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See exactly how much a UK limited company director takes home for any salary/dividend split — built on the real HMRC rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027). Nothing is stored, nothing is emailed. Just numbers.
The amount your limited company has available to pay you, before any salary or tax comes out of it.
The rest is automatically paid as dividends. Watch your take-home update live as you move it.
We tell you which common split keeps the most money in your pocket at your profit level — no guesswork.
Enter your figures below — everything updates instantly.
Does the company have other PAYE employees? Besides you as director — this affects Employment Allowance eligibility
At your current profit level — click a row to load it into the slider
| Strategy | Take-home | Retained |
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Every £1 of company profit, split by destination
A quick primer if you're newer to this
A small salary (usually up to the £12,570 Personal Allowance) is tax-free for you and a deductible business expense for the company, which lowers Corporation Tax. It also counts toward your State Pension record — dividends don't. Above that level, dividends are usually cheaper than salary because they don't attract National Insurance.
It lets eligible employers reduce their employer National Insurance bill by up to £10,500 a year. Since April 2016, a company where the director is the only employee paid above the NI secondary threshold (£5,000) cannot claim it. Most one-person accounting/consulting companies fall into this category — leave the toggle off unless you genuinely employ someone else on payroll.
£6,708 (the Lower Earnings Limit) still counts as a qualifying year for your State Pension without triggering employee National Insurance, and costs the company less in employer NI. £12,570 uses your full tax-free Personal Allowance but costs more in employer NI if you don't qualify for Employment Allowance. The "best" answer depends on your profit level — that's exactly what the comparison table above is for.
No — this tool uses the standard England, Wales and Northern Ireland Income Tax bands. Scotland sets its own Income Tax rates and thresholds, though dividend tax rates are the same UK-wide. If you're a Scottish taxpayer, use this for the dividend side and speak to your accountant on the salary side.
No. It's a planning tool to help you understand the mechanics before a conversation with a qualified accountant. It doesn't account for pension contributions, other income, associated companies, IR35 status, or your personal circumstances — all of which can change the right answer for you.
Exuberant Global works alongside 500+ UK accounting firms on exactly this kind of client planning — salary/dividend structuring, Corporation Tax, payroll and more.
Talk to Exuberant Global →For most UK limited company directors, the combination of a small salary and dividends remains the most tax-efficient way to extract profit from the business — but the exact split that works best depends heavily on your total profit, whether you have other employees, and your wider personal income. There isn't a single "correct" number that applies to everyone; the £12,570 full Personal Allowance salary is a common starting point, but it isn't automatically the cheapest option once employer National Insurance and Corporation Tax marginal relief are factored in.
This is exactly why the calculator above runs the full HMRC waterfall — Corporation Tax, employer NI, Employment Allowance eligibility, Income Tax bands, employee NI, and dividend tax — rather than relying on a rule of thumb. The right salary/dividend mix at £40,000 profit is rarely the right mix at £120,000 profit, because Corporation Tax marginal relief, the higher-rate threshold, and the Personal Allowance taper all kick in at different points.
Whatever result you land on here, treat it as a starting point for a conversation with a qualified accountant — not a final answer. Real-world factors like pension contributions, other income sources, IR35 status, or plans to sell the company can all change what's actually best for you.
Pay less tax. Keep more money. Plan with more confidence.
This calculator gives you the mechanics — but every director's situation is different. Book a free call with our team and we'll review your actual numbers, walk through the most tax-efficient structure for your circumstances, and agree next steps with no pressure.
The most tax-efficient way to pay yourself from your limited company, 2026/27.
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