How will dividends be taxed from April 2016?

From April 2016, the way dividends are taxed is changing. 

The 10% notional tax credit is being scrapped and there is now a £5,000 dividend tax free allowance per tax year.

After that, the tax rates are 7.5% up to the basic rate band (£5K tax free allowance forms part of this), then 32% for higher rate and 38.1% for additional higher rate.

Note, the new 'savings allowance' from April is in addition to the dividend allowance but is not available to use against dividend income, only interest.

Putting this into context, if you take an employment income of £8,000 and take out company dividends of £40,000, this will mean you will pay around £1,390 more in tax than before.

Should you be taking any action? 

If you have enough reserves held in the company, consider whether it would be beneficial paying a large dividend before April 2016.

Consider changing your year end to March if you haven't already, this way you can keep track of the dividends you are taking and this will make it easier to tie in to the year end. 

You should speak with your advisor on possible ways to mitigate this tax before April. 

To discuss how the new dividend regime will affect your business or to find out more about our pro-active services, contact Brian or Caroline on 0845 303 1144 for a chat or email info@coopercurtis.co.uk

Cooper Curtis Accountants have offices in Warwickshire, Birmingham and Manchester

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Please note, all our content is for general guideline only, every case is different and we would recommend speaking to us before taking any action as a result of the content. The content was correct at the time it was published.