Tax planning for small businesses and directors
Proactive tax planning for small businesses, directors and sole traders across the UK, all year round. We plan your pay, dividends, capital allowances and pensions in advance, so you keep more of what you earn.
Most tax is decided long before the return is filed. Tax planning for a small business is about acting while the year is still open, and as chartered accountants for sole traders, directors and limited companies in London and Slough we plan ahead so the right decisions are made while they still count.
What we do
Tax planning is not a January exercise. The choices that change your bill, how you pay yourself, when dividends are taken, what goes into your pension, are made during the year, not after it ends. As your tax planning accountant we review your position regularly, flag opportunities in plain English, and agree the next step with you before any deadline arrives.
You will never be left guessing. As your appointed agent, we deal with HMRC for you, and every piece of tax planning advice is explained clearly enough to repeat to your business partner. Proactive advice, not box-ticking.
What’s included
- Pay structure review: the right mix of salary and dividends for a director
- Dividend timing planned around tax years and band thresholds, before 5 April
- Allowances, reliefs and capital allowances checked, so nothing you are entitled to goes unclaimed
- Pension contributions planned for personal tax efficiency
- A year end tax planning call before the tax year closes
What it costs
Tax planning is part of a fixed monthly fee, agreed up front, not an hourly extra. Use our instant estimate tool for a ballpark in under a minute. After a quick call we send your final quote by email. No hidden fees.
Year end tax planning works before 5 April, not after
Dividend timing, pension top-ups and unused capital allowances only help while the tax year is still open. A short review in the spring is worth more than any amount of effort after the year has closed.
Year end tax planning
The weeks before 5 April, and before your company year end, are when year end tax planning earns its keep. Dividends can be timed against this year’s bands, pension contributions made while the allowance is open, and equipment brought forward so the relief lands a year earlier.
For directors the same window sets next year up properly: the salary and dividend mix reviewed against new rates, and profit extraction planned rather than improvised. Tax planning for directors is most of what our spring conversations are about.
Reducing corporation tax
Corporation tax planning rarely comes down to one clever trick. Reducing corporation tax comes from employer pension contributions, capital allowances claimed in full, spending timed sensibly around your year end and a pay structure that fits how profit actually arrives.
All of it is standard relief used properly, nothing that would trouble an inspector. We review the options before your corporation tax year end, while there is still time to act on them.
Capital allowances
Capital allowances are how equipment cuts your bill: computers, tools, machinery, vans and office fit-out can usually be written off in full in the year you buy them. The timing of a big purchase either side of a year end can move the relief a whole year.
The same review checks the everyday claims, because missed running costs are the most common leak. Our guide to what counts as an allowable expense covers those rules in plain English.
Personal tax planning
Personal tax planning matters just as much as the company side: pension relief at your highest rate, the High Income Child Benefit Charge, and the taper that quietly takes the personal allowance away above £100,000 of income.
Seen early, each of those has answers; seen in January, they are just numbers on a bill. We look at the whole picture, business and personal together, because that is where the real savings sit.
Who it suits
Tax planning for directors deciding how to take money out of their company, sole traders weighing up incorporation, and anyone whose income has changed since last year. If you file a director’s self-assessment, planning and filing work best together.
Switching to us
Switching takes one email. We do the rest: we contact your old accountant, collect your records and pick up your tax position mid-year without anything being missed.
Salary or dividends: see the tax difference.
The single most common tax planning win for directors. Drag your profit and compare the two routes.
Salary vs dividends
Drag your income to see the most tax-efficient way to pay yourself from a limited company.
Tax planning questions, asked before the year end.
Get in touchThrough the year, with a proper year end review before 5 April. Most savings come from decisions made while the tax year is still open: dividend timing, pension contributions and using allowances before they reset. We build those check-ins into the year rather than waiting for the return.
Yes, that is the core of tax planning for directors. We review the balance of salary and dividends against the current year’s rates and your other income, then set a pay structure that is simple to run month to month. If your profit changes, we revisit it.
No. Tax planning for a small business works just as well for sole traders and landlords: timing of equipment purchases, capital allowances, pension relief and whether incorporation would leave you better off. The tools differ, the principle is the same: plan before the deadline, not after it.
Yes. Tax planning conversations are part of how we work, not a bolt-on charged by the hour. Your fixed monthly fee is agreed up front, and after a quick call we send your final quote by email. No hidden fees.
Yes, within the rules: employer pension contributions, capital allowances on equipment, timing large purchases around your year end and a sensible pay structure all reduce corporation tax without anything that would worry an inspector. The review happens before your year end, while the options are still open.
Talk to chartered accountants in London & Slough.
SBX helps you stay compliant & keep more of what you earn with expert tax, accounts, and bookkeeping services.