of the tax year take a big dividend at that point. Stick it against the mortgage to reduce the interest, and then draw against that as I need to throughout the year.

We had this discussion before and as you can imagine it was a bit of a melee. The general consensus is it makes no difference whatsoever. A permie getting paid monthly has no bearing on what happens to a dividend. It is coincidence on the dates and nothing more.

Out of interest is there any practical difference between creating the dividend docs the day you take the money, and creating these back-dated at year-end in one go?

I asked a similar thing and even the accountants admitted doing them regularly at the correct time is best practice but at the end of the day who the hell knows. Even if you do them 10 mins before teh HMRC guy turns up. They wouldn't advice or condone it though.

I pay myself what i need for the month (and no more) in one payment then figure out what proportion of the payment is salary/expenses/divs later in the year to fit best with tax planning....I've never had a problem with this approach, but it does leads to some strange div figures!

I used to do this until our resident accountant posters seemed to indicate it was better to keep apart so will be doing that in future instead.