How will the dividend changes affect you?
As you may be aware the tax free dividend allowance is due to be cut from £5,000 to £2,000 in April 2018, so how will this affect you?
How you are affected financially by the cut, will depend on which tax band the first £5,000 of your dividends fall into.
If they fall into your basic rate band, you will be £225 worse off (7.5% basic rate dividend tax x £3,000). The reduction will cost higher-rate taxpayers £975, and additional-rate taxpayers £1,143. ,
If the first £5,000 of your dividends fall between two tax bands, the total extra tax will vary from the above figures.
So, if you receive a low salary, such as the basic director’s salary, and don’t have significant other income during the tax year, the final tax hit is likely to be £225.
Example:
Salary £8,424, Dividends £25,000
- The salary is covered by the £11,850 personal allowance
- There is £3,426 remaining of the personal allowance, so the first £3,426 dividends are covered by this and therefore tax free.
- The next £2,000 dividends are covered by the tax free dividend allowance.
- £19,574 dividends remain and are taxed at 7.5%, giving a total tax bill of £1,468.05.
If you would like any further clarification please do not hesitate to contact us.
Lucy
