Expert guides and resources for contractors, small business owners and freelancers. Online since 2006.

What happens if your company declares a dividend only to discover that there were insufficient profits at the time to justify such a payment to its shareholders? Read more

Both your company, and its employees are liable to pay National Insurance Contributions on all salaries paid to staff. Here we look at how the rates are calculated. Read more

A key change you must become accustomed to as a contractor is that tax will no longer be deducted at source. Therefore, you’ll need to set aside money to pay this in your tax return, which is where ‘payments on account’ come into play. Read more

You may have heard of the controversial tax rule which reduces the amount of child benefit you are entitled to keep if you (or your partner) earns above £50,000 each year. Read more

When you’re working as a contractor you’ll more than likely need to use your own vehicle for work travel at some point. Here we look at how you can claim fixed HMRC mileage costs – and which costs you cannot claim back. Read more

One of the most common questions asked by limited company contractors is what level of salary they should pay themselves. Read more

A tax code – typically several numbers and a letter – is used to work out how much income tax should be deducted from an employee’s salary. Read more