Busy Bee Accountancy

30/08/2026

📢 **HMRC is looking more closely at dividends**

If you are a director and shareholder of a small limited company, there are some important changes to be aware of.

From the **2025/26 Self Assessment tax return**, directors of close companies will need to provide HMRC with more information about their company and dividends.

This includes:

🏢 The company name and registration number

💷 The amount of dividends received from the company

📊 Your highest percentage shareholding during the tax year

A **close company** is broadly a company controlled by five or fewer shareholders, or by shareholders who are also directors.

This means that **most small owner-managed limited companies are likely to be affected**.

HMRC has also proposed going further by asking companies to provide more detailed information about payments and transactions involving shareholders, including:

• Dividends
• Director and shareholder loans
• Cash withdrawals
• Transfers of assets
• Other payments to shareholders

⚠️ **These wider company reporting requirements are currently proposals and are not yet in force.**

The key message?

Make sure your **dividend vouchers, board minutes, director’s loan account and company records are kept up to date**.

HMRC is receiving more information about how money is taken from limited companies, so keeping accurate records is becoming even more important.

🐝 **Busy Bee Accountancy**
Helping limited company owners stay compliant and tax efficient.

23/08/2026

🎁 Can your limited company claim the cost of business gifts?

Business gifts can be a little confusing because the tax treatment depends on who receives the gift, what it is and why it is being given.

As a general rule, gifts to customers and suppliers are not normally allowable for Corporation Tax.

However, there are some exceptions.

✅ Free product samples may be allowable if they are given to promote the products your business sells.

✅ Branded promotional gifts may also be allowable if they:

• clearly advertise your business
• cost no more than £50 per recipient in the accounting period
• are not food, drink, to***co or exchangeable vouchers

So a branded pen, mug or notebook may qualify.

But a bottle of wine, box of chocolates, hamper or gift voucher will normally not qualify, even if it has your company branding on it.

👥 What about gifts to employees and directors?

These are treated differently.

A gift costing £50 or less may qualify as a tax-free trivial benefit, provided it is not cash, not a reward for work, and is not part of the employee’s contract.

For directors of close companies, there is an overall limit of £300 per tax year.

And remember — VAT has separate rules, so this may also need to be considered.

Before putting a business gift through your company, make sure you know how it should be treated.

🐝 Busy Bee Accountancy
Helping limited company owners stay compliant and tax efficient.

15/08/2026

What happens to your Personal Allowance when your income exceeds £100,000?

The standard Personal Allowance is £12,570. However, once your adjusted net income exceeds £100,000, this allowance starts to reduce.

For every £2 of income above £100,000, you lose £1 of your Personal Allowance.

This means:

At £110,000 of income, your Personal Allowance is reduced to £7,570.
At £120,000, it is reduced to £2,570.
At £125,140, the Personal Allowance is lost completely.

This creates a particularly high effective rate of tax on income between £100,000 and £125,140.

There are some ways to reduce adjusted net income, depending on your circumstances. For example, pension contributions and qualifying Gift Aid donations can help.

For company directors, it is also important to consider the timing and amount of salary and dividends before they are taken.

Tax planning is most effective when it is done before the end of the tax year, rather than after the income has already been received.

#60%taxcharge

08/08/2026

What is a marginal tax rate? 🐝

Many business owners know that Corporation Tax can be charged at 19% or 25%, but what happens when your company’s profits fall between the two thresholds?

For companies with taxable profits between £50,000 and £250,000, Marginal Relief may apply. In this range, the effective marginal Corporation Tax rate can be 26.5%.

In simple terms, this means that for every additional £1 of allowable business expenses, your company could save up to 26.5p in Corporation Tax.

For example, an allowable expense of £1,000 could potentially reduce the Corporation Tax bill by £265.

This is why understanding which expenses are allowable, and planning ahead before the year end, can make a real difference to your tax bill.

The £50,000 and £250,000 limits can be reduced if you have associated companies or a shorter accounting period.

🐝 Let Busy Bee take the sting out of accounting.

01/08/2026

Tax is rarely as simple as it first appears.

Take VAT registration as an example.

A business may exceed the £90,000 VAT registration threshold on 7 July. Under the normal rolling 12-month test, its VAT registration would usually take effect from 1 September.

However, if the business knew on 7 July that its taxable turnover would exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days alone, the registration date could instead be 7 July.

The same turnover threshold. The same date. Two very different outcomes.

Getting this wrong could mean failing to charge VAT from the correct date, having to pay VAT from your own funds, issuing corrected invoices and potentially facing interest or penalties.

This is just one example of how complicated tax can become for small businesses. The rules depend on the individual circumstances, and what seems like a small detail can completely change the answer.

At Busy Bee Accountancy, we take the time to understand your business, monitor important thresholds and explain your responsibilities in plain English.

29/07/2026

Not all online tax advice is good advice. 👀

Always double-check trusted guidance. Don’t get caught out.

Find out more about bad tax advice online. 👇

https://dontgetcaughtout.campaign.gov.uk/?&utm_source=f.co_hmrcgovuk&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dgco_finf

28/07/2026

https://www.busybeeaccountancy.co.uk/post/what-is-paye

What is PAYE? Who Needs to Operate a PAYE Scheme? What Small Business Owners Need to Know.

Who Needs to Operate a PAYE Scheme? What Small Business Owners Need to KnowPAYE stands for Pay As You Earn.It is HMRC’s system for collecting Income Tax and National Insurance from employment income. PAYE is not a separate tax. It is the way employers calculate, deduct, report and pay employment t...

25/07/2026

Cash in the bank does not automatically mean dividends are available

A company may have money in its bank account but still not have enough distributable profits to pay a dividend legally.

This is because some of that cash may already be needed to pay:

• VAT
• Corporation Tax
• suppliers
• payroll costs
• loans or finance agreements
• other upcoming business expenses

Accounting adjustments may also reduce the company’s available retained profits.

Before declaring a dividend, directors should check:

• the latest management accounts
• retained profits brought forward
• the current year’s profit after tax
• the Corporation Tax provision
• dividends already declared
• the director’s loan account
• future cash commitments

Dividends must be based on available distributable profits, not simply the balance showing in the company’s bank account.

Declaring dividends without sufficient profits could result in an unlawful dividend that may need to be repaid.

Always check the company’s financial position before taking money out as a dividend.

24/07/2026

Pensions: What Small Limited Company Owners Need to Know

https://www.busybeeaccountancy.co.uk/post/pensions-what-small-limited-company-owners-need-to-know

22/07/2026

HMRC Have Opened a Consultation on a Proposed Offence for Reckless, Untrue Statements for Direct Taxes

https://www.busybeeaccountancy.co.uk/post/hmrc-have-opened-a-consultation-on-a-proposed-offence-for-reckless-untrue-statements-for-direct-tax

What Small Business Owners Need to KnowHMRC has opened a consultation on whether a new criminal offence should be introduced for making reckless, untrue statements or declarations in relation to direct taxes.This is only a consultation at this stage. It is not yet law.However, it is important becaus...