There has never been a link legally between earnings and shareholdings So in theory anything goes. In reality the Revenue would love to have a link and by various means have tried to get it.
Firstly it is earning potential not hours worked that matter in this so if Mr X is filing and doing the paperwork and Mrs X goes out and earns the company £100k pa this is not 50:50 split of activity!
BUT first I would look at the tax position and the potental earnings. If Mrs X is already a higher rate tax payer as is Mr X then no advantage (or disadvantage) I would try and come up with the perfect %'s based on taxable income and earnings alone.
Then look at the split of activity and see if the two different %'s can be got as close as possible. If in this case Mr X is the "earner" I would not favour 50:50 but still leave him in control say 60:40 at best and say 80:20 at worse. Should you go behond that you are puting yourself higher up the list for Revenue attack and making it harder to justify if challanged.
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Percentage of shares...
If Mr X has a 100% holding since the company started 2 years ago and he now wants to employe Mrs X who will legitimately be working 2.5 days a week through the company along with Mr X who also only does 2.5 days.
Is there any problem in Mrs X having a larger shareholding say 75% or should it not be more than 50%?
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