Model a limited company salary and dividend scenario with Corporation Tax and dividend tax caveats.
Use this director salary and dividend calculator to model one limited-company extraction scenario: company profit before salary, salary, Corporation Tax and dividends. It is not an optimum salary recommendation and should not replace company accounts, payroll records or accountant advice.
Change the profit, salary or dividends. The table underneath holds the company steady and varies only the salary, distributing everything left after Corporation Tax in each row.
| Director salary | Dividends paid | Personal cash after all tax | Employer NI, not counted above |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £73,575 | £64,457 | £0 |
| £12,570 | £68,011 | £65,746 | £1,136 |
| £50,270 | £40,281 | £65,773 | £6,791 |
Salary tax is worked out on a standard tax code for England, Wales and Northern Ireland; dividend rates are the same across the UK. Each row distributes everything left after Corporation Tax, so only the salary differs between them. Employer National Insurance is not part of any figure above. It is a company cost, it is deductible before Corporation Tax, and it reaches the director only through smaller dividends, so it cannot simply be subtracted from the cash column. This is a comparison, not a recommended salary.
This compares the entered scenario only. It does not recommend a salary/dividend mix, decide dividend legality or confirm HMRC treatment.
| Profit after salary | £87,430 |
|---|---|
| Post-Corporation Tax profit | £68,011 |
| Dividends modelled | £50,000 |
| Corporation Tax band | marginal relief zone |
| Dividend availability | Within modelled post-tax profit |
| Tax/source year | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Region | England/Wales/Northern Ireland |
| Tax code basis | 1257L where the page uses PAYE defaults |
| Pension basis | No pension deduction unless this example says otherwise |
| Student loan basis | No student loan unless selected in this example |
| What is not decided here | PayBreakdown does not decide payroll correctness, lender approval, benefit entitlement or employer compliance, and does not give regulated financial, mortgage, debt, tax, payroll or legal advice. |
|---|
The figures on this page are worked from director pay, using the values below. Open the calculator if your example salary differs.
The calculator models profit after salary, Corporation Tax, available post-tax company profit, a requested dividend amount and personal dividend tax.
This page compares the entered scenario only. It does not recommend a salary/dividend mix, decide dividend legality, or confirm HMRC treatment.
This estimate is worked out on £35,000 annual gross. Change any of those and the take-home figure moves; pension method and student loan plan usually move it most. A payslip can differ from any calculator because payroll works pay period by pay period, so a tax-code change, a bonus, arrears or a refund can land in one month and not the next. See how each deduction is worked out.
It estimates profit after salary, Corporation Tax, dividends modelled, dividend tax and estimated personal cash after dividend tax for one entered scenario.
No. It is not an optimum salary recommendation. Employer costs, pensions, benefits, expenses, VAT, company accounts and personal circumstances can change the answer.
No. Dividend legality, distributable reserves, company law and board records are not decided by this calculator.
No. Use it as a planning estimate, then check company accounts, payroll records, HMRC guidance and accountant advice before making extraction decisions.
Last updated 2026-08-27. Checked by Sean Elsmore. Rates last checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-07. Estimates are for planning and should be checked against official records where the decision matters.