Director salary & dividend calculator

Compare salary and dividend options

Compare how salary, dividends, Corporation Tax and National Insurance affect estimated take-home in either supported Income Tax region.

Step 1

Enter the company figures

After business expenses and before director salary, employer NI and Corporation Tax.
Use prior-year distributable reserves (optional)
From completed accounts, not your bank balance. Use only an amount confirmed as distributable.
Capped at the confirmed reserves above.Profits left from earlier years can be paid as dividends. Salary counts as a cost this year, so we do not show salary options that would make the company loss-making.
What do you want the calculator to do?

We pay out every pound of current profit and show the highest estimated take-home.

Claim an Employment Allowance (optional)
The amount left to set against this director's employer National Insurance, up to £10,500 in 2026/27. Part may already be used by other payroll.Most companies whose only employee paid above the Secondary Threshold is the director cannot claim. Companies that can claim normally employ at least one other person paid above it. Tax Shrink does not check eligibility — confirm it with HMRC guidance or your accountant.
Add income from outside this company (optional)
Your annual amount before tax from jobs or pensions outside this company.
Dividends from shares you hold outside this company.

Used only to work out which Personal Allowance and tax bands your company income falls into; it is never added to your company take-home estimate.

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Calculation method

How the salary and dividend calculator works

Tax Shrink compares possible director salaries from £0 to the amount the company can afford. For each salary it deducts employer National Insurance and Corporation Tax, treats the remaining current-period distributable profit as a dividend, adds any chosen dividend from confirmed prior-year reserves, then estimates personal Income Tax and employee National Insurance on the combined income. Income you enter from outside the company is used only to place your company income in the correct tax bands; it never appears in the take-home estimate.

How to choose a salary and dividend split

There is no single salary-to-dividend ratio that works at every profit level. Tax thresholds change the result, so the calculator compares the full affordable salary range and shows both the highest and lowest estimated take-home options for the figures entered.

The 2026/27 salary and dividend guide shows how the highest-tested result changes at £50,000, £100,000 and £250,000 of profit. Read the full methodology, assumptions and official sources before applying an estimate.